Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's 10 greatest songs, ranked

6 February 2025, 13:17

Black Sabbath in the 1970s. Picture: Getty Images

By Mayer Nissim

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath were absolute giants of heavy metal.

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Eight years after their last live show and two full decades after their last concert with all four original members, Black Sabbath are reuniting for one final show.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi. Geezer Butler. Bill Ward. Together again at the biggest heavy metal concert of all time, all for a good cause.

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To celebrate, we've rounded up the top songs by Black Sabbath, along with a couple of Ozzy Osbourne solo hits.

With the greatest of respect to Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin and especially Ronnie James Dio, we've stuck to the nine Sabbath albums featuring Ozzy on on lead vocals (plus Ozzy's 13 solo records).

Even then, there are so many classics to choose from and we've had to leave out Sabbath classics like 'Changes', 'Am I Going Insane (Radio)', 'Never Say Die' and Ozzy hits like 'Dreamer' and his 'Ordinary Man' cover with Elton John.

What we've got left are the best of the best, so draw the curtains, turn up the bass and get stuck in!

End of the Beginning

BLACK SABBATH - End of the Beginning (Official Video)

Are there bigger Black Sabbath songs we've left off this list? Certainly, but the triumph that was 2013's comeback album 13 must be recognised.
While financial wrangling prevented the return of Bill Ward, it was the first full Black Sabbath studio album featuring Ozzy (and Geezer and Tony) since all the way back in 1978.
Against all odds, it was fantastic. Among its highlights was this gloomy, doomy slab of metal that recalled the band's earliest moments.
In My Life (Ozzy Osbourne solo)

In My Life

Some will throw their hands up at this pick of a trad cover of a gentle ballad when we're looking at the career of forward-pushing heavy metal pioneers, but it's important to look at the melodic impact of bands like The Beatles on Ozzy and the rest of the band.
As well as listening to their own songs, we can do that by looking at the songs of others' that they played, and there's no better place to start than Ozzy's Under Cover album from 2005.
A standout was this lovely version of Lennon-McCartney classic 'In My Life', with Ozzy lending a surprising amount of emotion to the track.
Children of the Grave

Children of the Grave (2009 Remaster)

Taken from Sabbath's masterful Master of Reality album, 'Children of the Grave' was not just another antiwar song, but also like the rest of the album, a heavy metal landmark.
They'd been getting heavier for a while. and here they really amped up the gloom from the thunderous drums and bass that open to the mega riffs that power the song along.
The Wizard

The Wizard (2009 Remaster)

One of Black Sabbath's earliest songs – only their second single after 'Evil Woman' – is a hard rocking stomper of a track.
Not quite dark, maybe not even metal, 'The Wizard' is Black Sabbath at their most prog, so it's appropriate that it's inspired by genre fave Lord of the Rings and specifically Gandalf the Grey.
Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne solo)

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (Official Animated Video)

When Ozzy was kicked out of Black Sabbath in 1979 as a result of his drug and alcohol problems, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that he might flop, or even worse.
No chance. While Black Sabbath continued with varying success with different singers, Ozzy struck out on his own with plenty of style.
Blizzard of Ozz is a great title, a great album and its lead single 'Crazy Train' kicked off the 1980s with one of the best examples of the decade's all-conquering hard rock/pop fusion.
It only got to 49 in the UK charts but eventually went Gold in the UK and QUADRUPLE platinum in the US.
Electric Funeral

Electric Funeral (2012 Remaster)

In to the top five and there's no apologies here for things getting a little Paranoid-heavy.
More than a reaction to the lingering hippie winds, it's not just Black Sabbath's best album, but one of the greatest albums of all time.
'Electric Funeral' is one of the least ambiguous, most plain anti-nuclear war songs around, and it's all the better for it. Ozzy's vocal line matches the droning riff for a powerful warning.
War Pigs

BLACK SABBATH - "War Pigs" (Live Video)

Where 'Electric Funeral' was about the nuts and bolts of nuclear apocalypse, like 'Children of the Grave' before it 'War Pigs' was a broadside at the bad people who precipitate such horror.
Well, that's what it sounds like. The band claim it was actually about the occult, witchcraft and actual Satanic evil and was originally called 'Walpurgis'.
"Walpurgis is sort of like Christmas for Satanists," Geezer Butler explained. "And to me, war was the big Satan."
Oh, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with rhyming masses with masses, if you do it with as much metal style as Ozzy.
Iron Man

Black Sabbath - Iron Man (1970)

Absolutely nothing to do with the Marvel character that predated it, even tough the more recent MCU films have used the songs.
The title and lyrics of 'Iron Man' came after Ozzy told Tony that the mega riff he'd created for the song sounded "like a big iron bloke walking about".
It even had the working title of 'Iron Bloke', which would have been a bit less menacing.
Whatever it was called, the 'Iron Man' riff, which again was mirrored by Ozzy for his main vocal line, is utterly irresistible.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

BLACK SABBATH - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (Official Video)

The only song in our top five that isn't from Paranoid, and it very nearly earned the top spot.
The title track and opening song from the band's fifth studio album from 1973, it's one of Black Sabbath's heaviest moments, though always lightened with melody.
After all that rocking things get darker and heavier still for the last two minutes, with Ozzy's vocal cord shredding sounding like actual wailing from the depths of hell.
Paranoid

BLACK SABBATH - "Paranoid" on Top of the Pops 1970

"The song 'Paranoid' was written as an afterthought," confessed Geezer Butler in 2004.
"We basically needed a three minute filler for the album, and Tony came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing."
What an afterthought.
The band surely must have known this song was better than that, given that it eventually gave the album its name, even though the word "paranoid" isn't actually used once in the song.
'Paranoid' was a bona fide hit single, going to number four in the UK – the band's only top 5 single. Its riff has become one of the best known in rock ;n' roll.