{"id":31682,"date":"2026-10-23T13:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T17:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=31682"},"modified":"2026-06-15T13:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T17:53:14","slug":"take-five-thin-lizzys-biggest-hit-singles-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/23\/take-five-thin-lizzys-biggest-hit-singles-in-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Thin Lizzy\u2019s Biggest Hit Singles in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While their success on record charts in the U.S. was measured, Thin Lizzy was wildly popular in other countries. Ranked as one of the top acts of the 1970s, the Irish hard rock band led by bassist, singer and songwriter Phil Lynott scored big worldwide. All nine of the group&#8217;s albums released between 1976 and 1983 charted in four or more countries. In that same period, Thin Lizzy variously placed 17 singles on charts in Australia, the UK, the U.S., Germany, Canada and their native Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>And Thin Lizzy was especially popular in the land of their birth. The band landed a No. 1 single in Ireland with their second 45 r.p.m. release, and would continue to chart into 1991, placing an impressive 17 songs on the Irish singles chart. Here\u2019s a look at the five most successful singles Thin Lizzy released in their home country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDancing in the Moonlight (It\u2019s Caught Me in Its Spotlight)\u201d from <em>Bad Reputation<\/em> (1977)<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1977 Thin Lizzy released <em>Bad Reputation<\/em>, their eighth studio record. That album earned a Gold Record in the UK, where it reached No. 4 on the album chart. <em>Bad Reputation<\/em> also charted in Australia, the U.S., Canada, Norway, Sweden and (of course) Ireland. Released as a single from the LP, \u201cDancing in the Moonlight (It\u2019s Caught Me in Its Spotlight)\u201d peaked at No. 4 on the Irish singles chart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Unnh0T2Ftro?si=9DCxiJIQasLz538v\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDon\u2019t Believe a Word\u201d from <em>Johnny the Fox<\/em> (1976)<\/strong><br \/>\nComing less than seven months after the blockbuster release <em>Jailbreak<\/em>, Thin Lizzy\u2019s seventh studio album <em>Johnny the Fox<\/em> would spawn three singles in various countries. The most popular of those was Lynott\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Believe a Word.\u201d Featuring the same lineup that made <em>Jailbreak<\/em>, the single rose to the No. 2 spot in Ireland. The fine song\u2019s only other chart action came in the U.K. where it climbed to No. 12.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Unnh0T2Ftro?si=9DCxiJIQasLz538v\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDedication\u201d from <em>Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy<\/em> (1991)<\/strong><br \/>\nThin Lizzy was together from 1969 to 1983; at that point the band split. Eight years later, demonstrating the enduring popularity of the group, Thin Lizzy\u2019s record labels (Vertigo in the British Isles, Mercury in the U.S.) put together <em>Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy<\/em>. The album featured all previously-released material save one \u201cnew\u201d track. Based on new recordings layered atop a 1980 Phil Lynott demo tape made while he was leading Grand Slam, \u201cDedication\u201d would reach the No. 2 spot in Ireland. Other than a 1991 reissue of \u201cThe Boys Are Back in Town\u201d (which also charted in Ireland), \u201cDedication\u201d would be the final charting single from the group.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6uu9n4GzDoM?si=b8jXjYVNH8PrdDbv\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWhiskey in the Jar\u201d (single, 1972)<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile Phil Lynott would prove himself a sharp and evocative original songwriter, in the group&#8217;s earliest days Thin Lizzy released a rock reading of a traditional Irish song. Written and first recorded by folk heroes The Dubliners, \u201cWhiskey in the Jar\u201d received a powerful new arrangement from Thin Lizzy, earning the band its first charting single in Ireland (or anywhere, for that matter). So popular was the band\u2019s single that it eventually took the No. 1 spot there. While the single didn\u2019t chart in the U.S., it made the Top 40 in Australia, the UK and Germany.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UviREczpKwE?si=JIpMkxPczlCkx8TS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe Boys Are Back in Town\u201d from <em>Jailbreak<\/em> (1976)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe breakout hit from <em>Jailbreak<\/em>, Thin Lizzy\u2019s most popular album, \u201cThe Boys Are Back in Town\u201d featured macho yet vividly passionate lyrics that exemplified Phil Lynott\u2019s storytelling approach to song craft. As a single, \u201cThe Boys Are Back in Town\u201d made it to No. 12 in the U.S. (the band\u2019s sole Top 40 in the States), No. 8 in Canada and the UK, and the tip-top spot in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ta3YkTdIQqE?si=txK7JMWYle46ohHl\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While their success on record charts in the U.S. was measured, Thin Lizzy was wildly popular in other countries. Ranked as one of the top acts of the 1970s, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1698,2199],"class_list":["post-31682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-phil-lynott","tag-thin-lizzy","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31684,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31682\/revisions\/31684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}