Best Jingles of All Time: 7 Lessons a Small Business Can Steal

You can probably hum a jingle for an insurance company you have never bought from. That is the whole trick, and it is a little annoying how well it works.

Most lists of the best jingles of all time stop at nostalgia. If you run a plumbing company, a dental office or a pizza place, you want something else: what made those songs stick, and what you can do with that in your own ad next week.

The jingles that top most lists include Nationwide, State Farm, McDonald's, Kit Kat, Folgers and Coca-Cola's Hilltop ad. In a Quality Logo Products survey of 735 U.S. adults, reported by Mental Floss in 2021, Nationwide came first, recognized by 92.6% of people who rated 67 jingles. What they share is simple enough for any local business to copy.

What are the best jingles of all time?

The best jingles of all time are short, sung brand lines people still recognize decades later, led by Nationwide at 92.6% in a 2021 survey of 735 U.S. adults. Most share three habits: the brand name sits inside the tune, the tune ties to one moment or feeling, and the company keeps it for years.

A jingle is a short piece of music written for an ad, usually with the business name sung in it. Here are the jingles that make almost every list, and the lesson each one teaches.

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Why should a local business care about famous jingles?

The jingle generally credited as the first sung radio ad started as a local one. Wheaties aired it on a Minneapolis station in 1926, and by 1929 more than 60% of Wheaties sales came from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, by General Mills' own account. Our look at whether jingles still work in 2026 covers the newer research.

Local businesses still build jingles the same way. Cleveland Magazine's 2023 story on the city's favorite jingles covers a car dealer, a sunroom company, a pharmacy chain and a carpet cleaner.

Familiar also helps people choose. Durham University music researcher Dr Kelly Jakubowski wrote in 2024 that in tests between two products of the same kind, people were more likely to pick the one paired with a familiar tune. For a local business, the goal is to be the familiar name when the pipe bursts or the tooth starts to ache.

What can a small business learn from the best jingles of all time?

Each lesson below starts with a famous jingle, shows a weak line and a fixed line for one trade, then lists what to do in your own ad. Every example line is original.

1. Put your name inside the hook

State Farm's jingle has run since 1971. American Songwriter reports that Barry Manilow wrote it in 1971 for a flat $500 fee, and he was given only the company's slogan to work with. The company name sits inside the sung line, so you cannot hum the tune without saying the name.

Oscar Mayer went further. Mental Floss reports that the bologna song, written by Oscar Mayer marketing executive Jerry Ringlien for a 1974 campaign, has a 4-year-old spell the brand name out loud. Every child who sang along was practicing the name.

For an electrician:

• Before: "Licensed and insured electrical services for your home."
• After: "[Your Name] Electric, bright and fast, the lights come on and the dark won't last."

What to do in your ad:

• Put your business name in the first sung line and again in the last one.
• Rhyme something with your name, or with the word next to it.
• If the full name feels clumsy to sing, shorten it ("[Your Name] Plumbing" can become "[Your Name]").

2. Sing the next step, not just the name

Empire Today made its phone number the melody. The company says copywriter Lynn Hauldren wrote and recorded the jingle with an a cappella group called The Fabulous 40s, and each spot ended with it. The Empire Man first appeared in 1977, and the company credits the jingle with making its number widely recognized.

Local firms did it too. Cleveland Magazine reports that Stanley Steemer's ad agency talked the chairman into buying a phone number that spelled out a version of the company name, so the number and the jingle matched.

On social media, the next step is usually a button, not a phone number. So sing the action. Our guide on how to write a jingle covers when singing a number still makes sense.

For a plumber:

• Before: "Contact us today for all your plumbing needs."
• After: "Drip all night and the pipe won't stay? Tap the button, [Your Name]'s on the way."

What to do in your ad:

• Pick one action: call, book, tap or stop by. Not two.
• Sing that action in the last line, right before your name.
• Show the same action as a button or on-screen text in the final frame.

Here is one of our song ads, a plumber's story.

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3. Tie your song to a moment people already have

Folgers tied its jingle to the start of the day. NPR's May 2026 story, republished by KPBS, notes the jingle first aired in 1984 and was still valuable in 2021, when the rights to its performance royalties sold at auction for $90,500.

Kit Kat did the same with a work break. Its jingle debuted in 1986, and Hershey has since remixed it in styles from country to metal.

Your customers have moments like this too. A pizza place owns Friday night, and a heating company owns the first cold night of the year.

For a pizza place:

• Before: "We serve fresh pizza made daily with quality ingredients."
• After: "It's Friday night, put the pans away, [Your Name]'s pizza saves the day."

What to do in your ad:

• Name the moment in your first line.
• Run the ad in the days just before that moment.
• Use the same moment in every ad, so people link the two.

Here is one of our song ads, a pizza place's story.

Want one about your business? Get your song ad

4. Sell one feeling, not a feature list

Coca-Cola's 1971 Hilltop ad sold a feeling, not the taste of the drink. The company says the idea came to McCann Erickson creative director Bill Backer when fog left his flight stuck in Shannon, Ireland, and he watched strangers bond over a bottle of Coke. The ad drew more than 100,000 letters, and radio stations got calls asking to play the song.

You need one feeling your customer wants, like relief for a roofer or pride for a gym.

For a hair salon:

• Before: "Full-service salon offering cuts, color, styling and treatments."
• After: "Walk in tired, walk out new, [Your Name] has a chair for you."

What to do in your ad:

• Write down the one word you want people to feel: relief, pride, calm or fun.
• Cut any line that lists services instead of serving that feeling.
• Pick a music style your customers like, even if it is not your own taste.

5. Get to the hook fast

Farmers Insurance moved its short jingle from the end of its ads to the start. In January 2020, Muse by Clio reported that data from the agency, RPA, showed viewers paid more attention after hearing the jingle, so the team put it first. Farmers' head of brand marketing, Leesa Eichberger, said the jingle "seems to make people lean in."

A jingle at the end of an ad only works on people who stay to the end. On a phone, many people do not. If you are weighing a sung tag against a spoken one, our jingle vs voiceover comparison covers when each wins.

For a roofer:

• Before: a slow open with a drone shot and "Serving the area for over 20 years..."
• After: the sung name line comes first: "[Your Name] Roofing, rain or shine, one call and your roof is fine."

What to do in your ad:

• Open on the sung name line, not a music intro or a long shot.
• Keep that sung tag to a few seconds, short enough to play before anyone scrolls.
• Bring the same tag back at the end, so the ad opens and closes on your name.

Here is one of our song ads, a roofer's story.

Want one about your business? Get your song ad

6. Keep the tune for years and change the words

McDonald's has closed its ads with the same short five-note tag since 2003. Chowhound reported in 2025 that the campaign began with Munich agency Heye & Partner and is the company's longest-running ad campaign, at more than 20 years.

A New England furniture store shows the local version. In 2026, the Boston Globe reported that Bernie & Phyl's new ads keep the store's old melody but write new words for each ad, then end on the same familiar closing line.

Repetition is the point. Jim Herrick, who retired from Liberty Ford in 2020, told Cleveland Magazine: "You had to make it part of the fabric of everything in your commercial world."

For a car wash:

• Before: a new tune and a new tagline every season.
• After: a spring verse ("Pollen on the paint and the windows too, drive on in, we'll make it new"), a winter verse ("Salt on the doors from the winter snow, drive on through and watch it go"), and the same closing tag every time: "[Your Name], right down the road."

What to do in your ad:

• Keep one closing line that never changes.
• Write new verses for each offer or season.
• Use the same closing on your website video, your social ads and your hold message.

7. Make it catchy and clear

A catchy jingle spreads whatever it says, including the parts that are unclear. The Kars4Kids jingle has played on radio since about 2000. In May 2026, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled the ad broke California's false advertising and unfair competition laws because it did not say the charity is religious, and gave it 30 days to add a spoken disclosure or stop airing in California, according to NPR's report. Kars4Kids says it will appeal.

Memorable is also not the same as liked. In the same Mental Floss survey, Liberty Mutual made the top 20 most memorable list and also ranked first for most hated and most annoying.

For an auto glass shop:

• Before: "Free windshields for everyone, no catch."
• After: "Chip in the glass? Don't let it grow. [Your Name] checks your insurance, so the cost's what you know."

What to do in your ad:

• Only sing claims you can back up on the phone the next day.
• If there is a catch (a minimum spend, a service area), put it on screen.
• Ask two customers to watch it. If either one finds it grating, change the style before you pay to run it.

What should you not copy from a famous jingle?

Do not copy the tune or the words of a famous jingle. Melodies and lyrics belong to the brands and writers behind them, so borrowing one, even with new words, can get your ad taken down. Copy the habits, not the notes.

Skip three other things, too:

• The budget. Coca-Cola's company history says the Hilltop reshoot cost more than $250,000 in 1971. You do not need a film crew to use any lesson above.
• The setting. Classic jingles were made for radio and TV, where people sat and listened. A social ad has to make sense in the first few seconds and work with the sound off.
• The vagueness. A big brand can afford a vague feeling. A local ad needs one clear offer and one clear next step.

Hear the song ads we have made → Click any video to watch with sound.

How do you check your own ad against the 7 lessons?

Score your ad or script against the seven questions below before you spend money running it. A pass on five or more is a good sign.

Here is a worked example. Picture a vet clinic whose first draft says: "We provide comprehensive veterinary care for pets of all sizes." It fails lessons 1, 2, 3 and 5: no name, no action, no moment, nothing to hum.

A rewrite that passes looks like this:

• Hook: "Cat off her food and won't come play? Call [Your Name], we're here today."
• Middle: "Gentle hands and a quiet room, she'll be purring on the sofa soon."
• Close: "Book a visit now, [Your Name], right down the road."

Do you need a big-brand budget to use these lessons?

No. The lessons cost nothing, and a jingle for a local business costs far less than a national campaign. General Mills says the Wheaties quartet in 1926 was paid $15 a week each, about $200 in today's dollars.

If the format is new to you, here is what a song ad is and who it suits. Our guide on how much a jingle costs breaks down the studio, freelance and AI routes.

At 30 Second Productions, our song ads put the song and a 3D cartoon video together, with every word on screen so they work with the sound off. The singer is AI, and we say so. The lessons are about the words and structure, so they work the same whatever voice sings them.

Each song ad is ready in 72 hours after a 5-minute form, with one round of remakes and a money-back guarantee. We make the ad; we do not run it, and no ad can promise calls or sales.

Frequently asked questions

What was the first jingle ever?

The Wheaties jingle is generally credited as the first sung radio commercial. General Mills says a quartet sang it live on WCCO in Minneapolis on Christmas Eve 1926. After it did well in that one area, the company took its radio ads national.

What is the most annoying jingle of all time?

In the Quality Logo Products survey of 735 U.S. adults, reported by Mental Floss in 2021, Liberty Mutual's jingle ranked first for both most annoying and most hated. It still made the top 20 most memorable. Memorable and liked are not the same thing.

Which jingle is the most recognized of all time?

Nationwide's jingle is the most recognized, at 92.6%, the highest of the 67 jingles rated in a Quality Logo Products survey of 735 U.S. adults reported by Mental Floss in 2021. Nationwide says Steve Karmen wrote it in 1967, and it went national in 1969. State Farm and McDonald's also appear on most lists.

Who wrote the most famous jingles?

Barry Manilow wrote State Farm's jingle in 1971, per American Songwriter, and Steve Karmen of Elsmere Music wrote Nationwide's. Copywriter Lynn Hauldren wrote and sang Empire Today's, Oscar Mayer executive Jerry Ringlien wrote the bologna song, and Bill Backer of McCann Erickson came up with Coca-Cola's Hilltop idea.

The short version

The best jingles of all time were not magic. They followed seven habits any local business can use.

Put your name in the hook, sing the next step, and tie the song to a moment your customers already have. Sell one feeling and open on your sung name line. Keep one closing tag for years, change the verses, and never let catchy get ahead of clear.

You do not need a famous tune or a big budget. Start with one ad and one offer, and keep the same sound long enough for people to learn it.

Ready for an ad people remember? Get your song ad for $97, written, sung and animated for you in 72 hours, with a money-back guarantee.

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