# The Best Guitar Solos of 1981 > The best guitar solos of 1981, ranked. #1 is Limelight by Rush, then Stray Cat Strut and Over the Mountain. Every video starts at the solo. Canonical URL: The 20 greatest guitar solos released in 1981, ranked: solos our consensus of published lists rates highest come first, then our genre and artist rankings, with no more than three per artist. Led by Limelight by Rush, Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats and Over the Mountain by Ozzy Osbourne. 1. [Limelight](https://greatestsolos.com/song/rush-limelight/) — Rush · solo by Alex Lifeson · 1981 2. [Stray Cat Strut](https://greatestsolos.com/song/stray-cats-stray-cat-strut/) — Stray Cats · solo by Brian Setzer · 1981 3. [Over the Mountain](https://greatestsolos.com/song/ozzy-osbourne-over-the-mountain/) — Ozzy Osbourne · solo by Randy Rhoads · 1981 4. [Stone in Love](https://greatestsolos.com/song/journey-stone-in-love/) — Journey · solo by Neal Schon · 1981 5. [Mean Street](https://greatestsolos.com/song/van-halen-mean-street/) — Van Halen · solo by Eddie Van Halen · 1981 6. [I Love Rock 'n Roll](https://greatestsolos.com/song/joan-jett-and-the-blackhearts-i-love-rock-n-roll/) — Joan Jett & the Blackhearts · solo by Ricky Byrd · 1981 7. [Tom Sawyer](https://greatestsolos.com/song/rush-tom-sawyer/) — Rush · solo by Alex Lifeson · 1981 8. [YYZ](https://greatestsolos.com/song/rush-yyz/) — Rush · solo by Alex Lifeson · 1981 9. [Flying High Again](https://greatestsolos.com/song/ozzy-osbourne-flying-high-again/) — Ozzy Osbourne · solo by Randy Rhoads · 1981 10. [Dark Light](https://greatestsolos.com/song/kiss-dark-light/) — Kiss · solo by Ace Frehley · 1981 11. [Don't Stop Believin'](https://greatestsolos.com/song/journey-don-t-stop-believin/) — Journey · solo by Neal Schon · 1981 12. [Burnin' for You](https://greatestsolos.com/song/blue-oyster-cult-burnin-for-you/) — Blue Öyster Cult · solo by Buck Dharma · 1981 13. [Rock This Town](https://greatestsolos.com/song/stray-cats-rock-this-town/) — Stray Cats · solo by Brian Setzer · 1981 14. [Sólo quiero caminar](https://greatestsolos.com/song/paco-de-lucia-solo-quiero-caminar/) — Paco de Lucía · solo by Paco de Lucía · 1981 15. [Como el agua](https://greatestsolos.com/song/camaron-de-la-isla-como-el-agua/) — Camarón de la Isla · solo by Paco de Lucía, Tomatito · 1981 16. [Rise Above](https://greatestsolos.com/song/black-flag-rise-above/) — Black Flag · solo by Greg Ginn · 1981 17. [867-5309/Jenny](https://greatestsolos.com/song/tommy-tutone-867-5309-jenny/) — Tommy Tutone · solo by Jim Keller · 1981 18. [Youth of America](https://greatestsolos.com/song/wipers-youth-of-america/) — Wipers · solo by Greg Sage · 1981 19. [Hold On Loosely](https://greatestsolos.com/song/38-special-hold-on-loosely/) — 38 Special · solo by Don Barnes & Jeff Carlisi · 1981 20. [Who's Crying Now](https://greatestsolos.com/song/journey-who-s-crying-now/) — Journey · solo by Neal Schon · 1981 --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)