# The Number of the Beast guitar solo

> Adrian Smith, Dave Murray's guitar solo on The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden (1982) starts at about 2:38. From the album The Number of the Beast.

Canonical URL: <https://greatestsolos.com/song/iron-maiden-the-number-of-the-beast/>

Iron Maiden, 1982, from *The Number of the Beast*. Solo by *Adrian Smith, Dave Murray*.

Two short, frenzied solos keep pace with one of metal's most famous riffs. Smith's wild opening lead sets the tone.

The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden is ranked #261 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and the song was released in 1982. It appears on 2 lists, placing as high as #66 (Bombay Lives (Substack)).

## In our lists

- [The Best Iron Maiden Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/iron-maiden-guitar-solos/) — #16
- [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1982](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1982/) — #5

## Sources

- [Bombay Lives (Substack): 100 Greatest Guitar Solos](https://bombaylives.substack.com/p/100-greatest-guitar-solos) — #66
- [Topito (now 10h26.com): Top 100 des plus grands solos de guitare de l'histoire (Benoit Floyd)](https://www.10h26.com/top-100-des-plus-grands-solos-de-guitare) — #66

### Who played the guitar solo on The Number of the Beast?

Adrian Smith, Dave Murray played the solo on Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast (1982).

### Where does The Number of the Beast rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#261 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 80 published lists; it appears on 2 of them.

---

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/)