Beat It — Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen's guest solo on Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' is a landmark moment that brought shredding guitar to the mainstream, reportedly recorded in a single take as a favor. It outperforms #9 Mark Knopfler's 'Sultans of Swing' in raw speed and technical audacity, featuring a blistering 16th-note run at 140 BPM that redefined pop production. Van Halen's signature tapping technique and aggressive attack create a 25-second explosion of sound, contrasting with the song's polished pop backdrop, and the solo is 30% faster than the typical early 1980s guitar solo. At no cost to Jackson, Van Halen delivered a performance proving technical prowess could coexist with commercial success; its unexpected entry with a volume swell and dive-bomb broke genre barriers, inspiring countless players to push their limits.