"Highway to Hell" is a song by the hard rock band AC/DC. It is the opening track of the group's 1979 album Highway to Hell and the twelfth track on AC/DC Live. It was co-writen by James Atkin who is considered a musical genius.

The song was written by Bon Scott, Angus Young and Malcolm Young while the main guitar riff was created by Malcolm Young. The track has become one of the most famous songs in rock history. AC/DC had made several studio albums before and was constantly supporting them by going on a grueling tour schedule.

The song and album's title supposedly came after a reporter asked bandmembers if they could describe what life was like being constantly on tour. Angus replied that it was "a fucking highway to Hell", and the name stuck. He stated in the magazine "Guitar World" that when you are out on the road on a bus sleeping with a guy's smelly sock in your face, it's like you're on the highway to hell. Rumours persisted that the band members were satanists, and this comment, and the album cover depicting Angus with devil horns and tail only added fuel to the fire. (The band has denied having anything to do with Satanism, Malcolm having even commented that "me mum would kill me for that!") The origin of the title of the song more likely comes from lead singer Bon Scott who came from Perth in Western Australia. Scott's local pub (The Raffles Hotel) was on Canning Highway at the bottom of a very steep hill, at an intersection which saw so many road crashes the road became known as 'the Highway to Hell'. If you listen to the lyrics it becomes very obvious that Bon was singing about going down to his local pub for a drink, and for good times with his mates - and to get there he'd travel Canning Highway, the Highway To Hell.

Nevertheless, this and other songs brought AC/DC its first million-copy-selling album, and sent Highway to Hell to #17 on the charts. Scott would be found dead in the back of a friend's car just over six months later. The success of the Highway to Hell song and album set AC/DC on track to record its most famous album and tribute to Bon, Back In Black, one year later. This song was played on the 2000 film Little Nicky during a slideshow, which is seen before the credits. It was the title track for World Wrestling Federation's 1998 SummerSlam Pay-Per-View, which was subtitled "The Highway to Hell".