"Chop Suey!" is a song by the American heavy metal band System of a Down. It was released on August 13, 2001, as the first single from their second album, Toxicity (2001). The single earned the band its first Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Metal Performance at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. "Chop Suey!" is often considered the band's signature song. Its music video has reached one billion views on YouTube.
Music and lyrics
The song's lyrics have been described as surrealist. In an interview, System of a Down's guitarist, Daron Malakian, explained, "The song is about how we are regarded differently depending on how we pass. Everyone deserves to die. Like, if I were now to die from drug abuse, they might say I deserved it because I abused dangerous drugs. Hence the line, 'I cry when angels deserve to die.'" The lyrics for the midsection ("Father into your hands I commend my spirit", from the sayings of Jesus on the cross) were randomly picked by the singer, Serj Tankian, from the producer Rick Rubin's book collection after Tankian was struggling for ideas.
Musically, the song is characterized by "sonic whiplash," containing what are described as "slash-and-burn verses and a surprisingly melodic chorus." Serj Tankian's vocal delivery has been said to have the "precision of a drill sergeant."
The song's title never appears in the lyrics.
Song title
The song was originally titled either "Suicide" (according to the bassist, Shavo Odadjian) or "Self-Righteous Suicide" (according to producer Rick Rubin), but the name was changed in response to real or anticipated pushback from Columbia Records. According to an online interview with Odadjian, the song title is a wordplay as he said: "Chop Suey" is "suicide" "chopped" in half. Loudwire and Kerrang! both named it as System of a Down's best song. In 2017, Annie Zaleski of Spin named it the fourth best nu metal track of all time. In March 2023, Rolling Stone ranked "Chop Suey!" at number 37 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list. As of September 2025, "Chop Suey!" has 1.7 billion streams on Spotify, making it System of a Down's most-streamed song.
Controversy
"Chop Suey!" was the first single from Toxicity, an album that was at number one on the Billboard 200 chart during the week of the September 11 attacks. A controversy surrounding the single, especially the line <nowiki>'</nowiki>"I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide"<nowiki>'</nowiki>, at the time led to Clear Channel Radio placing the song on a list of titles considered inappropriate following 9/11. Although it was never actually banned from the air, radio stations were advised against playing any of the songs on the list.
Track listing
Commercial performance
"Chop Suey!" was a moderate success on the charts. In Australia, after hitting No. 3 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2001, with virtually no airplay on commercial radio, it debuted and peaked at No. 14 in February 2002. It is System of a Down's highest-charting single in Australia. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 76, making it the band's lowest peaking song on the Billboard Hot 100 due to the fact it was taken off the radio for its political lyrics. On the Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Chop Suey!" peaked at No. 7, becoming the band's first top ten single. On the UK Singles Chart, it debuted and peaked at No. 17.
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ Weekly chart performance for "Chop Suey!"
!Chart (2001–2002)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|-
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!scope="row"|Canada (Billboard)
|align="center"|21
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
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{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+2025 weekly chart performance for "Chop Suey!"
!Chart (2025)
!Peak<br />position
|-
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! scope="row"| Portugal (AFP)
| 181
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2001 year-end chart performance for "Chop Suey!"
!Chart (2001)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Canada (Billboard)
|183
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2002 year-end chart performance for "Chop Suey!"
!scope="col"|Chart (2002)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Canada (Billboard)
| 165
|}
Decade-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+
! scope="col"|Chart (2025–2026)
! scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Russia Streaming (TopHit)
| 180
|-
|}
Certifications
Lil Uzi Vert version
On June 30, 2023, American rapper and singer Lil Uzi Vert released a cover of "Chop Suey!", titled "CS", as a part of their third studio album, Pink Tape.
Serj Tankian posted on Facebook: "Covers are always the biggest compliment to artists and songwriters." The bassist, Shavo Odadjian, also reacted positively to the cover on Instagram.