Tennessee has no shortage of places to get pierced. Finding the ones worth trusting is a different matter.
We started with 53 piercing shops across the state that crossed our minimum review threshold, then ranked them using an adjusted Google rating that weighs volume alongside score. A shop sitting at 5.0 stars from a dozen reviews won't outrank one at 4.8 backed by hundreds of them. The math matters because a handful of ratings can swing a score dramatically, while a large pool of reviews tends to tell a more honest story.
No shop paid to appear here. No placements were sold. The list reflects what customers have actually said, scaled by how many of them said it.
Ten shops made the final cut. Knoxville shows up at the top, with Idle Hands Tattoo Studio holding the number one spot. Clarksville claims the next two positions, with Argonaut Tattoo and Piercing Studio and Dark Raine Tattoo rounding out the top three. The rest of the list pulls from other corners of the state.
Whether you're in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, or somewhere smaller, the shops below represent the strongest performers in Tennessee's body piercing scene right now, based entirely on what the numbers show.
No. 1 — Idle Hands Tattoo Studio (Knoxville)
Idle Hands Tattoo Studio in Knoxville tops this list with a perfect 5 stars across 402 Google reviews. The shop handles fine line work, black and grey, and cover-up tattoos alongside piercing services, and reviewers mention walk-ins are genuinely welcome rather than just tolerated. Customers describe the staff as friendly and accommodating from the moment they arrive, and more than one reviewer notes they decided on the spot to make it their regular shop. Reviewers also highlight last-minute requests being handled without friction, which says a lot about how the place actually runs day to day.
No. 2 — Argonaut Tattoo & Piercing Studio (Clarksville)
Argonaut Tattoo & Piercing Studio in Clarksville holds a 5-star rating across 229 Google reviews. Reviewers mention thorough, patient answers to piercing questions, with one customer describing a first daith piercing experience in years as genuinely comfortable. Customers also praise individual artists by name for tattoo work, and reviewers describe the overall service as welcoming. The studio offers custom tattoo designs, realism and portrait work, and piercing services, with online booking available for those who prefer planning ahead. Appointments are required.
No. 3 — Dark Raine Tattoo (Clarksville)
Dark Raine Tattoo in Clarksville holds a 4.9 stars across 999 Google reviews, which is the kind of consistency that's hard to argue with. Reviewers describe the staff as genuinely warm and welcoming, and customers mention the atmosphere, including the music, as part of what keeps them coming back. The shop covers both piercing services and custom tattoo designs. Reviewers also describe the space as exceptionally clean and the work as something worth returning for repeatedly.
No. 4 — Archangel Custom Ink Tattoo & Piercing (Knoxville)
Knoxville's Archangel Custom Ink Tattoo & Piercing holds a 4.9 stars across 803 Google reviews, which is a tough number to argue with. Walk-ins are welcome, and reviewers mention being greeted warmly the moment they step through the door. Customers describe the customer service as a standout part of the visit. Named artists including Creighton, Lonnie, and Courtney come up repeatedly in reviews, with customers saying each delivered exactly what they were looking for. The shop covers both custom tattoo designs and piercing services, giving it a broad enough range to handle most requests in a single stop.
No. 5 — Art & Honor Tattoo & Body Piercing Studio (Jackson)
Jackson's Art & Honor Tattoo & Body Piercing Studio holds 4.9 stars across 502 Google reviews, which is a hard number to argue with. Walk-ins are welcome. Reviewers mention piercer Mia by name more than once, noting she takes time to assess individual anatomy before any work begins and walks clients through what to expect. Customers describe the staff as genuinely attentive to comfort rather than just moving people through the door. Artist Huron Hall also gets a callout for custom tattoo work, with clients describing detailed, personal pieces done with real care.
No. 6 — Roustabout Tattoo And Body Piercing (Cookeville)
Roustabout Tattoo And Body Piercing sits in Cookeville with a 4.9-star rating across 479 Google reviews. The shop runs by appointment only and offers online booking, which reviewers seem to appreciate. Piercing is clearly a draw here. Customers mention a piercer named Seven repeatedly, describing him as gentle and consistent enough that some have driven over an hour specifically to see him. Multiple clients say they return to him for piercing after piercing over the span of years. Reviewers also mention aftercare products alongside American Traditional tattooing and custom designs.
No. 7 — Middle Tennessee Tattoo & Piercing (Murfreesboro)
Middle Tennessee Tattoo & Piercing in Murfreesboro runs on an appointment-only model, and customers say that structure pays off. Reviewers describe artists who walk clients through the whole process, check in throughout, and cover aftercare clearly. The shop holds 4.9 stars across 387 Google reviews. Reviewers call the staff genuinely welcoming, and at least one artist draws repeated praise by name. It's a shop where first-timers and regulars alike seem to leave satisfied.
No. 8 — Studio 222 (Chattanooga)
Studio 222 sits in Chattanooga with a 4.9-star rating across 336 Google reviews, which is a hard number to argue with. Reviewers mention artists who are detail-oriented and easy to work with, and several customers say they've gone back more than once. Walk-ins are welcome, online booking is available, and parking won't be a hassle. Reviewers also describe the space as clean and welcoming. Aftercare products are on hand, and the shop handles both piercing services and custom tattoo designs.
No. 9 — Elite Tattoo (Knoxville)
Elite Tattoo in Knoxville holds a 4.9 stars across 265 Google reviews, which is a strong signal for any shop. Reviewers mention an artist named Cake by name more than once, pointing specifically to her color work as a reason to return. The shop accepts walk-ins and offers piercing services alongside realism and portrait tattooing, plus touch-ups. That said, at least one reviewer described a negative piercing experience tied to questions about the piercer's credentials, so it's worth doing your own research before booking any piercing work here.
No. 10 — Purple Heart Tattoo (Knoxville)
Purple Heart Tattoo sits in Knoxville with a 4.9-star rating across 247 Google reviews. Reviewers mention styles ranging from American Traditional and Japanese work to Black and Grey and Realism portraits, with cover-up tattoos coming up often as well. On the piercing side, customers describe artists who handle nervous clients with patience, including re-piercing work and more advanced placements. Reviewers also describe the shop as warm and welcoming, with artists who take time to shape a concept before picking up a needle. Not a rushed experience, by most accounts.
How this list was made
Shops are ordered by a Bayesian-adjusted rating: (n × rating + 321 × 4.79) ÷ (n + 321), where n is the shop's Google review count, 321 is the median review count across the directory and 4.79 is the directory-wide mean rating. Only shops with at least 25 reviews qualify; ties go to the shop with more reviews. Ratings and review counts come straight from Google, and no shop paid to appear here. The live ranking of every qualifying shop is on the best piercing shops in Tennessee page, and you can browse every studio we track in the state on the Tennessee directory.
Does the top-ranked shop in Knoxville mean that city dominates the list?
Knoxville lands the No. 1 spot with Idle Hands Tattoo Studio, which holds 5 stars across 402 Google reviews. That said, the top 10 pulls from six cities across Tennessee, including Clarksville, Jackson, Cookeville, Murfreesboro, and Chattanooga. No single city sweeps the list, so strong options are spread well beyond Knoxville.
Why doesn't a shop with a perfect 5-star rating automatically rank first?
The rankings use an adjusted rating that weighs review counts alongside the raw score. A shop sitting at 5 stars from a handful of reviews won't outrank one with a slightly lower raw rating backed by hundreds of responses. It's a way of giving more weight to patterns that hold up over time rather than small samples that can shift with a single review.
How often does this ranking change?
Google ratings update continuously as new reviews come in, so the adjusted scores behind these rankings shift over time. A shop sitting just outside the top 10 today could move up, and a current entry could drop if its rating trends change. We recalculate periodically to keep the list current, but always check a shop's live Google rating before making any decisions.