Album · The National
Boxer by The National
Boxer is an album by The National, released in 2007. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 39 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Fake Empire”, on 24 lists with a best position of #34.
Boxer, the National's fourth album, came out on Beggars Banquet on May 22, 2007, and it's the sound of the Cincinnati band, formed in Brooklyn, turning restraint into an art. Aaron Dessner produced, and he and his twin Bryce weave guitar and piano into something stately and unhurried, while Bryan Devendorf's drums and his brother Scott's bass keep a nervous pulse underneath. Matt Berninger murmurs in a low, rumpled voice, and from this record on his wife Carin Besser was writing lyrics alongside him.
"Fake Empire" builds from a hush into a slow, glowing swell, and "Mistaken for Strangers" gives the record its itchiest groove. It entered the Billboard 200 at a modest number 68, but it widened the band's audience a great deal, and a year later Vincent Moon's documentary A Skin, A Night showed how it was made.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Boxer on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fake Empire | 24 | #34 | – | 2007–2026 | |
| 2 | Mistaken for Strangers | 13 | #44 | – | 2007–2025 | |
| 3 | Start A War | 1 | #625 | – | 2013 | |
| 4 | Slow Show | 1 | #1874 | – | 2020 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.