Album · The National
Sleep Well Beast by The National
Sleep Well Beast is an album by The National, released in 2017. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 30 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”, on 20 lists with a best position of #4.
Sleep Well Beast, the seventh album from The National, came out on 4AD on September 8, 2017, with Aaron Dessner in the producer's chair. The band is still the two sets of brothers, twins Aaron and Bryce Dessner on guitars, piano and keyboards, Scott Devendorf on bass and Bryan Devendorf on drums, behind Matt Berninger's rumbling baritone, with Carin Besser writing lyrics alongside her husband as she had since Boxer.
This time the gloom gets wired up: glitchy electronics and restless drum programming creep in around the piano and the slow-burning guitars, and when the band does cut loose, on the nervy "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", the guitar solo sounds like it has been waiting years to get out. "Day I Die" and "Dark Side of the Gym" also made the countdowns. After the Grammy nomination for Trouble Will Find Me, this one went all the way and won Best Alternative Music Album.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Sleep Well Beast on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness | 20 | #4 | – | 2017–2026 | |
| 2 | Day I Die | 9 | #2 | – | 2017–2018 | |
| 3 | Dark Side of the Gym | 1 | #89 | – | 2017 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.