Album · The Pixies
Bossanova by The Pixies
Bossanova is an album by The Pixies, released in 1990. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 36 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Velouria”, on 19 lists with a best position of #5.
Bossanova, the Pixies' third album, landed on August 13, 1990, through 4AD in Britain and Elektra in America, and it trades some of the band's loud-quiet violence for something stranger: surf-guitar twang, a spacey sheen and songs that seem beamed in from somewhere past the moon. Gil Norton produced, and the whole thing hums like a transistor radio tuned to another planet.
Black Francis sings and writes, Joey Santiago's lead guitar does the surfing, Kim Deal plays bass and sings backup, and David Lovering keeps it tight. "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire" were the singles, and both made the US Modern Rock chart, the first reaching 4. Britain, always the warmer home for this band, took the album to number three; America stopped at 70. It came one record before the end: Trompe le Monde followed in 1991, and they broke up in 1993.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Bossanova on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Velouria | 19 | #5 | – | 1990–2023 | |
| 2 | Dig for Fire | 14 | #49 | – | 1990–2022 | |
| 3 | The Happening | 2 | #24 | – | 1990–2003 | |
| 4 | Down to the Well | 1 | #1226 | – | 2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.