Song · Adele
“Chasing Pavements” by Adele
From the album 19 (2008)
“Chasing Pavements” by Adele appears on 16 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 2008 and 2026. It was first released in 2008 on the album 19. Its best result is #12 on the WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #60 indie & aaa song of 2008, #837 indie & aaa song of all time and #57 of the '00s.
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"Chasing Pavements" was the second single from Adele's debut album, 19, out in January 2008, and it's a slow-burning torch song of real poise. She wrote it with her producer, Eg White, after a public row and a breakup with an older man, and it circles the question of whether to keep chasing something that's clearly going nowhere. White keeps the arrangement lush but uncluttered, the London Studio Orchestra's strings swell behind her, Tom Elmhirst mixed, and Adele's voice does the rest.
Critics praised the lyrics, the production and the singing alike. It reached number two in the UK and went triple platinum there, topped the chart in Norway, and at the 51st Grammy Awards it won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, with nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 12 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
| 2008 | 64 | 103.1 The River Kalispell-Flathead Valley, MT | 103.1 The River Top 103 of 2008 | 103 |
| 2009 | 12 | 106.1 The Corner Charlottesville, VA | 106.1 The Corner Top 106 Songs of 2009 | 106 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 112 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 567 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2013 | 19 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2014 | 415 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2018 | 12 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2022 | 268 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 959 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 442 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 61 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 170 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 89 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 153 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 893 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: Chasing Pavement.
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