Song · Adele
“Set Fire To The Rain” by Adele
From the album 21 (2011)
“Set Fire To The Rain” by Adele appears on 16 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 2011 and 2025. It was first released in 2011 on the album 21. Its best result is #19 on the WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2012. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #389 alternative song of 2011.
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Video from YouTube (AdeleVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Adele wrote "Set Fire to the Rain" with Fraser T. Smith for 21, her second album, released in 2011, and Smith produced it. It stands apart from most of that record: where the rest keeps the arrangements spare, this one is a full-blown pop power ballad, lush and swelling, with strings rising like floodwater behind her.
The voice is the whole show, and critics lined up to praise it. It gave her a third straight number one in the US from the album, and Billboard's readers voted it their favorite chart-topper of 2012. No proper video was ever made, so a performance from Live at the Royal Albert Hall stood in on YouTube, and that live take won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 57 | WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD | WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2011 | 104 |
| 2011 | 38 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2011 | 89 |
| 2011 | 42 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2011 | 50 |
| 2011 | 37 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2011 | 100 |
| 2011 | 22 | ALT 104.5 Philadelphia, PA | Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2011 | 51 |
| 2012 | 19 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2012 | 50 |
| 2012 | 21 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2012 | 107 |
| 2012 | 49 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2012 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 56 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2014 | 551 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2019 | 214 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2019 | 214 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2020 | 815 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2024 | 174 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 895 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 244 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
Also listed as: Set Fire to The Rain; Set Fire to the Rain.
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