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Cover of Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith
Cover: Toys in the Attic

Song · Aerosmith

“Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith

From the album Toys in the Attic (1975)

“Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith appears on 108 radio countdowns from 37 stations between 1982 and 2026. It was first released in 1975 on the album Toys in the Attic. Its best result is #1 on the I-95 Memorial Day Weekend Top 500 (2015), and it was voted number one on five countdowns in total. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,239 indie & aaa song of all time and #277 of the '70s.

108countdowns
37stations
#1best position
5#1 finishes
43top 10 finishes
1982–2026years charted

Watch

Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion

Video from YouTube (AerosmithVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Sweet Emotion" is the sound of Aerosmith finally cracking the code. It sits on Toys in the Attic, their third album, released by Columbia in 1975, and when it came out as a single that May it kicked off a run of hits and big-league success that carried the band through the rest of the '70s. Steven Tyler and bassist Tom Hamilton wrote it, Jack Douglas produced it at the Record Plant, and Douglas and the band worked out the arrangement together.

And what an arrangement. It creeps in on Hamilton's slinky bass line, Joey Kramer's percussion and a rattle of marimba played, of all people, by engineer Jay Messina, then Joe Perry's slide guitar slithers in and the whole band drops the hammer. Brad Whitford chugs alongside Perry, Tyler blows harmonica and bawls out the lead with Perry backing him up, and the riff struts like it owns the whole street.

It never went away. The song is a fixture of classic rock, of Aerosmith's catalog and of their live shows, and when Rolling Stone drew up its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, this one landed at #416.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1982 56 95.5 KLOS KLOS Memorial Day 500 (1982) 499
1990 56 Z-Rock Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) 1000
1991 79 WNEW-FM WNEW Firecracker 500 (1991) 500
1994 5 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) 1000
1995 20 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) 1000
1996 4 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1996 189 WNEW-FM WNEW Firecracker 500 (1996) 500
1997 6 100.7 WZLX WZLX Memorial 500 (1997) 499
1997 2 104.5 KZEP KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997) 500
1997 71 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
1998 6 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1999 9 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2001 1460 WFPK WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time 2000
2001 618 WFPK WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time 2000
2001 57 KISW KISW Top 99 Rock Songs (2001) 99
2002 13 100.7 WZLX WZLX Memorial 500 (2002) 500
2002 6 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) 923
2002 57 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2004 6 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) 923
2007 588 WTMD WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time 897
2010 2 97.9 The Loop The Loop USO Rock 'N' Roll 500 (2010) 500
2010 548 WXPN WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) 885
2011 20 97.9 The Loop The Loop Rock N Roll 500 (2011) 500
2011 10 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2012 26 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2012) 500
2012 10 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2012 168 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) 885
2013 4 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2013 45 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2013) 500
2013 78 KBPI KBPI Top 200 Songs of All Time 200
2013 6 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2013) 500
2013 16 Big 100 BIG 500 Labor Day Countdown (2013) 500
2013 93 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR CT 500 (2013) 500
2014 87 Big 100 BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 2 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 3 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 400 (2014) 400
2015 231 102.9 The Whale 102.9 The Whale Hartford 500 (2015) 500
2015 1 I-95 I-95 Memorial Day Weekend Top 500 (2015) 500
2015 5 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2015 7 101 The Fox 101 The Fox Labor Day 500 (2015) 25
2015 2 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2015) 499
2016 40 103.5 The Fox The Fox Memorial Day 500 (2016) 299
2016 18 102.9 The Whale 102.9 The Whale Hartford 500 (2016) 500
2016 1 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2016) 500
2016 8 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2016 7 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2016) 500
2017 11 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2017) 500
2017 15 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2017) 500
2017 4 97.9 The Loop 97.9 The Loop Top 540 Countdown (2017) 540
2018 9 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2018) 500
2018 16 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2018) 500
2019 14 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2019) 500
2019 133 102.5 KZOK KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 1025
2019 9 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2019) 500
2019 13 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2019) 499
2019 13 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2019) 500
2019 29 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2019) 500
2020 8 Q105.7 Q105.7 Memorial Day 500 (2020) 499
2020 14 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2020) 500
2020 149 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) 1025
2020 7 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2020) 500
2020 12 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2020) 500
2021 10 WCSX WCSX Rock & Roll 500 (2021) 499
2021 23 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2021) 500
2021 1 100.7 KSLX KSLX Arizona 500 (2021) 499
2021 19 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2021) 500
2021 35 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2021) 500
2021 115 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2021 6 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2021) 500
2022 278 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s 908
2022 131 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) 1043
2022 5 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2022) 500
2022 31 97.1 The River River 500 (2022) 500
2022 12 94.1 KRNA KRNA Memorial Day 500 (2022) 500
2022 19 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2022) 500
2022 64 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2022) 500
2022 34 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) 1025
2022 25 100.7 KSLX KSLX Arizona 500 (2022) 500
2022 21 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2022) 500
2023 82 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 1 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2023) 500
2023 94 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) 1043
2023 357 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time 909
2023 2 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 1 97.1 The Drive 97.1 The Drive Memorial Day Weekend Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 106 KSHE 95 KSHE 95 Rock N' Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 7 101.5 WPDH WPDH Top 1015 (2023) 1015
2023 8 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2023) 500
2023 71 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2023) 500
2024 6 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2024) 500
2024 145 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) 1043
2024 2 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2024) 499
2024 3 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2024) 498
2024 18 KSHE 95 KSHE 95 Rock N' Roll 500 (2024) 500
2024 571 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2024 4 KQRS KQRS KQ 500 (2024) 499
2024 6 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2024) 500
2024 46 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2024) 500
2025 54 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2025) 500
2025 12 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2025) 500
2025 107 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) 1043
2025 5 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2025) 500
2025 7 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2025) 498
2025 54 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2025) 500
2026 114 100.7 KSLX KSLX Arizona 500 (2026) 500
2026 21 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2026) 500
2026 85 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2026) 500
2026 57 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2026) 500
2026 101 KSHE 95 KSHE 95 U-Man 500 (2026) 499

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