Artist · chart history
Alabama Shakes
Band Athens United States Formed 2009
Alabama Shakes formed in 2009 in Athens, United States. Alabama Shakes has 136 chart appearances on 78 radio countdowns from 32 stations on RockLists, spanning 2011–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Hold On”, which appears on 38 lists and was voted number one once. In total the artist has topped 4 countdowns. The station that charted Alabama Shakes most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 19 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2012.
Alabama Shakes formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009, and they arrived sounding like a band that had paid its dues. They had: they spent two years working bars and clubs across the Southeast, honing a raw mix of Southern soul, blues and garage rock around Brittany Howard, a singer and guitarist with a voice that can purr, crack and then blow the roof off, with Heath Fogg on guitar, Zac Cockrell on bass and Steve Johnson on drums.
They cut their debut with producer Andrija Tokic in Nashville before any label had signed them, and when online buzz caught up, ATO Records did. "Hold On", first heard on a 2011 EP alongside "I Found You", is the one that did it: a slow-building soul stomp with Howard pleading and growling over a groove that refuses to hurry, and it picked up 3 Grammy nominations. Boys & Girls, out in 2012, added "Hang Loose" and "I Ain't The Same".
Sound & Color in 2015 was a bold leap, weirder and more spacious, and it opened at the top of the Billboard 200 and collected 3 Grammys, including Best Rock Song for "Dont Wanna Fight", a jittery funk workout. "Gimme All Your Love" and "Future People" kept the psychedelic soul flowing. After a long hiatus while Howard went solo, the band returned with I Must Be Dreaming in 2026 and "Another Life".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Alabama Shakes on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hold On | 38 | #1 | 1 | 2012 | |
| 2 | Dont Wanna Fight | 26 | #1 | 2 | 2015 | |
| 3 | Another Life | 14 | #3 | – | 2025 | |
| 4 | Sound & Color | 15 | #20 | – | 2016 | |
| 5 | Gimme All Your Love | 11 | #1 | 1 | 2015 | |
| 6 | Hang Loose | 11 | #16 | – | 2012 | |
| 7 | I Ain't The Same | 10 | #18 | – | 2012 | |
| 8 | Future People | 5 | #25 | – | 2015 | |
| 9 | I Found You | 2 | #90 | – | 2012 | |
| 10 | Always Alright | 1 | #549 | – | – | |
| 11 | Boys & Girls | 1 | #154 | – | 2012 | |
| 12 | You Ain't Alone | 1 | #159 | – | 2012 | |
| 13 | Shoegaze | 1 | #94 | – | 2015 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Alabama Shakes.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.