Artist · chart history
Alt J
Band Leeds United Kingdom Formed 2007 English indie‐rock band
Alt J formed in 2007 in Leeds, United Kingdom. Alt J has 158 chart appearances on 102 radio countdowns from 32 stations on RockLists, spanning 2012–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Breezeblocks”, which appears on 37 lists with a best position of #2. The station that charted Alt J most often is The Current (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN), with 13 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2014.
Alt-J came together in Leeds, four tinkerers who stitched folk, electronics and indie rock into something that sounded like nothing else in 2012: Joe Newman on guitar and his strange, nasal lead vocal, Gus Unger-Hamilton on keyboards, Thom Green on drums, and Gwil Sainsbury on guitar and bass.
An Awesome Wave, the debut on Infectious, was a puzzle box of a record. "Breezeblocks" clatters and coos its way to a desperate climax, "Tessellate" slinks along on skeletal beats and geometry, and "Fitzpleasure" snaps from a murmur into a fuzzed-out lurch. It won the Mercury Prize, a pretty good result for a record this odd.
This Is All Yours arrived in 2014 and debuted at the top of the British chart, carried by the bluesy stomp of "Left Hand Free", along with "Every Other Freckle" and the brooding "Hunger Of The Pine". Relaxer came in 2017 with "In Cold Blood" and "Deadcrush", and The Dream in 2022 brought "U&ME" and "Hard Drive Gold", proof that the weirdness hadn't worn off.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Alt J on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breezeblocks | 37 | #2 | – | 2013 | |
| 2 | Left Hand Free | 30 | #2 | – | 2014 | |
| 3 | Tessellate | 16 | #12 | – | 2013 | |
| 4 | In Cold Blood | 14 | #25 | – | 2017 | |
| 5 | Every Other Freckle | 11 | #7 | – | 2014 | |
| 6 | U&ME | 13 | #13 | – | 2021 | |
| 7 | Fitzpleasure | 12 | #18 | – | 2012 | |
| 8 | Hunger Of The Pine | 9 | #19 | – | 2014 | |
| 9 | Hard Drive Gold | 7 | #10 | – | 2022 | |
| 10 | Deadcrush | 4 | #64 | – | 2017 | |
| 11 | Dissolve Me | 2 | #255 | – | – | |
| 12 | Intro | 1 | #504 | – | – | |
| 13 | Something Good | 1 | #81 | – | 2012 | |
| 14 | 3WW | 1 | #86 | – | 2017 |
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.
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