Song · Amy Winehouse
“Tears Dry on Their Own” by Amy Winehouse
From the album Back to Black (2006)
“Tears Dry on Their Own” by Amy Winehouse appears on 11 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2007 and 2025. It was first released in 2006 on the album Back to Black. Its best result is #80 on the WBER Listener Countdown 2007. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #260 alternative song of 2007 and #6,847 alternative song of all time.
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Amy Winehouse wrote the tune and the words of "Tears Dry on Their Own" for Back to Black, her 2006 album, but the groove underneath is borrowed soul gold: it interpolates "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", the Ashford & Simpson song Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell cut in 1967. Salaam Remi produced it and plays bass, guitar and piano, Vincent Henry piles on saxophones, clarinet, flute and celesta, Bruce Purse brings trumpet and flugelhorn, and Troy Auxilly-Wilson keeps time on drums and tambourine, with Winehouse stacking her own backing vocals on top.
It went out as the album's fourth single in August 2007, after "Back to Black" and before "Valerie", and it has kept turning up since: the slow ballad version she first wrote surfaced on Lioness: Hidden Treasures in 2011, the song featured in the 2015 documentary Amy, and Skepta sampled it for his 2023 tribute to her.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 86 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2007 | 100 |
| 2007 | 89 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 2007 | 107 |
| 2007 | 80 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2007 | 129 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1919 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1902 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1941 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 2003 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2013 | 266 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2022 | 738 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 159 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 509 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
Also listed as: Tears Dry on their Own; Tears Dry On Their Own.
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