Artist · chart history · #74 in indie & aaa artist polls
B.B. King
Solo artist Berclair United States
B.B. King is an artist from Berclair. B.B. King has 18 chart appearances on 14 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 2001–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “The Thrill Is Gone”, which appears on 12 lists with a best position of #45. The station that charted B.B. King most often is WYEP (Pittsburgh, PA), with 7 appearances.
B.B. King, born Riley King in 1925 in the Mississippi Delta, taught himself guitar and cut his teeth in juke joints and on local radio before settling into Memphis and later Chicago. What he built from there changed the instrument: a way of soloing that leaned on fluid string bends, a trembling vibrato and sharp staccato picking, so that a single note on his guitar Lucille could carry as much feeling as a whole verse. Generations of electric blues players learned from it.
He also worked the road relentlessly, averaging more than 200 shows a year well into his 70s; in 1956 alone he played 342 dates. The honors piled up to match. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award both came in 1987, followed by the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006, the National Medal of Arts and a place in the Blues Hall of Fame.
"The Thrill Is Gone" remains the song people reach for first, and the version on Milk Cow Blues shows why: slow, aching and unhurried, it lets that vibrato do all the talking. He died in 2015, still known as the King of the Blues.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by B.B. King on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Thrill Is Gone | 12 | #45 | – | – | |
| 2 | Let The Good Times Roll | 1 | #33 | – | – | |
| 3 | How Blue Can You Get (live) | 1 | #515 | – | – | |
| 4 | How Blue Can You Get? | 1 | #1733 | – | – | |
| 5 | Six Silver Strings | 1 | #1778 | – | – | |
| 6 | Everday I Have the Blues | 1 | #844 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with B.B. King as a guest.
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