Song · B.B. King
“The Thrill Is Gone” by B.B. King
From the album Milk Cow Blues (2000)
“The Thrill Is Gone” by B.B. King appears on 12 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 2000 on the album Milk Cow Blues. Its best result is #45 on the WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #222 indie & aaa song of all time.
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B.B. King cut "The Thrill Is Gone" in June 1969 for Completely Well, taking a slow, minor-key blues that West Coast bluesman Roy Hawkins had written with Darnell back in 1951 and dressing it in something nobody expected: slick production and a sweep of strings, a real break from the original and from King's own earlier records. Underneath, it's still a 12-bar blues in B minor, and King lets every line hang in the air before the next one lands.
BluesWay put it out as a single in December 1969, and it reached number three on Billboard's soul singles chart and number 15 on the Hot 100, a major hit in 1970 that ranks with the biggest records he ever made and became his calling card. Bill Szymczyk produced it. King's version did much to turn the song into a blues standard, and in June 2026 CBS News counted it among 250 songs it called essential to the American story across 250 years.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 45 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 127 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 455 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 171 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 182 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2012 | 160 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2014 | 239 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2018 | 460 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 620 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 76 | WYEP | WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown | 168 |
| 2023 | 243 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2026 | 297 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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