Artist · chart history · #185 in indie & aaa artist polls

Belle & Sebastian

Band Glasgow United Kingdom Formed 1996

Belle & Sebastian formed in 1996 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Belle & Sebastian has 88 chart appearances on 59 radio countdowns from 18 stations on RockLists, spanning 1996–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Step Into My Office, Baby”, which appears on 9 lists with a best position of #11. The station that charted Belle & Sebastian most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 17 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2015.

88appearances

59countdowns

33songs charted

18stations

0#1 finishes

1996–2026years

Belle & Sebastian have been Glasgow's great shy-kid band since 1996, the vehicle for Stuart Murdoch's wry, bookish songs and a sound that gets compared to the Smiths and Nick Drake as often as it gets hugged by its fans. Even the name is a sly bit of literature: it came from a short story Murdoch wrote about a boy and a girl, its title a nod to the 1965 television series Belle and Sebastian.

The early records on If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy With the Arab Strap are hushed and wistful, all brushed drums, Isobel Campbell's cello, Sarah Martin's violin and Mick Cooke's trumpet, with Stevie Jackson's guitar and Chris Geddes' keys filling in the corners. "Lazy Line Painter Jane" and "The Boy With the Arab Strap" are chamber pop you could hum on the bus.

Then they learned to strut. Dear Catastrophe Waitress in 2003 brightened everything, from the jaunty "Step Into My Office, Baby" to "Stay Loose", and The Life Pursuit in 2006 went full glam-soul on "White Collar Boy", Richard Colburn's drums finally allowed to swing. Campbell and bassist Stuart David had moved on by then, but the band barely broke stride, and Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance in 2015 even took them to the disco with "The Party Line".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Belle & Sebastian on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Step Into My Office, Baby	577	9	#11	–	2003
2	The Party Line	416	9	#25	–	2015
3	White collar Boy	364	8	#38	–	2006
4	The State I'm In	188	4	#28	–	1996
5	Stay Loose	176	9	#43	–	2004
6	The Boy With The Arab Strap	151	6	#3	–	1998
7	Lazy Line Painter Jane	139	3	#5	–	1997
8	Unnecessary Drama	138	2	#3	–	2022
9	The Blues Are Still Blue	111	3	#144	–	–
10	Like Dylan In The Movies	105	3	#462	–	–
11	Another Sunny Day	104	4	#77	–	2006
12	I'm Waking Up To Us	103	2	#32	–	2002
13	Your Cover's Blown	91	2	#240	–	–
14	Talk to Me, Talk to Me	79	1	#43	–	2023
15	Jonathan David	68	1	#17	–	2001
16	Dog On Wheels	65	1	#12	–	1997
17	You Send Me (Live At Peel Acres)	62	1	#20	–	2002
18	I Want The World To Stop	62	2	#64	–	2010
19	The Stars Of Track And Field	54	1	#415	–	–
20	Sleep The Clock Around	50	1	#26	–	1998
21	Funny Little Frog	49	2	#592	–	–
22	I'll Be Your Pilot	44	1	#51	–	2018
23	Seeing Other People	40	1	#534	–	–
24	Blues Are Still Blue, The	35	1	#575	–	–
25	Sukie In The Graveyard	33	1	#602	–	–
26	Piazza, New York Catcher	30	2	#699	–	–
27	We Were Beautiful	27	1	#67	–	2017
28	The State That I Am In	26	1	#653	–	–
29	The Fox In The Snow	6	1	#839	–	–
30	Write About Love	5	1	#676	–	–
31	(I Believe In) Travellin' Light	5	1	#840	–	–
32	Fought In A War	4	1	#49	–	2000
33	I Don't Know What You See In Me	1	1	#90	–	2023

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.

96 97 98 00 01 02 03 04 06 10 14 15 17 18 22 23

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2026	495	Step Into My Office, Baby	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound
2025	792	The Blues Are Still Blue	893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now
2025	660	The Party Line	The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs
2025	676	Write About Love	WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far)
2025	688	Another Sunny Day	The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs
2024	144	The Blues Are Still Blue	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century
2024	300	Step Into My Office, Baby	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century
2024	680	The Party Line	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century
2024	810	Like Dylan In The Movies	WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years
2024	875	The Boy With The Arab Strap	WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years
2024	437	The State I'm In	The Best Opening Tracks of All Time
2024	810	Piazza, New York Catcher	WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024)
2023	43	Talk to Me, Talk to Me	KALX 200 Most Played New Songs in 2023
2023	90	I Don't Know What You See In Me	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2023
2023	415	The Stars Of Track And Field	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s
2023	462	Like Dylan In The Movies	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s
2023	534	Seeing Other People	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s
2023	839	The Fox In The Snow	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s
2022	3	Unnecessary Drama	WXPN Top 100 Most Played Songs of 2022
2022	55	Unnecessary Drama	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2022
2022	178	Step Into My Office, Baby	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time
2022	481	Step Into My Office, Baby	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s
2022	500	Another Sunny Day	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s
2022	558	The State I'm In	The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s
2022	599	Like Dylan In The Movies	The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s
2022	767	Funny Little Frog	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s
2022	792	The Blues Are Still Blue	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s
2019	236	The State I'm In	KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time
2019	557	Lazy Line Painter Jane	KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time
2018	51	I'll Be Your Pilot	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2018
2018	147	Step Into My Office, Baby	WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018
2018	602	Sukie In The Graveyard	WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018
2017	67	We Were Beautiful	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2017
2016	409	The Party Line	WYEP 913 Countdown 2016
2015	75	The Party Line	CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2015
2015	25	The Party Line	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015
2015	26	The Party Line	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2015
2015	32	The Party Line	WBER Listener Countdown 2015
2015	49	The Party Line	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2015
2014	82	The Party Line	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2014
2014	1287	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)
2014	1773	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)
2013	1232	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)
2013	1695	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)
2013	575	Blues Are Still Blue, The	WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013)
2013	592	Funny Little Frog	WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013)
2013	618	Another Sunny Day	WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013)
2013	699	Piazza, New York Catcher	WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013)
2011	1171	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)
2011	1628	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)
2010	64	I Want The World To Stop	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2010
2010	68	I Want The World To Stop	Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2010
2010	1133	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)
2010	1561	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)
2010	840	(I Believe In) Travellin' Light	WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010)
2009	1094	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)
2009	1530	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)
2009	204	Step Into My Office, Baby	WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade
2009	653	The State That I Am In	WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009)
2008	1167	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)
2008	1654	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)
2007	964	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)
2007	1578	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)
2006	38	White collar Boy	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2006
2006	77	Another Sunny Day	Y100 Top 88.5 Songs of 2006
2006	240	Your Cover's Blown	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006)
2006	412	The Boy With The Arab Strap	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006)
2006	188	Artist ranking	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Artists (2006)
2005	309	Your Cover's Blown	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005)
2005	448	The Boy With The Arab Strap	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005)
2004	74	Stay Loose	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2004
2003	53	Step Into My Office, Baby	91X Top 91 Songs of 2003
2003	11	Step Into My Office, Baby	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003
2003	43	Stay Loose	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003
2003	64	Step Into My Office, Baby	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003
2003	463	The Boy With The Arab Strap	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003)
2002	20	You Send Me (Live At Peel Acres)	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2002
2002	79	I'm Waking Up To Us	WBER Listener Countdown 2002
2002	490	The Boy With The Arab Strap	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002)
2001	17	Jonathan David	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2001
2001	32	I'm Waking Up To Us	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2001
2000	49	Fought In A War	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2000
2000	31	Lazy Line Painter Jane	John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (2000)
1998	3	The Boy With The Arab Strap	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998
1998	26	Sleep The Clock Around	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998
1997	5	Lazy Line Painter Jane	John Peel's 'Pretty' Festive Thirty-One of 1997
1997	12	Dog On Wheels	John Peel's 'Pretty' Festive Thirty-One of 1997
1996	28	The State I'm In	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1996

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