Artist · chart history
Big Wreck
Band Boston Canada Formed 1993
Big Wreck formed in 1993 in Boston, Canada. Big Wreck has 20 chart appearances on 11 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1998–2012. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “That Song”, which appears on 5 lists with a best position of #56. The station that charted Big Wreck most often is CFNY 102.1 The Edge (Toronto, ON), with 17 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2012.
Big Wreck was born in Boston, but its heart is Canadian: Ian Thornley and Brian Doherty put it together there and filled it out with bassist David Henning and drummer Forrest Williams. Thornley sings and plays guitar with the flash and weight of an old-school guitar hero, and Doherty's guitar gives him plenty to push against.
In Loving Memory Of..., in 1997, was the one that got them noticed: "That Song" grinds and wails on a thick, bluesy riff, "The Oaf (My Luck Is Wasted)" snarls, and "Blown Wide Open" and "Under the Lighthouse" show off Thornley's range. The Pleasure and the Greed followed in 2001 with "Inhale", but the band came apart soon after, and Thornley went off to front a new band under his own name.
The two founders patched things up in 2010 for a cross-Canada tour that mixed songs from both bands, and in 2012 the Big Wreck name came back for Albatross, with its title track and "Wolves". The records have kept coming since, from Ghosts (2014) and Grace Street (2017) through ...But for the Sun (2019) to 7 (2023), and The Rest of the Story arrived in 2025.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Big Wreck on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | That Song | 5 | #56 | – | – | |
| 2 | The Oaf (My Luck Is Wasted) | 7 | #57 | – | 1998 | |
| 3 | Blown Wide Open | 3 | #120 | – | – | |
| 4 | Albatross | 2 | #27 | – | 2012 | |
| 5 | Under The Lighthouse | 1 | #814 | – | – | |
| 6 | Wolves | 1 | #49 | – | 2012 | |
| 7 | Inhale | 1 | #30 | – | 2001 |
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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