Song · Black Sabbath
“The Wizard” by Black Sabbath
From the album Black Sabbath (1970)
“The Wizard” by Black Sabbath appears on 15 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1990 and 2025. It was first released in 1970 on the album Black Sabbath. Its best result is #176 on the KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,575 classic rock song of all time.
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Black Sabbath's self-titled 1970 album had room for something almost sunny, and "The Wizard" is it: a song about a wizard whose magic lifts the spirits of the people he crosses paths with. Geezer Butler, the band's bassist and lyricist, told Metal Sludge in 2005 that Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings was the spark. The writing credit is split four ways, and all four are on the tape: Tony Iommi on electric guitar, Butler on bass, Bill Ward on drums and percussion, and Ozzy Osbourne singing lead and wailing on harmonica, with Rodger Bain producing.
In France it was the band's first single, backed with "Evil Woman", the song many other countries got as the A-side, and it also rode along on the B-side of the 1970 single "Paranoid".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 654 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 1994 | 318 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 221 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 1996 | 272 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) | 1000 |
| 1998 | 176 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 210 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) | 998 |
| 2002 | 581 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2012 | 566 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) | 1200 |
| 2013 | 903 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 763 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2015 | 912 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) | 1007 |
| 2016 | 843 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 | 1007 |
| 2020 | 620 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2022 | 628 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) | 1025 |
| 2025 | 692 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) | 1043 |
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