Song · Bloc Party
“The Prayer” by Bloc Party
From the album A Weekend in the City (2007)
“The Prayer” by Bloc Party appears on 14 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2006 and 2022. It was first released in 2007 on the album A Weekend in the City. Its best result is #20 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2007. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #84 alternative song of 2007 and #2,414 alternative song of all time.
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"The Prayer" was the lead single from Bloc Party's second album, A Weekend in the City, in 2007 (everywhere except America, which got "I Still Remember" first), and it's a jolt: tribal, stomping drums, chanted vocals and jagged guitar, like a nightclub seen from the inside of somebody's racing head. Kele Okereke has said Busta Rhymes' "Touch It" set him off, and he talked up the track's crunk-style punch; the words circle drug use on nights out.
Jacknife Lee produced and did extra engineering, Tom McFall engineered, and Cenzo Townshend mixed, and all four members, Okereke, Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong, share the writing credit. It went on to become the band's highest-charting single around the world.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 65 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2006 | 100 |
| 2007 | 79 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2007 | 106 |
| 2007 | 81 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2007 | 100 |
| 2007 | 20 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2007 | 101 |
| 2007 | 30 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2007 | 129 |
| 2007 | 34 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2007 | 60 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1143 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1096 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 981 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 925 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 954 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 991 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 1043 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
| 2022 | 364 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
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