Song · Blur
“Tender” by Blur
From the album 13 (1999)
“Tender” by Blur appears on 19 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1999 and 2025. It was first released in 1999 on the album 13. Its best result is #40 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #86 alternative song of 1999 and #3,792 alternative song of all time.
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"Tender" opened the 13 era for Blur as the album's lead single in 1999, and it's a slow, gathering lament. The four members wrote it together, with Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon supplying the words about Albarn's split from Justine Frischmann, then fronting Elastica.
William Orbit produced it, and he keeps it loose and churchy: Albarn on acoustic guitar, Coxon adding banjo and electric guitar, Alex James thumping double bass, Dave Rowntree tapping out a slow shuffle. Albarn and Coxon trade the lead vocal, and the London Community Gospel Choir lifts the whole thing toward the rafters, turning a private heartbreak into a hymn. It became Blur's 11th top-10 single in the UK, stalling at number two. Frischmann later told The Observer that the song made her cry the first time she heard it.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 55 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1999 | 101 |
| 1999 | 85 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1999 | 100 |
| 1999 | 45 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 99 Songs of 1999 | 99 |
| 1999 | 45 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 1999 | 101 |
| 1999 | 40 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999 | 50 |
| 1999 | 57 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1999 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 968 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 2000 | 1852 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1811 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2001 | 207 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2002 | 1798 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1778 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1778 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1778 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2016 | 830 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2020 | 1512 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2023 | 612 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2024 | 505 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2025 | 82 | Absolute Radio | Absolute Radio 100 Ultimate Britpop Anthems | 100 |
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