Artist · chart history
Boy & Bear
Band Sydney Australia Formed 2009
Boy & Bear formed in 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Boy & Bear has 42 chart appearances on 30 radio countdowns from 13 stations on RockLists, spanning 2010–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Southern Sun”, which appears on 17 lists with a best position of #2. The station that charted Boy & Bear most often is Triple J (Australia (national)), with 9 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2014.
Boy & Bear came together in Sydney in 2009 and took their name, in a roundabout way, from Randy Newman's song "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear". The lineup is Dave Hosking and Killian Gavin on vocals and guitars, Tim Hart on drums, banjo and mandolin, Jon Hart on keys and synths, and David Symes on bass, and when they all sing at once it sounds like a campfire that got out of hand in the best way.
The With Emperor Antarctica EP, in 2010, brought "Rabbit Song", all stomp and harmony, and the band have never been shy about other people's songs either, taking on Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)". The debut album Moonfire, on Nettwerk in 2011, went in at number 2 on the ARIA chart with "Feeding Line" and "Part Time Believer", and the indie folk started to grow a rock band's shoulders.
Harlequin Dream, in 2013, and Limit of Love, in 2015, both debuted at number one, the first smoothing things out into warm, rolling soft rock with "Southern Sun", the second chasing a looser, live-in-the-room feel on "Walk the Wire". After a long wait, Suck on Light arrived in September 2019, followed by a self-titled fifth album in May 2023.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Boy & Bear on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Sun | 17 | #2 | – | 2014 | |
| 2 | Walk the Wire | 7 | #63 | – | 2015 | |
| 3 | Three Headed Woman | 5 | #17 | – | 2014 | |
| 4 | Feeding Line | 2 | #4 | – | 2011 | |
| 5 | Hold Your Nerve | 3 | #67 | – | 2019 | |
| 6 | Fall at Your Feet | 1 | #5 | – | 2010 | |
| 7 | Rabbit Song | 1 | #45 | – | 2010 | |
| 8 | Milk & Sticks | 1 | #49 | – | 2011 | |
| 9 | Part Time Believer | 1 | #50 | – | 2011 | |
| 10 | Harlequin Dream | 1 | #55 | – | 2013 | |
| 11 | Bad People | 1 | #53 | – | 2020 | |
| 12 | Don't You (Forget About Me) (originally by Simple Minds) | 1 | #92 | – | – | |
| 13 | Where'd You Go | 1 | #857 | – | – |
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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