Artist · chart history · #203 in indie & aaa artist polls
Bright Eyes
Band Omaha United States Formed 1995
Bright Eyes formed in 1995 in Omaha, United States. Bright Eyes has 72 chart appearances on 56 radio countdowns from 25 stations on RockLists, spanning 2003–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “First Day of My Life”, which appears on 17 lists with a best position of #57. The station that charted Bright Eyes most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 12 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2005.
Bright Eyes is Conor Oberst's band, founded in Omaha, Nebraska, and built around his trembling, confessional voice and songs that sound like diary pages torn out in a hurry. The core has settled into a trio: Oberst on guitar and vocals, Mike Mogis as multi-instrumentalist and producer, and Nate Walcott arranging and playing trumpet and piano, with a rotating crowd of collaborators pulled mostly from the Omaha indie scene. From 1998 to 2011 the records came out on Saddle Creek, the Nebraska label founded by Oberst's brother Justin and Mogis.
LIFTED or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, in 2002, was the big, messy statement, with "Lover I Don't Have To Love" as its bitter centerpiece. Then in 2005 Oberst split himself in two: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning was ragged, tender indie folk ("First Day of My Life", "Road To Joy", "Land Locked Blues"), while Digital Ash in a Digital Urn went colder and nervier with "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" and "Easy/Lucky/Free". Cassadaga in 2007 and The People's Key in 2011 widened the sound further, "Four Winds" swinging like a barn dance.
After a long pause the band announced its return in January 2020, signing with Dead Oceans, and Five Dice, All Threes followed in September 2024. The voice still quivers, and the songs still cut.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Bright Eyes on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Day of My Life | 17 | #57 | – | 2005 | |
| 2 | Four Winds | 7 | #10 | – | 2007 | |
| 3 | Shell Games | 7 | #11 | – | 2011 | |
| 4 | Mariana Trench | 5 | #34 | – | 2020 | |
| 5 | Another Travelin' Song | 5 | #117 | – | – | |
| 6 | Bells and Whistles | 4 | #32 | – | 2024 | |
| 7 | Poison Oak | 2 | #44 | – | 2005 | |
| 8 | Road To Joy | 3 | #45 | – | 2005 | |
| 9 | I Must Belong Somewhere | 1 | #18 | – | 2007 | |
| 10 | We Are Nowhere And It's Now | 2 | #503 | – | – | |
| 11 | The First Day of My Life | 1 | #176 | – | – | |
| 12 | At The Bottom of Everything | 1 | #206 | – | – | |
| 13 | Nothing Gets Crossed Out | 1 | #61 | – | 2003 | |
| 14 | I Woke Up This Morning With This Song In My Head | 1 | #74 | – | 2005 | |
| 15 | Take It Easy (Love Nothing) | 3 | #73 | – | 2005 | |
| 16 | Kids Table | 1 | #31 | – | 2025 | |
| 17 | Lua | 1 | #559 | – | – | |
| 18 | Lover I Don't Have To Love | 1 | #56 | – | 2004 | |
| 19 | Old Soul Song (For the New World) | 1 | #594 | – | – | |
| 20 | Devil Town | 1 | #611 | – | – | |
| 21 | Land Locked Blues | 2 | #677 | – | – | |
| 22 | Easy/Lucky/Free | 1 | #70 | – | 2005 | |
| 23 | Persona Non Grata | 1 | #80 | – | 2020 | |
| 24 | Hot Knives | 1 | #834 | – | – | |
| 25 | Soul Singer in a Session Band | 1 | #876 | – | – |
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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