Artist · chart history
Broken Bells
Band Los Angeles United States Formed 2009 indie rock duo Danger Mouse & James Mercer
Broken Bells formed in 2009 in Los Angeles, United States. Broken Bells has 131 chart appearances on 92 radio countdowns from 47 stations on RockLists, spanning 2010–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “The High Road”, which appears on 57 lists and was voted number one once. In total the artist has topped 1 countdown. The station that charted Broken Bells most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 12 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2010.
Broken Bells is what happens when a producer who can make anything sound huge meets a songwriter who can make anything sound intimate. Danger Mouse, born Brian Burton, and James Mercer, the voice and guitar behind the Shins, started working together in Los Angeles in 2009, and they write and record strictly as a duo, calling in hired hands only when it's time to take the show on the road.
Their self-titled debut, in 2010, was space-age pop with dust on its boots: "The High Road" rolls in on a lazy, loping beat and Mercer's plaintive melody, and "The Ghost Inside" struts over a groove that owes something to vintage soul. "October" rounded out a strong set. The Meyrin Fields EP arrived in 2011, and After the Disco, in 2014, went for glittering, melancholy dance-floor pop with "Holding On for Life", the title track and "Control".
They took a long break after that, and came back in 2022 with Into the Blue and "Saturdays", the old chemistry intact: Burton building the cathedral, Mercer singing in it.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Broken Bells on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The High Road | 57 | #1 | 1 | 2010 | |
| 2 | The Ghost Inside | 22 | #10 | – | 2010 | |
| 3 | Holding On For Life | 19 | #21 | – | 2014 | |
| 4 | After The Disco | 7 | #24 | – | 2014 | |
| 5 | Saturdays | 8 | #41 | – | 2022 | |
| 6 | Control | 4 | #54 | – | 2014 | |
| 7 | Good Luck | 2 | #42 | – | 2019 | |
| 8 | October | 2 | #34 | – | 2010 | |
| 9 | High Road, The | 1 | #119 | – | – | |
| 10 | Vaporize | 5 | #67 | – | 2010 | |
| 11 | Shelter | 3 | #76 | – | 2019 | |
| 12 | No Matter What You're Told | 1 | #304 | – | – |
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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