Song · Collective Soul
“Heavy” by Collective Soul
From the album Dosage (1999)
“Heavy” by Collective Soul appears on 18 radio countdowns from 14 stations between 1999 and 2026. It was first released in 1999 on the album Dosage. Its best result is #7 on the Radio & Records Top 104 Songs of 1999. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #50 alternative song of 1999, #2,599 alternative song of all time and #405 of the '90s.
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"Heavy" was the second single from Dosage, Collective Soul's fourth album, released in 1999, and Ed Roland built it to hit fast and get out. He wrote it, sang it and produced it, Tom Lord-Alge mixed it, and Roland has said he wanted it cut down to about three minutes so it would really move. The name came from the riff itself, a big chugging slab he felt was heavy, and as with "December", he deliberately kept the title out of the lyrics.
Underneath the crunch it's a gripe about being leaned on: Roland felt someone was taking advantage of him and wrote about carrying their weight. It became the band's biggest hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, 15 weeks at number one and the last of their 7 chart-toppers there, and it gave them one final top-10 hit in Canada.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 66 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1999 | 106 |
| 1999 | 86 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1999 | 100 |
| 1999 | 20 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92 Songs of 1999 | 92 |
| 1999 | 41 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1999 | 107 |
| 1999 | 7 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 1999 | 89 |
| 1999 | 81 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 1999 | 103 |
| 1999 | 7 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 104 Songs of 1999 | 104 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 665 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2000 | 67 | 103.3 The Edge | 103.3 The Edge Top 103 New Rock Songs of the Millennium | 103 |
| 2001 | 223 | WBRU | WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) | 500 |
| 2005 | 393 | 99X | 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 482 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) | 500 |
| 2020 | 384 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) | 420 |
| 2020 | 400 | DC101 | The DC101 Top 500 | 500 |
| 2021 | 354 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) | 420 |
| 2022 | 337 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) | 420 |
| 2023 | 236 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) | 420 |
| 2026 | 461 | 102.5 WDVE | DVE Memorial Day 500 (2026) | 500 |
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