Song · Cyndi Lauper
“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper
From the album She’s So Unusual (1983)
“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper appears on 11 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1991 and 2026. It was first released in 1983 on the album She’s So Unusual. Its best result is #9 on the 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,823 alternative song of all time.
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"Time After Time" was a late arrival on She's So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper's 1983 debut: she and Rob Hyman wrote it once "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" were already written or in the can. The title came first, borrowed from a TV Guide listing for the 1979 science-fiction film of the same name, and what grew from it is a love song with Lauper's voice gone soft and aching. Hyman sang backing vocals, Rick Chertoff produced, and William Wittman engineered.
Pulled as the album's second single in 1984, it gave her a first American number one, sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and earned a Song of the Year nomination at the 27th Grammy Awards. Rolling Stone and MTV have since counted it among the greatest pop songs ever written.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 857 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 2004 | 840 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 394 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2018 | 297 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 956 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 9 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 27 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2023 | 82 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2024 | 71 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2026 | 41 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
| 2026 | 195 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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