Artist · chart history · #144 in indie & aaa artist polls
David Byrne
Solo artist Dumbarton United States Talking Heads
David Byrne is an artist from Dumbarton. David Byrne has 54 chart appearances on 43 radio countdowns from 23 stations on RockLists, spanning 1989–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Everybody Laughs”, which appears on 12 lists with a best position of #6. The station that charted David Byrne most often is The Colorado Sound (Fort Collins–Denver, CO), with 6 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2025.
David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1952, crossed to the United States as a boy with his family, and in 1975 co-founded Talking Heads in New York, where he was the band's chief songwriter, singer and guitarist. After 8 studio albums the band dissolved in 1991, and Byrne had long since shown he had no intention of staying in one lane.
His solo records have roamed widely: Rei Momo in 1989, with "Dirty Old Town", then Uh-Oh in 1992 with the jittery "She's Mad", Grown Backwards in 2004, and American Utopia in 2018, home to "Everybody's Coming to My House". He has worked with Brian Eno, Fatboy Slim, X-Press 2, Ryuichi Sakamoto and St. Vincent, and spread himself across film, photography, opera and books, putting out records on labels from Sire to Luaka Bop and Nonesuch.
The trophy shelf is crowded: an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1988, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, a Special Tony Award, a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads. In 2025 came Who Is the Sky?, and "Everybody Laughs" and "What Is the Reason for It?" find him as wide-eyed and curious as ever.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by David Byrne on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everybody Laughs | 12 | #6 | – | 2025 | |
| 2 | Everybody's Coming To My House | 13 | #8 | – | 2018 | |
| 3 | What Is The Reason For It? | 8 | #24 | – | 2025 | |
| 4 | She's Mad | 6 | #69 | – | 1992 | |
| 5 | Like Humans Do | 3 | #262 | – | – | |
| 6 | Everybody Laughs f/ Hayley Williams | 1 | #4 | – | 2025 | |
| 7 | It's Not Dark Up Here | 1 | #17 | – | 2018 | |
| 8 | Dirty Old Town | 2 | #86 | – | 1989 | |
| 9 | Life Is Long | 1 | #68 | – | 2009 | |
| 10 | Every Day Is A Miracle | 1 | #58 | – | 2018 | |
| 11 | Don't Fence Me In | 1 | #558 | – | – | |
| 12 | Everybody's Coming To My Party | 1 | #73 | – | 2018 | |
| 13 | Please Don't | 1 | #85 | – | 2010 | |
| 14 | Tiny Apocalypse | 1 | #802 | – | – | |
| 15 | Lazy | 1 | #871 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with David Byrne as a guest.
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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