Artist · chart history · #64 in alternative artist polls · #654 in indie & aaa artist polls
Erasure
Band London United Kingdom Formed 1985
Erasure formed in 1985 in London, United Kingdom. Erasure has 218 chart appearances on 99 radio countdowns from 22 stations on RockLists, spanning 1986–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “A Little Respect”, which appears on 50 lists with a best position of #4. The station that charted Erasure most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 47 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1988.
Erasure formed in London in 1985, when Vince Clarke, the songwriter and keyboard man who had already co-founded Depeche Mode and Yazoo, teamed up with singer and songwriter Andy Bell. Clarke built the machines, Bell brought the heart and the high notes, and together they made synth-pop that sounded like a disco ball with feelings. Mute Records put out their records.
The 1986 debut, Wonderland, barely made a dent on the charts, although "Oh L'Amour" would later come roaring back when it was reissued in 2003 to promote a greatest-hits set. Everything changed with "Sometimes", the single that finally put them on the UK chart, and The Circus in 1987 made them stars: a number six album with four top-20 singles, "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Have to Be", "Victim of Love" and the title song among them. The Innocents in 1988 went all the way to number one, with "Ship of Fools", "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect", that last one a giddy, pleading love song that might be the most romantic thing ever built out of synthesizers. Before the year was out the Christmas EP Crackers International gave them "Stop!" and a number two.
The Innocents was the first of five straight UK number-one albums, followed by Wild! in 1989, with "Drama!", "Blue Savannah" and "Star", Chorus in 1991, nominated for the Mercury Prize, the compilation Pop! The First 20 Hits in 1992 and I Say I Say I Say in 1994, which brought "Always". In between, their Abba-esque EP, a loving salute to ABBA with "Take a Chance on Me" on it, topped the UK chart too, and at the 1989 Brit Awards they were named Best British Group. Between 1986 and 2007 they notched 24 consecutive top 40 entries in Britain.
The commercial tide went out from 1995, through Erasure, Cowboy and Loveboat, though a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" and the UK top 5 single "Breathe" brought some sunshine back in the 2000s. More than 200 songs and over 28 million albums later, Bell and Clarke are still a team.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Erasure on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Little Respect | 50 | #4 | – | 1988 | |
| 2 | Oh L'Amour | 31 | #3 | – | 1986 | |
| 3 | Chains of Love | 34 | #7 | – | 1988 | |
| 4 | Chorus | 12 | #8 | – | 1991 | |
| 5 | Sometimes | 16 | #27 | – | 1987 | |
| 6 | Love to Hate You | 7 | #21 | – | 1991 | |
| 7 | Always | 8 | #50 | – | 1994 | |
| 8 | Take a Chance on Me | 4 | #23 | – | 1992 | |
| 9 | Stop! | 4 | #29 | – | 1989 | |
| 10 | Star | 6 | #37 | – | 1990 | |
| 11 | Drama | 4 | #23 | – | 1989 | |
| 12 | Blue Savannah | 4 | #45 | – | 1990 | |
| 13 | Victim of Love | 5 | #49 | – | 1987 | |
| 14 | Who Needs Love Like That | 5 | #83 | – | 1986 | |
| 15 | Ship of Fools | 4 | #46 | – | 1988 | |
| 16 | It Doesn't Have to Be | 2 | #47 | – | 1987 | |
| 17 | Am I Right | 1 | #18 | – | 1992 | |
| 18 | She Won't Be Home | 1 | #20 | – | 1988 | |
| 19 | Breathe | 1 | #51 | – | 2005 | |
| 20 | Heart of Stone | 1 | #34 | – | 1988 | |
| 21 | Pistol | 1 | #164 | – | – | |
| 22 | Love You To The Sky | 1 | #30 | – | 2018 | |
| 23 | Yahoo! | 1 | #38 | – | 1988 | |
| 24 | When I Start To (Break It All Down) | 1 | #82 | – | 2012 | |
| 25 | S.O.S. | 2 | #83 | – | 1992 | |
| 26 | Phantom Bride | 1 | #75 | – | 1988 | |
| 27 | Brother and Sister | 1 | #84 | – | 1989 | |
| 28 | Reason | 1 | #98 | – | 2015 | |
| 29 | Because Our Love Is Real | 1 | #105 | – | 2007 | |
| 30 | Sixty-Five Thousand | 1 | #95 | – | 1988 |
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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