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Cover of Porcelain by Fuel
Cover: Porcelain

Song · Fuel

“Shimmer” by Fuel

From the EP Porcelain (1996)

“Shimmer” by Fuel appears on 46 radio countdowns from 24 stations between 1998 and 2026. It was first released in 1996 on the EP Porcelain. Its best result is #1 on the Radio & Records Top 103 Songs of 1998. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #19 alternative song of 1998, #664 alternative song of all time and #129 of the '90s.

46countdowns
24stations
#1best position
1#1 finishes
3top 10 finishes
1998–2026years charted

Watch

Fuel - Shimmer (Official HD Video)

Video from YouTube (FuelVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Shimmer" had two lives. Fuel first put it out in 1996 on Porcelain, their third EP, then re-recorded it to lead off the singles from Sunburn, their first full-length album, in 1998. Guitarist Carl Bell wrote it about a girl he'd dated briefly after high school who left him for the man she went on to marry; years later she rang him to pour out her relationship troubles, and the tangle of hurt and helplessness he felt on that call became the song.

It's one of the mellowest things on Sunburn, a rolling, chiming ache that Entertainment Weekly heard as something close to Dave Matthews. Alternative radio couldn't get enough of it: Billboard counted it the fourth-most-played song on those stations in 1998.

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#StationCountdownof
1998 58 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1998 107
1998 52 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1998 91
1998 47 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1998 106
1998 11 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 101
1998 13 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1998 100
1998 16 WFNX Boston, MA WFNX Top 101.7 Songs of 1998 102
1998 12 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 1998 107
1998 2 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 1998 103
1998 2 DC101 Washington, D.C. DC101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 101
1998 78 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1998 100
1998 1 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 103 Songs of 1998 102

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1999 259 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 467 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 537 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 1864 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 849 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 54 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of the '90s (September 2000) 100
2000 83 DC101 DC101 Top 101 Rock Songs of the 90s 101
2000 1864 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2000 48 The Edge KEDJ Countdown 2000 (106 songs) 106
2001 1853 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 32 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 1839 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2003 1815 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 394 107.7 The End The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) 500
2004 1815 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 64 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (July 2004) 300
2005 1811 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 182 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2007 409 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2009 351 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2012 635 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) 885
2014 48 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) 500
2015 43 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) 500
2019 30 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) 500
2020 377 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2020 94 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2021 95 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2022 182 101X 101X 500 (2022) 498
2022 97 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2022 426 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2023 88 ALT 104.5 ALT 104.5 Top 104 of ALT Time 104
2023 100 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2023 57 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) 500
2025 301 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2025) 400
2026 229 101X 101X 500 (2026) 500

Charting alongside it in 1998

Best songs of 1998 →
  1. 1IntergalacticBeastie Boys
  2. 2Flagpole SittaHarvey Danger
  3. 3Celebrity SkinHole
  4. 4Inside OutEve 6
  5. 5Closing TimeSemisonic
  6. 6Father of MineEverclear

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