Song · Jake Bugg
“Lightning Bolt” by Jake Bugg
From the album Jake Bugg (2012)
“Lightning Bolt” by Jake Bugg appears on 21 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 2013 and 2026. It was first released in 2012 on the album Jake Bugg. Its best result is #2 on the WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #99 alternative song of 2013 and #6,764 alternative song of all time.
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"Lightning Bolt" first showed up as a download in April 2012, a track from Jake Bugg's self-titled debut, and it's a breakneck, rattling acoustic stomp that barely stops for breath. Bugg wrote it with Iain Archer, who also produced and mixed it and played drums and guitar alongside him.
The title is Bugg's image for a sudden burst of good luck, and the song belongs to someone who takes what he's handed, bides his time and leaps the second his chance comes along, with no patience for the grim-faced types who play it safe and stop looking for answers. Put out as a single on Christmas Eve 2012, it climbed to 26 in Britain that January, his first top 40 hit there, and it's still one of his best-known songs.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 90 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2013 | 91 |
| 2013 | 22 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2013 | 103 |
| 2013 | 2 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013 | 107 |
| 2013 | 163 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2013 | 200 |
| 2013 | 15 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2013 | 101 |
| 2013 | 31 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2013 | 103 |
| 2013 | 19 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2013 | 89 |
| 2013 | 86 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2013 | 89 |
| 2013 | 77 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2013 | 90 |
| 2014 | 37 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2014 | 50 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 78 | BBC Radio 6 Music | BBC 6 Music 100 Best Tracks Of The Last 10 Years | 100 |
| 2014 | 1703 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
| 2016 | 898 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 255 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2022 | 541 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2024 | 297 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2025 | 884 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 206 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 505 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 116 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
| 2026 | 230 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound | 1055 |
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