Song · James Blunt
“You're Beautiful” by James Blunt
From the album Back to Bedlam (2004)
“You're Beautiful” by James Blunt appears on 5 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2006 and 2025. It was first released in 2004 on the album Back to Bedlam. Its best result is #73 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,384 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (James Blunt). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"You're Beautiful" came off James Blunt's 2004 debut Back to Bedlam and went out as its third single in 2005, and it became the song that defined him. Blunt wrote it with Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost, and Tom Rothrock produced and mixed a gentle, hushed arrangement: Blunt on acoustic guitar with that fragile voice out front, John Nau on piano, Sasha Krivtsov and Charlie Paxon on bass and drums, Mike Tarantino on electric guitar, and strings from Eric Gorfain and The Section Quartet.
It went to number one in the UK, the US and Canada, won an Ivor Novello Award for airplay in 2006, and by 2012 had sold over three million copies in America, where it remains his only single to crack the top 40 of the Hot 100.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 73 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
| 2013 | 801 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2022 | 829 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 682 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 896 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.