Artist · chart history · #55 in indie & aaa artist polls
Janis Joplin
Solo artist Port Arthur United States
Janis Joplin is an artist from Port Arthur. Janis Joplin has 134 chart appearances on 63 radio countdowns from 24 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Me and Bobby McGee”, which appears on 58 lists with a best position of #12. The station that charted Janis Joplin most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 18 appearances.
Janis Joplin came out of Port Arthur with a voice that sounded like her heart was being wrung out in public, and she never once held back. She broke through at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, fronting a then little-known San Francisco psychedelic outfit called Big Brother and the Holding Company, and it was plain from that day who the star was.
After 2 albums with Big Brother she went her own way, first with the Kozmic Blues Band and then the Full Tilt Boogie Band, playing Woodstock in 1969 and riding the Festival Express train tour. She could take a song like "Summertime" or "Piece of My Heart" and turn it into a howl, and "Cry Baby", "Ball and Chain" and "Move Over" were pure scorched-earth soul.
She died of a heroin overdose in October 1970, and Pearl came out 3 months later, in January 1971. It went to number one, and so did her cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee", which starts out loose and easygoing and ends up in full cry. "Mercedes Benz", one of her own songs, was her final recording. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame took her in 1995, the first year she was eligible, and no solo woman had gone in on the first try before her.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Janis Joplin on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Me and Bobby McGee | 58 | #12 | – | – | |
| 2 | Piece of My Heart | 33 | #24 | – | – | |
| 3 | Summertime | 8 | #219 | – | – | |
| 4 | Mercedes Benz | 9 | #252 | – | – | |
| 5 | Move Over | 8 | #242 | – | – | |
| 6 | Cry Baby | 6 | #202 | – | – | |
| 7 | Ball And Chain | 3 | #541 | – | – | |
| 8 | Get It While You Can | 3 | #893 | – | – | |
| 9 | Kozmik Blues | 1 | #843 | – | – | |
| 10 | Try (Just a Little Bit | 2 | #1007 | – | – | |
| 11 | Down On Me | 1 | #830 | – | – | |
| 12 | Try | 1 | #845 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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