Artist · chart history
Jefferson Starship
Band San Francisco United States Formed 1974
Jefferson Starship formed in 1974 in San Francisco, United States. Jefferson Starship has 46 chart appearances on 32 radio countdowns from 17 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Jane”, which appears on 29 lists with a best position of #160. The station that charted Jefferson Starship most often is 100.7 WZLX (Boston, MA), with 10 appearances.
Jefferson Starship rose out of San Francisco in 1974 from the ashes of Jefferson Airplane, growing out of solo records by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick. They pulled in David Freiberg, Craig Chaquico, John Barbata, Pete Sears and Papa John Creach, and when Marty Balin came aboard in 1975 the sound turned sleeker and more radio-friendly. Red Octopus, with the lush, slow-burning "Miracles", went to number one on the Billboard 200 that year and sold double platinum, and Spitfire made the top five the year after.
Then the ship lost its two voices: Slick and Balin both left in 1978. The survivors brought in Mickey Thomas on lead vocals, with Aynsley Dunbar joining the lineup too, and Freedom at Point Zero came out swinging with "Jane", a hard-charging slab of arena rock with guitars snarling all over it. Slick came back in 1981.
Between 1974 and 1984 the band racked up eight gold or platinum studio albums. Kantner quit in 1984 and took legal action over the name, and the rest carried on as Starship. He revived Jefferson Starship in 1992, and the band has kept flying with new members since his death in 2016.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Jefferson Starship on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jane | 29 | #160 | – | – | |
| 2 | Find Your Way Back | 8 | #227 | – | – | |
| 3 | Miracles | 5 | #391 | – | – | |
| 4 | No Way Out | 1 | #250 | – | – | |
| 5 | Cruisin' | 1 | #565 | – | – | |
| 6 | Ride The Tiger | 1 | #741 | – | – | |
| 7 | Stranger | 1 | #458 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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