Song · Johnny Nash
“I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
Released 1973
“I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash appears on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2009 and 2025. It was first released in 1973. Its best result is #39 on The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,839 indie & aaa song of all time and #221 of the '70s.
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Johnny Nash wrote "I Can See Clearly Now" on his own, cut it in London backed by players from the Fabulous Five Inc., produced the session himself, and in 1972 it became the first single off his twelfth album, which took its title from the song. It's pure sunshine with a reggae lilt running through it, and that's no accident: Nash had already worked with Bob Marley and leaned hard on Marley's way of doing things. The strangest turn comes in the instrumental break, which Francis Monkman plays on a Moog synthesizer.
It went to No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box, topped the charts in Canada and South Africa too, scored in Britain and went gold, after a month of modest gains followed by a two-week leap from 20 to 5.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 873 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2020 | 596 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 222 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2025 | 39 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
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