Artist · chart history · #135 in indie & aaa artist polls
King Crimson
Band London United Kingdom Active 1968–2021
King Crimson formed in 1968 in London, United Kingdom and was active until 2021. King Crimson has 58 chart appearances on 34 radio countdowns from 13 stations on RockLists, spanning 1981–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “In the Court of the Crimson King”, which appears on 14 lists with a best position of #181. The station that charted King Crimson most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 25 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1982.
King Crimson started in London in 1968, when Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield set out to see how far rock could stretch before it snapped. Their 1969 debut, In the Court of the Crimson King, is still the one the progressive faithful hold up as scripture, and contemporaries like Yes and Genesis took careful notes.
Then the lineup started spinning. Only Fripp stayed put, steering the band through In the Wake of Poseidon, Lizard and Islands, then tearing it all up in 1972 and bringing in Bill Bruford, John Wetton, David Cross and Jamie Muir for a harder, stranger attack that borrowed from European free improvisation and modern classical music. Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black and Red followed, and at the end of 1974 Fripp shut the whole thing down.
It came back in 1981 as something else entirely: Fripp and Bruford with two Americans, Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, soaking up gamelan, African music, New York minimalism and post-punk. Discipline was the shock, with "Elephant Talk" and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" chattering and twitching and "Matte Kudasai" drifting in between. Beat brought "Heartbeat" and "Neal & Jack & Me", and Three of a Perfect Pair closed the run with "Sleepless". Fripp kept reviving the name in new shapes for decades, from a double trio in the '90s to a septet with three drummers, until the final show in 2021.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by King Crimson on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In the Court of the Crimson King | 14 | #181 | – | – | |
| 2 | Sleepless | 8 | #523 | – | – | |
| 3 | 21st Century Schizoid Man | 7 | #129 | – | – | |
| 4 | Elephant Talk | 4 | #18 | – | 1982 | |
| 5 | Three of A Perfect Pair | 10 | #1706 | – | – | |
| 6 | Heartbeat | 5 | #30 | – | 1982 | |
| 7 | Neal & Jack & Me | 2 | #84 | – | 1982 | |
| 8 | Thela Hun Ginjeet | 2 | #77 | – | 1982 | |
| 9 | Matte Kudasai | 4 | #1864 | – | – | |
| 10 | Court Of The Crimson King | 1 | #954 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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