Song · Laurie Anderson
“O Superman” by Laurie Anderson
“O Superman” by Laurie Anderson appears on 11 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1981 and 2022. Its best result is #34 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1981). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,928 alternative song of all time.
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"O Superman", or "O Superman (For Massenet)" in full, a nod to Jules Massenet, was Laurie Anderson's first single in 1981, and nobody saw it coming. A pop song built on minimalist and electronic bones, produced by Anderson herself, it started out as a promotional single; then John Peel took it up, and it climbed all the way to No. 2 in the UK. Until then she was barely known beyond the art world.
It's hypnotic and uncanny, and the critics fell hard: in the Village Voice's 1981 Pazz & Jop poll, run by Robert Christgau, they voted it the single of the year. It went on to appear on her debut album, Big Science, in 1982, and on the live set United States Live in 1984.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 34 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1981) | 50 |
| 1982 | 49 (tie) | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1982) | 50 |
| 1988 | 310 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1989 | 96 | Triple J | Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1989) | 100 |
| 1991 | 480 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1999 | 174 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 2002 | 1593 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1055 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2016 | 242 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2021 | 488 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2022 | 337 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
Also listed as: Oh Superman.
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