Song · Leon Bridges
“Smooth Sailin'” by Leon Bridges
From the album Coming Home (2015)
“Smooth Sailin'” by Leon Bridges appears on 22 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 2015 and 2026. It was first released in 2015 on the album Coming Home. Its best result is #10 on the WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2015. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #24 indie & aaa song of 2015, #426 indie & aaa song of all time and #116 of the '10s.
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Video from YouTube (LeonBridgesVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Smooth Sailin'" was the second single from Leon Bridges' 2015 debut, Coming Home, a song he wrote with Joshua Block, Austin Jenkins and Chris Vivion. Niles City Sound produced, recorded and mixed it, and the band cooks: Block on drums, Cliff Wright on bass, Jenkins on acoustic and Kenny Wayne Hollingsworth on electric guitar, Andrew Skates on Wurlitzer, Jeff Dazey honking sax and Brittni Jessie on backing vocals.
It's a sly, strutting slice of retro rhythm and blues, Bridges grinning his way through a love song over a groove that sounds lifted straight off a dusty old single. Critics loved its mix of the fresh and the nostalgic. He brought it to Saturday Night Live that December, and Vern Moen directed the video.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 70 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015 | 89 |
| 2015 | 21 | WERS 88.9 Boston, MA | WERS Top 88 Songs of 2015 | 88 |
| 2015 | 51 | WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD | WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2015 | 104 |
| 2015 | 26 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2015 | 90 |
| 2015 | 10 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2015 | 89 |
| 2015 | 42 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2015 | 107 |
| 2016 | 13 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2016 | 50 |
| 2016 | 22 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2016 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 42 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 51 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 236 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 236 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2022 | 1127 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2022 | 99 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2023 | 970 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 431 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 318 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 550 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 287 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
| 2025 | 553 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 110 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
| 2026 | 382 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound | 1055 |
Also listed as: Smooth Sailing.
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