Skip to content

Cover of It’s Not Me, It’s You by Lily Allen — Cover: It’s Not Me, It’s You

Song · Lily Allen

“The Fear” by Lily Allen

From the album It’s Not Me, It’s You (2008)

“The Fear” by Lily Allen appears on 17 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 2008 and 2025. It was first released in 2008 on the album It’s Not Me, It’s You. Its best result is #5 on the WBER Listener Countdown 2009. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #110 alternative song of 2009.

17countdowns

15stations

#5best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

2008–2025years charted

Watch

Lily Allen | The Fear (Official Video - Explicit Version)

Video from YouTube (Lily Allen). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

Lily Allen came back in December 2008 with "The Fear", the lead single from her second album, It's Not Me, It's You, and a sharp swerve into electropop. She wrote it with Greg Kurstin, who produced it and handled the guitar, keyboards and bass himself. Before it had a proper title it was a demo called "I Don't Know" that she posted on Myspace, and it only won the lead-single slot after "Everyone's at It" had already been announced.

Under the glossy surface is a sour look at fame, consumerism and tabloid culture, with nods to papers like The Sun and the Daily Mirror. Britain lapped it up: four straight weeks at number one in the UK, the longest run at the top of 2009. It took Best Track at the Q Awards and won two Ivor Novello Awards in 2010.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2008	94	88Nine Radio Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI	88Nine Radio Milwaukee Top 100 Songs of 2008	100
2008	46	Triple J Australia (national)	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2008	100
2009	79	WFNX Boston, MA	WFNX Top 101 Songs of 2009	101
2009	5	WBER Rochester, NY	WBER Listener Countdown 2009	106
2009	16	106.1 The Corner Charlottesville, VA	106.1 The Corner Top 106 Songs of 2009	106
2009	82	Impact 89FM Lansing, MI	Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2009	89
2009	80	103.1 The River Kalispell-Flathead Valley, MT	103.1 The River Top 103 of 2009	103
2009	74	90.5 WERG Erie, PA	WERG Top 90 of 2009	90
2009	17	KSLG Eureka (Humboldt County), CA	KSLG Top 94 of 2009	94
2009	95	WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD	WRNR Top 104 Songs of 2009	104
2009	75	WTMD Baltimore, MD	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2009	89
2009	42	WXPN Philadelphia, PA	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2009	100
2009	36	The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2009	89
2009	66	Lightning 100 Nashville, TN	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2009	100
2010	71	WFNX Boston, MA	WFNX Top 101 Songs of 2010	101

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2022	118	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s	907
2025	491	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century	909

Charting alongside it in 2009

Best songs of 2009 →

Comments

Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "The Fear" by Lily Allen.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.