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Cover of Whip‐Smart by Liz Phair
Cover: Whip‐Smart

Song · Liz Phair

“Supernova” by Liz Phair

From the album Whip‐Smart (1994)

“Supernova” by Liz Phair appears on 41 radio countdowns from 18 stations between 1994 and 2025. It was first released in 1994 on the album Whip‐Smart. Its best result is #19 on the Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #19 alternative song of 1994, #504 alternative song of all time and #352 of the '90s.

41countdowns
18stations
#19best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1994–2025years charted

Watch

Liz Phair - Supernova

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

"Supernova" was the song that carried Liz Phair's second album, Whip-Smart, onto the airwaves in 1994. Phair wrote it, sings it and plays guitar alongside Casey Rice, with Leroy Bach on bass and Brad Wood on drums and percussion. Rice and Wood also recorded, engineered and mixed it for Matador, keeping it all in the family.

This is Phair turned up bright: a bouncing, springy guitar pop song with a big, easy chorus, her deadpan voice sliding across it with a wink. It sounds like she's having a blast.

Radio played it hard and MTV kept the video in steady circulation, and it rose to 6 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks. It also earned her a nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards in 1995, where Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window" took the prize.

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#StationCountdownof
1994 78 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 107
1994 24 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 91
1994 21 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 106
1994 19 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994 101
1994 44 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 100
1994 33 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1994 100
1994 40 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 94

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 408 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994) 500
1995 91 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) 300
1996 420 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996) 498
1999 436 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 313 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 351 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) 500
1999 328 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 179 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 329 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 181 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 334 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 299 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 334 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 875 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 394 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 334 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 334 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 336 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 284 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2006 244 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) 499
2007 519 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 523 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 517 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 512 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 530 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 535 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 545 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2020 1616 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 372 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2022 130 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s 900
2022 1110 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 603
2023 100 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s 893
2024 658 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2025 283 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500

Charting alongside it in 1994

Best songs of 1994 →
  1. 1Black Hole SunSoundgarden
  2. 2CloserNine Inch Nails
  3. 3Self-EsteemThe Offspring
  4. 4Interstate Love SongStone Temple Pilots
  5. 5Come Out and PlayThe Offspring
  6. 6Basket CaseGreen Day

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