Cover of Cleopatra by Lumineers
Cover: Cleopatra

Song · Lumineers

“Ophelia” by Lumineers

From the album Cleopatra (2016)

“Ophelia” by Lumineers appears on 39 radio countdowns from 25 stations between 2016 and 2026. It was first released in 2016 on the album Cleopatra. Its best result is #1 on the WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2016, and it was voted number one on three countdowns in total. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #1 alternative song of 2016, #3,584 alternative song of all time and #81 of the '10s.

39countdowns
25stations
#1best position
3#1 finishes
11top 10 finishes
2016–2026years charted

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"Ophelia" was the lead single from Cleopatra, the Lumineers' second album in 2016, and it took the long road to get there. Jeremiah Fraites sent Wesley Schultz a slower instrumental demo back in 2011, Schultz came up with the hook while playing a back bar in Los Angeles, and then the song stalled: he couldn't find verses worthy of it, and it was shelved until the band dusted it off in January 2015.

They nearly renamed it because The Band had already claimed the title, but Schultz decided nothing else sounded as right. What came out is a stomping, piano-driven sway, Fraites on piano and drums, Neyla Pekarek adding cello and voice, with Simone Felice producing and Ryan Hewitt recording and mixing.

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
2016 21 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 2016 91
2016 2 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 25 Songs of 2016 26
2016 18 CD101 Columbus, OH CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2016 103
2016 4 The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2016 99
2016 30 WFUV New York, NY WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2016 90
2016 3 X96 Salt Lake City, UT X96 Top 50 Songs of 2016 50
2016 2 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 2016 103
2016 1 90.9 The Bridge Kansas City, MO 90.9 The Bridge Top 100 Songs of 2016 90
2016 14 WERS 88.9 Boston, MA WERS Top 88 Songs of 2016 88
2016 1 WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2016 104
2016 3 SiriusXM Alt Nation National (SiriusXM satellite radio) SiriusXM Alt Nation's 36 Biggest Alternative Songs of 2016 36
2016 32 WTMD Baltimore, MD WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2016 89
2016 8 The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN The Current Top 89 Songs of 2016 89
2016 3 96.5 The Buzz Kansas City, MO-KS 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2016 96
2016 1 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2016 50
2016 47 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2016 88
2016 2 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2016 107

All-time and decade countdowns

Charting alongside it in 2016

Best songs of 2016 →
  1. 2All We Ever KnewThe Head and the Heart
  2. 3Dark NecessitiesRed Hot Chili Peppers
  3. 4WowBeck
  4. 5Good GriefBastille
  5. 6Casual PartyBand of Horses
  6. 7Waste a MomentKings of Leon

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