Artist · chart history · #768 in indie & aaa artist polls
Mogwai
Band Glasgow United Kingdom Formed 1995 Scottish post‐rock band
Mogwai formed in 1995 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Mogwai has 17 chart appearances on 11 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1997–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Xmas Steps”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #2. The station that charted Mogwai most often is John Peel (BBC Radio 1), with 8 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2003.
Mogwai formed in Glasgow in 1995 and set about proving that a rock band could say everything without needing a singer to say it. Their pieces are long, instrumental guitar epics that creep along at a whisper and then erupt, with Dominic Aitchison's bass carrying the melody while the guitars pile on distortion and effects until the speakers groan. Stuart Braithwaite plays guitar and sings, Martin Bulloch drums, and Barry Burns came aboard in 1998 on guitar, piano and synthesizer, after Brendan O'Hare's brief stint.
For years home was the Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, with Matador looking after America and Play It Again Sam the UK. The 1998 EP No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) gave the world "Xmas Steps", Come On Die Young followed in 1999 with the slow-motion hush of "Cody", and that year's EP carried "Stanley Kubrick". Happy Songs for Happy People, in 2003, is anything but, and "Hunted By A Freak" and "Ratts Of The Capital" catch the band at both ends of its range, the eerie glow and the full-bore storm.
They never went away. In time the UK releases moved onto their own Rock Action Records, and their tenth album, As the Love Continues, went to No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart in 2021.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Mogwai on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xmas Steps | 1 | #2 | – | 1998 | |
| 2 | New Paths To Helicon | 1 | #2 | – | 1997 | |
| 3 | Hunted By A Freak | 1 | #3 | – | 2003 | |
| 4 | Ratts Of The Capital | 1 | #6 | – | 2003 | |
| 5 | Remurdered | 1 | #20 | – | 2014 | |
| 6 | My Father My King | 1 | #10 | – | 2001 | |
| 7 | Cody | 1 | #14 | – | 1999 | |
| 8 | Repelish | 1 | #36 | – | 2014 | |
| 9 | Ritchie Sacramento | 1 | #44 | – | 2022 | |
| 10 | Two Rights Make One Wrong | 1 | #22 | – | 2001 | |
| 11 | Dry Fantasy | 1 | #36 | – | 2021 | |
| 12 | Stanley Kubrick | 1 | #25 | – | 1999 | |
| 13 | Hi Chaos | 1 | #36 | – | 2025 | |
| 14 | Drive The Nail | 1 | #76 | – | 2022 | |
| 15 | Ceiling Granny | 1 | #60 | – | 2021 | |
| 16 | Fanzine Made Of Flesh | 1 | #279 | – | 2025 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 36 | Hi Chaos | WBER Listener Countdown 2025 |
| 2025 | 279 | Fanzine Made Of Flesh | KALX 300 Most Played New Songs in 2025 |
| 2022 | 44 | Ritchie Sacramento | WBER Listener Countdown 2022 |
| 2022 | 76 | Drive The Nail | WBER Listener Countdown 2022 |
| 2021 | 36 | Dry Fantasy | WBER Listener Countdown 2021 |
| 2021 | 60 | Ceiling Granny | WBER Listener Countdown 2021 |
| 2014 | 20 | Remurdered | WBER Listener Countdown 2014 |
| 2014 | 36 | Repelish | WBER Listener Countdown 2014 |
| 2006 | 771 | Artist ranking | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Artists (2006) |
| 2003 | 3 | Hunted By A Freak | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003 |
| 2003 | 6 | Ratts Of The Capital | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003 |
| 2001 | 10 | My Father My King | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2001 |
| 2001 | 22 | Two Rights Make One Wrong | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2001 |
| 1999 | 14 | Cody | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999 |
| 1999 | 25 | Stanley Kubrick | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999 |
| 1998 | 2 | Xmas Steps | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998 |
| 1997 | 2 | New Paths To Helicon | John Peel's 'Pretty' Festive Thirty-One of 1997 |
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