Song · Mumford & Sons
“Babel” by Mumford & Sons
From the album Babel (2012)
“Babel” by Mumford & Sons appears on 14 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 2012 and 2022. It was first released in 2012 on the album Babel. Its best result is #19 on the WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #51 alternative song of 2013 and #347 of the '10s.
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Video from YouTube (MumfordAndSonsVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Babel" is the title track of Mumford & Sons' second album, from 2012, and it came back around as the record's fourth single, a digital download, on 9 July 2013, a day after its video went up on YouTube. The band wrote it together, Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane, and Markus Dravs produced, with Robin Baynton engineering and Ruadhri Cushnan on the mix.
The name points to the Tower of Babel from Genesis, and the song is stuffed with biblical references, as the band's songs often are. They insist it isn't a religious message, though. Dwane, their bassist, told Rolling Stone it's about human restlessness: a species so discontented that it gets to the moon and immediately wants Mars.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 54 | 96.5 The Buzz Kansas City, MO-KS | 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2012 | 96 |
| 2012 | 50 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2012 | 101 |
| 2012 | 44 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2012 | 200 |
| 2012 | 50 | 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH | 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2012 | 88 |
| 2012 | 58 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012 | 100 |
| 2013 | 46 | The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC | The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2013 | 99 |
| 2013 | 78 | 97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 97X Top 97 of 2013 | 97 |
| 2013 | 37 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2013 | 50 |
| 2013 | 28 | 94.5 The Buzz Houston, TX | 94.5 The Buzz Top 94 of 2013 | 94 |
| 2013 | 19 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013 | 107 |
| 2013 | 27 | 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH | 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2013 | 88 |
| 2013 | 29 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2013 | 103 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 158 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2022 | 1399 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
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