Artist · chart history
Nerf Herder
Band Santa Barbara United States Formed 1994
Nerf Herder formed in 1994 in Santa Barbara, United States. Nerf Herder has 11 chart appearances on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 1996–2021. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Van Halen”, which appears on 9 lists with a best position of #63. The station that charted Nerf Herder most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 7 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1997.
Nerf Herder formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1994, with Parry Gripp singing and playing guitar, Charlie Dennis on bass and Steve Sherlock on drums, and they took their name from a line of dialogue between Princess Leia and Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back, which tells you most of what you need to know. They call what they do geek rock: short, sharp, punky tunes with goofy, juvenile lyrics packed with pop-culture references.
The self-titled debut album arrived in 1996, and its big moment is "Van Halen", a loving, tongue-in-cheek salute to the band whose name it borrows, all power chords and nerd-kid devotion. It got heavy play on rock radio and won them their first major-label deal, with Arista. "Sorry" came off the same record.
Their other claim to fame: they wrote and played the theme music for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lineup has shuffled over the years, with Linus of Hollywood among the later recruits, but Gripp and Sherlock have remained at the core.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Nerf Herder on radio countdowns
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 841 | Van Halen | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s |
| 2005 | 1639 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) |
| 2004 | 1641 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) |
| 2003 | 1641 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) |
| 2002 | 1654 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) |
| 2001 | 1662 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) |
| 2000 | 1662 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) |
| 1999 | 1662 | Van Halen | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) |
| 1997 | 84 | Sorry | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1997 |
| 1997 | 38 | Sorry | WEQX Top 102.7 of 1997 |
| 1996 | 63 | Van Halen | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1996 |
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