Artist · chart history
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Band Melbourne Australia Formed 1983
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds formed in 1983 in Melbourne, Australia. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds has 114 chart appearances on 85 radio countdowns from 18 stations on RockLists, spanning 1984–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Into My Arms”, which appears on 28 lists with a best position of #18. The station that charted Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds most often is Studio Brussel (Flanders, Belgium), with 46 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1990.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds rose from the wreckage of the Birthday Party in Melbourne in 1983, with Cave on vocals, Mick Harvey playing just about everything and the German guitarist Blixa Bargeld adding guitar and voice. The early albums, starting with From Her to Eternity in 1984, drank deep from post-punk, the blues and gothic rock, and a shifting, multinational crew including Barry Adamson and Kid Congo Powers helped build the storm. Tender Prey, in 1988, brought "The Mercy Seat", a relentless, grinding ride that only gets more intense as it goes, and "Deanna".
The '90s saw Cave soften his sound without losing his menace. The Good Son in 1990 had the tender, piano-led "The Ship Song"; Let Love In in 1994 had the spaghetti-western creep of "Red Right Hand" and "Do You Love Me"; and The Boatman's Call, in 1997, is his most stripped-down record yet, all quiet reflection, with "Into My Arms" as its hushed centerpiece. Warren Ellis joined in 1995, bringing violin and a small orchestra's worth of other instruments.
After Harvey left in 2009, the band edged toward electronic and ambient textures on Push the Sky Away, Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen, where "Bright Horses" glows. Wild God, their latest, arrived in 2024.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Into My Arms | 28 | #18 | – | 1997 | |
| 2 | The Ship Song | 30 | #7 | – | 1990 | |
| 3 | Red Right Hand | 12 | #96 | – | – | |
| 4 | Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! | 5 | #35 | – | 2008 | |
| 5 | The Mercy Seat | 4 | #10 | – | 1988 | |
| 6 | Deanna | 5 | #60 | – | – | |
| 7 | Do You Love Me | 3 | #11 | – | 1994 | |
| 8 | There She Goes My Beautiful World | 4 | #41 | – | 2004 | |
| 9 | The Weeping Song | 2 | #179 | – | – | |
| 10 | Bright Horses | 2 | #54 | – | 2019 | |
| 11 | Jubilee Street | 3 | #58 | – | 2013 | |
| 12 | Saint Huck | 1 | #11 | – | 1984 | |
| 13 | Frogs | 2 | #88 | – | 2024 | |
| 14 | Tupelo | 2 | #35 | – | 1985 | |
| 15 | In the Ghetto | 1 | #367 | – | – | |
| 16 | Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart | 1 | #403 | – | – | |
| 17 | Breathless | 1 | #443 | – | – | |
| 18 | Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow | 1 | #51 | – | 2001 | |
| 19 | Mack The Knife | 1 | #446 | – | – | |
| 20 | Waiting for You | 1 | #62 | – | 2019 | |
| 21 | Black Betty | 1 | #651 | – | – | |
| 22 | Thirsty Dog | 1 | #86 | – | 1994 | |
| 23 | By The Time I Get To Phoenix | 1 | #45 | – | 1986 | |
| 24 | Nature Boy | 1 | #819 | – | – | |
| 25 | From Her to Eternity | 1 | #1883 | – | – |
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.
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