Song · Oasis
“Half the World Away” by Oasis
Released 1994
“Half the World Away” by Oasis appears on 7 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1998 and 2025. It was first released in 1994. Its best result is #7 on the Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1998. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #301 alternative song of 1998 and #2,823 alternative song of all time.
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"Half the World Away" started life as a B-side, tucked behind "Whatever" when that single came out on Creation on 18 December 1994, and it went on to lead a long life of its own. Noel Gallagher wrote it and sings it himself, and he cut it at the Congress House Studio in Austin, Texas, that October, producing with Owen Morris.
It's the quiet side of Oasis: acoustic guitar and keyboards, a gentle, bittersweet melody and a lyric about itching to get out of a dull town and a going-nowhere life. It became well known as the theme to the BBC sitcom The Royle Family, was rounded up for the B-sides collection The Masterplan in 1998 and later for Stop the Clocks. In 2019 Noel called it his favorite of all the B-sides he'd made.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 7 | Virgin Radio United Kingdom | Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1998 | 10 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 137 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2003 | 66 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio VR10x10 (April 2003) | 100 |
| 2004 | 185 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2005 | 116 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2006 | 275 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
| 2025 | 47 | Absolute Radio | Absolute Radio 100 Ultimate Britpop Anthems | 100 |
Also listed as: Half The World Away.
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