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Cover of Vitalogy by Pearl Jam — Cover: Vitalogy

Song · Pearl Jam

“Spin The Black Circle” by Pearl Jam

From the album Vitalogy (1994)

“Spin The Black Circle” by Pearl Jam appears on 21 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1994 and 2023. It was first released in 1994 on the album Vitalogy. Its best result is #29 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #85 alternative song of 1994 and #1,692 alternative song of all time.

21countdowns

8stations

#29best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1994–2023years charted

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Spin the Black Circle

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"Spin the Black Circle" was the first single off Pearl Jam's third album, Vitalogy, in 1994, and it hits like a door kicked off its hinges. The whole band shares the writing credit, but Stone Gossard built most of the music and Eddie Vedder wrote the words, and what comes out is straight punk rock: short, fast and ragged, with Dave Abbruzzese thrashing away and Vedder barking over the guitars of Gossard and Mike McCready.

Brendan O'Brien produced it with the band and left the rough edges showing. Putting something this raw out front was a gutsy call, and it paid off: the song reached number 18 on the Hot 100 and number 10 in Britain, the only time Pearl Jam cracked the top ten there.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

#1,409 of the '90s

Hard Rock & Metal

#1,906 of all time

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1994	29	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 1994	91
1994	36	Triple J Australia (national)	Triple J Hottest 100 of 1994	100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	1011	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	848	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	899	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	904	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	904	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	720	KISW	KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002)	999
2003	896	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	896	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2004	104	WBCN	WBCN Grunge Top 104 (2004)	104
2005	896	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2005	48	107.7 The End	The End Top 77 Pearl Jam Songs of All-Time (September 2005)	77
2007	1445	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1451	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1474	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1503	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1570	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1627	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	1692	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013
2023	665	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s	893

Also listed as: Spin the Black Circle.

Charting alongside it in 1994

Best songs of 1994 →

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