Artist · chart history · #208 in indie & aaa artist polls
Pete Townshend
Solo artist Chiswick United Kingdom of The Who
Pete Townshend is an artist from Chiswick. Pete Townshend has 93 chart appearances on 83 radio countdowns from 27 stations on RockLists, spanning 1980–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Let My Love Open The Door”, which appears on 58 lists with a best position of #12. The station that charted Pete Townshend most often is 100.7 WZLX (Boston, MA), with 9 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1980.
Pete Townshend spent the '60s and '70s as the Who's guitarist and chief songwriter, the man who dreamed up the rock operas Tommy in 1969 and Quadrophenia in 1973, but he always kept a second life running on the side. Born in Chiswick in 1945, he taught himself nearly everything with strings or keys, from mandolin to synthesizer, and on his own records he plays most of it himself.
Who Came First, in 1972, was the quiet first step, home to the gentle, searching "Pure and Easy". Empty Glass in 1980 is where he came out swinging as a solo act: "Rough Boys" snarls and struts, "Let My Love Open the Door" bounces along like a pure pop single, and "A Little Is Enough" shows off a warmer, more tender side. White City: A Novel followed in 1985 with the driving "Face the Face".
The theater kept calling too. He was up for an Academy Award for song score in 1976, and Broadway handed him the Tony for Best Original Score in 1993. He went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Who in 1990 and collected Kennedy Center Honors in 2008.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Pete Townshend on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Let My Love Open The Door | 58 | #12 | – | 1980 | |
| 2 | Rough Boys | 14 | #42 | – | 1980 | |
| 3 | A Little Is Enough | 8 | #205 | – | – | |
| 4 | Let My Love Open the D | 3 | #212 | – | – | |
| 5 | My Baby Gives It Away | 1 | #323 | – | – | |
| 6 | Save it for Later | 2 | #90 | – | 1986 | |
| 7 | Face the Face | 2 | #68 | – | 1985 | |
| 8 | Pure And Easy | 1 | #442 | – | – | |
| 9 | Slit Skirts | 3 | #802 | – | – |
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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