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Cover of The Polyphonic Spree by Polyphonic Spree — Cover: The Polyphonic Spree

Song · Polyphonic Spree

“Light and Day” by Polyphonic Spree

From the EP The Polyphonic Spree (2003)

“Light and Day” by Polyphonic Spree appears on 18 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2003 and 2026. It was first released in 2003 on the EP The Polyphonic Spree. Its best result is #13 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #282 alternative song of 2004 and #5,405 alternative song of all time.

18countdowns

7stations

#13best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

2003–2026years charted

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Light & Day / Reach For The Sun

Video from YouTube (The Polyphonic Spree - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Light and Day" is Tim DeLaughter's sunburst of a song, which the Polyphonic Spree first put on their 2002 album The Beginning Stages of... and then sent out as its second single in 2003; there it's also billed as "Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun)". Its big break came in 2004, when Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind used it and put it on the soundtrack; a few weeks after the film opened, the band showed up as themselves to play it on Scrubs.

After that it never stopped turning up: Murderball, Chuck, Sainsbury's ads, the trailer for the 2012 film of The Lorax, and a student choir singing it at a graduation in the 2017 film Wonder. By April 2010, PRS for Music found it was the song most performed in British TV advertising.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2003	13	CD101 Columbus, OH	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003	101
2004	87	Live 105 San Francisco, CA	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2004	106
2004	74	WFNX Boston, MA	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2004	100
2004	65	99X Atlanta, GA	99X Essential 99 of 2004	99

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2003	1918	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	1907	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	1895	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1856	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1881	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1906	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1859	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1939	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1968	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2013	878	WXPN	WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013)	885
2022	775	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s	907
2024	585	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century	1055
2025	175	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs	800
2026	941	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound	1055

Also listed as: Light and Day (Reach For The Sun); Light And Day; Light & Day.

Charting alongside it in 2004

Best songs of 2004 →

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