Song · R.E.M.
“The Great Beyond” by R.E.M.
Released 1999
“The Great Beyond” by R.E.M. appears on 21 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1999 and 2026. It was first released in 1999. Its best result is #10 on the Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1999. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #88 alternative song of 1999 and #5,989 alternative song of all time.
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"The Great Beyond" was R.E.M.'s song for the 1999 film Man on the Moon, released as a single that year to push the soundtrack album, and it's the band at its most wide-eyed: shimmering, forward-leaning pop with a chorus that seems to lift off the ground. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe wrote it, and Pat McCarthy produced. The single is a radio edit with the bridge cut out, while the soundtrack version ends with a scrap of dialogue from the film.
In January 2000 it hit number three in Britain, the highest the band ever reached there, and it went top 20 in Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Italy and Norway. It also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, and the full version lives on the compilations In Time and Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 80 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1999 | 107 |
| 1999 | 34 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1999 | 100 |
| 1999 | 72 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1999 | 107 |
| 1999 | 75 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 1999 | 89 |
| 1999 | 10 | Virgin Radio United Kingdom | Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1999 | 10 |
| 1999 | 26 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 1999 | 103 |
| 1999 | 11 | 93XRT Chicago, IL | WXRT Listener Poll: Top 25 Songs of 1999 | 25 |
| 2000 | 62 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2000 | 91 |
| 2000 | 57 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2000 | 93 |
| 2000 | 55 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2000 | 100 |
| 2000 | 81 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2000 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 496 | WHFS | WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 1034 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2000 | 1978 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1939 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1924 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1876 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2003 | 84 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio VR10x10 (April 2003) | 100 |
| 2004 | 1876 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1865 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2026 | 434 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: Great Beyond.
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