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Cover of Kid A by Radiohead
Cover: Kid A

Song · Radiohead

“Idioteque” by Radiohead

From the album Kid A (2000)

“Idioteque” by Radiohead appears on 23 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 2000 and 2026. It was first released in 2000 on the album Kid A. Its best result is #37 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2001. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #252 alternative song of 2001 and #5,908 alternative song of all time.

23countdowns
11stations
#37best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
2000–2026years charted

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Idioteque

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"Idioteque" sits deep in Kid A, Radiohead's fourth album, from 2000, and it's where the record's chilly electronics tip over into full-blown panic. The band built it while tinkering with modular synthesizers, and under its stuttering, clattering beat lie samples of two 1970s computer-music pieces, which is why Paul Lansky and Arthur Kreiger share the writing credit with Thom Yorke, Jonny and Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. Yorke wrote the words and yelps them in a breathless rush. Nigel Godrich produced with the band and mixed it.

The praise kept piling up afterwards: Pitchfork and Rolling Stone both counted it among the decade's best songs, and Rolling Stone later put it at number 48 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. A live take landed on I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings in 2001.

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#StationCountdownof
2000 48 John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2000 50
2001 37 CD101 Columbus, OH CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2001 101
2001 91 The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2001 99

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2007 1969 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2007 660 WTMD WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time 897
2008 1911 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 328 WYEP WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade 913
2009 1862 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1913 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 1892 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1914 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1930 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2018 376 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2019 63 KEXP KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time 627
2020 568 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2022 57 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s 907
2022 358 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time 1055
2022 59 KEXP KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) 491
2024 41 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century 1055
2024 84 WXPN WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) 885
2025 368 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) 714
2026 684 KXT KXT 917 Song Countdown 917
2026 301 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound 1055

Also listed as: Idiotique.

Charting alongside it in 2001

Best songs of 2001 →
  1. 1Hash PipeWeezer
  2. 2SchismTool
  3. 3How You Remind MeNickelback
  4. 4Smooth CriminalAlien Ant Farm
  5. 5It's Been AwhileStaind
  6. 6Fat LipSum 41

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