Artist · chart history
Rainbow
Band California United Kingdom Formed 1974 UK hard rock/heavy metal band
Rainbow formed in 1974 in California, United Kingdom. Rainbow has 97 chart appearances on 58 radio countdowns from 19 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Man on the Silver Mountain”, which appears on 34 lists with a best position of #66. The station that charted Rainbow most often is KISW (Seattle-Tacoma, WA), with 17 appearances.
Rainbow was the band Ritchie Blackmore built after his first exit from Deep Purple, and for a decade it was his personal proving ground. The first lineup borrowed four members of the American band Elf, including singer Ronnie James Dio, and Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, in 1975, brought the galloping "Man on the Silver Mountain". After that debut Blackmore fired everybody but Dio and brought in Cozy Powell on drums, Jimmy Bain on bass and Tony Carey on keyboards for Rising in 1976, with Bob Daisley and David Stone arriving for Long Live Rock 'n' Roll in 1978. Those records are heavy and mystical, otherworldly lyrics set to thunder.
Dio left for Black Sabbath, and Blackmore and Powell rebuilt with singer Graham Bonnet, keyboard player Don Airey and ex-Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. The result was Down to Earth in 1979 and "Since You Been Gone", the band's commercial breakthrough and a pointer to a slicker, more radio-friendly sound. Joe Lynn Turner took over the microphone in 1980 for Difficult to Cure, Straight Between the Eyes, with its brooding "Stone Cold", and Bent Out of Shape, home of "Street of Dreams", with Bobby Rondinelli and Chuck Burgi on drums and David Rosenthal on keyboards.
The band split in 1984 when Blackmore and Glover went back to Deep Purple. Blackmore revived Rainbow with Doogie White for Stranger in Us All in 1995, and again in 2016 for European tours. They have sold over 28 million records.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Rainbow on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man on the Silver Mountain | 34 | #66 | – | – | |
| 2 | Stone Cold | 21 | #127 | – | – | |
| 3 | Since You've Been Gone | 22 | #92 | – | – | |
| 4 | Street of Dreams | 10 | #172 | – | – | |
| 5 | Long Live Rock & Roll | 2 | #340 | – | – | |
| 6 | Lost in Hollywood | 1 | #701 | – | – | |
| 7 | Power | 1 | #781 | – | – | |
| 8 | Man on the Silver Moun | 3 | #952 | – | – | |
| 9 | Jealous Lover | 2 | #441 | – | – | |
| 10 | All Night Long | 1 | #992 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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