Song · Ray LaMontagne
“You are the best thing” by Ray LaMontagne
From the album Gossip in the Grain (2008)
“You are the best thing” by Ray LaMontagne appears on 22 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 2008 and 2026. It was first released in 2008 on the album Gossip in the Grain. Its best result is #6 on the WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2008. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #6 indie & aaa song of 2008, #477 indie & aaa song of all time and #3 of the '00s.
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"You Are the Best Thing" was the lead single from Gossip in the Grain, Ray LaMontagne's 2008 album on RCA, and it finds the folk singer in a warm, open-hearted mood. LaMontagne wrote it alone and sings it with a grainy, soulful rasp over an easy, rolling groove.
It went to number five on the Adult Alternative Songs chart and is still his only single to reach the Hot 100. Hollywood found it too: it turns up in I Love You, Man and later in Bad Moms, and it has been heard on Hacks and in the Australian series Packed to the Rafters.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 57 | 103.1 The River Kalispell-Flathead Valley, MT | 103.1 The River Top 103 of 2008 | 103 |
| 2008 | 24 | 88Nine Radio Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI | 88Nine Radio Milwaukee Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
| 2008 | 6 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2008 | 107 |
| 2008 | 31 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
| 2008 | 27 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
| 2009 | 17 | Lightning 100 Nashville, TN | Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2009 | 100 |
| 2009 | 6 | WRSI 93.9 The River Northampton / Pioneer Valley, MA | WRSI Top 93 Songs of 2009 | 93 |
| 2009 | 6 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2009 | 50 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 84 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 363 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 391 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2013 | 137 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2016 | 732 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 430 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 158 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 158 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2022 | 709 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2022 | 84 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2024 | 618 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 291 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 256 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2026 | 312 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: You Are the Best Thing; You Are The Best Thing.
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