Artist · chart history · #217 in indie & aaa artist polls
Rod Stewart
Solo artist Highgate United Kingdom
Rod Stewart is an artist from Highgate. Rod Stewart has 171 chart appearances on 88 radio countdowns from 33 stations on RockLists, spanning 1976–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Maggie May”, which appears on 73 lists with a best position of #16. The station that charted Rod Stewart most often is Virgin Radio (United Kingdom), with 24 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1980.
Rod Stewart, born in 1945, has a voice like gravel wrapped in velvet, and he spent the late '60s lending it to other people's bands, the Jeff Beck Group from 1967 and then Faces from 1969. That same year he started a solo career on the side with An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, whose "Handbags and Gladrags" shows off his gift for turning a song into a confession. He had started out busking with a harmonica in 1962, and the early solo records mix rock, folk, soul and R&B with a barroom warmth.
Every Picture Tells a Story, in 1971, was the breakthrough: it went to number one in Britain, America, Canada and Australia, and so did "Maggie May", a ramshackle, big-hearted classic. Never a Dull Moment followed in 1972 with "You Wear It Well", another British number one.
After Faces broke up in 1975 he kept winning: Atlantic Crossing, with "Sailing" and "I Don't Want to Talk About It", A Night on the Town and "Tonight's the Night", Foot Loose & Fancy Free with "Hot Legs" and "You're in My Heart", and then the disco strut of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?". Softer rock and the Great American Songbook came later. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 1994, and again with Faces in 2012, and he was knighted in 2016.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Rod Stewart on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maggie May#396 of all time | 73 | #16 | – | – | |
| 2 | Every Picture Tells a Story | 20 | #76 | – | – | |
| 3 | You Wear It Well | 12 | #198 | – | – | |
| 4 | Hot Legs | 10 | #208 | – | – | |
| 5 | Tonight's the Night | 5 | #27 | – | – | |
| 6 | Reason To Believe | 4 | #264 | – | – | |
| 7 | I Don't Want to Talk About It | 4 | #164 | – | – | |
| 8 | (I know) I'm Losing You | 4 | #290 | – | – | |
| 9 | Mandolin Wind | 4 | #534 | – | – | |
| 10 | You're in My Heart | 5 | #350 | – | – | |
| 11 | Sailing | 2 | #45 | – | – | |
| 12 | The First Cut is the Deepest | 7 | #329 | – | – | |
| 13 | Every Picture Tells A | 3 | #640 | – | – | |
| 14 | Forever Young | 2 | #409 | – | – | |
| 15 | Handbags and Gladrags | 2 | #378 | – | – | |
| 16 | I'm Losing You | 2 | #589 | – | – | |
| 17 | Foolish Behavior | 1 | #33 | – | 1980 | |
| 18 | Gasoline Alley | 1 | #277 | – | – | |
| 19 | Twisting the Night Away | 2 | #809 | – | – | |
| 20 | The Killing of Georgie | 2 | #380 | – | – | |
| 21 | Gi'me Wings | 1 | #74 | – | 1980 | |
| 22 | Seems Like A Long Time | 1 | #1649 | – | – | |
| 23 | Baby Jane | 1 | #424 | – | – | |
| 24 | Passion | 1 | #99 | – | 1980 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with Rod Stewart as a guest.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Rod Stewart.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.