Artist · chart history · #257 in alternative artist polls · #493 in indie & aaa artist polls
Run DMC
Band Hollis United States Active 1982–2002
Run DMC formed in 1982 in Hollis, United States and was active until 2002. Run DMC has 38 chart appearances on 22 radio countdowns from 15 stations on RockLists, spanning 1986–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Walk This Way”, which appears on 15 lists with a best position of #9. The station that charted Run DMC most often is 90.9 The Bridge (Kansas City, MO), with 11 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2001.
Run-DMC came out of Hollis, Queens: Joseph Simmons as Run, Darryl McDaniels as DMC and Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay, on the turntables. Two MCs and a DJ working as one unit is basic hip-hop grammar now, and these three did as much as anyone to make it that way, all hard beats and big, booming voices.
They kept knocking down doors. Their 1984 debut made them the first hip-hop group with a gold record, King of Rock made them the first to go platinum, and Raising Hell, in 1986, was the first multi-platinum hip-hop record. That's the album with "My Adidas", "It's Tricky" and the cover of "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith, the record that smashed rap and rock together and went higher on the Hot 100 than Aerosmith's original. They were the first hip-hop act on MTV, on American Bandstand and on the cover of Rolling Stone, and they played Live Aid.
Crown Royal, in 2001, brought them back to the countdowns with "Them Girls", and the group's run ended in 2002. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2009, only the second hip-hop group to get in, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award followed in 2016.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Run DMC on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walk This Way | 15 | #9 | – | 1986 | |
| 2 | It's Tricky | 7 | #216 | – | – | |
| 3 | My Adidas | 3 | #154 | – | – | |
| 4 | You Be Illin' | 2 | #369 | – | – | |
| 5 | Them Girls | 2 | #56 | – | 2001 | |
| 6 | King of Rock | 1 | #160 | – | – | |
| 7 | Mary Mary | 1 | #305 | – | – | |
| 8 | Jam-Master Jammin' | 1 | #494 | – | – | |
| 9 | Rock Box | 1 | #557 | – | – | |
| 10 | It's Like That | 2 | #601 | – | – | |
| 11 | Is It Live | 1 | #619 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with Run DMC as a guest.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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