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Cover of Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan
Cover: Surfacing

Song · Sarah McLachlan

“Building a Mystery” by Sarah McLachlan

From the album Surfacing (1997)

“Building a Mystery” by Sarah McLachlan appears on 36 radio countdowns from 22 stations between 1997 and 2026. It was first released in 1997 on the album Surfacing. Its best result is #10 on The End Top 107 Songs of 1997. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #20 alternative song of 1997, #1,733 alternative song of all time and #168 of the '90s.

36countdowns
22stations
#10best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1997–2026years charted

Watch

Sarah McLachlan - Building A Mystery [Official Music Video]

Video from YouTube (NettwerkMusic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Building a Mystery" was the standout from Sarah McLachlan's fourth album, Surfacing, in 1997. She wrote it with producer Pierre Marchand, who also sings backup, and it moves with a sly, rolling groove, McLachlan's guitars tangling with Michel Pepin's electric lines over Brian Minato's bass and Ashwin Sood's drums. Her voice glides over the top, cool and knowing.

Onstage she has explained it as a song about the insecurities everybody hides behind a mask, and her hunch that dropping the act is what makes people truly attractive. It became Canada's most successful single of 1997, spending eight weeks on top of the RPM chart, and won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance plus the Juno for Single of the Year in 1998.

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
1997 34 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1997 107
1997 52 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1997 91
1997 30 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1997 105
1997 13 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1997 101
1997 19 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1997 100
1997 10 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 1997 107
1997 100 X103.9 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA X103.9 Top 103.9 Songs of 1997 104
1997 22 KNRK Portland, OR KNRK Top 94 Songs of 1997 94
1997 32 105.7 The Point St. Louis, MO 105.7 The Point Top 105.7 of 1997 106
1997 86 (tie) WBER Rochester, NY WBER Listener Countdown 1997 99
1997 22 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 1997 103
1997 22 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 97 Songs of 1997 97

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
– 79 CRNC 90.1 CRNC Top 90.1 Songs of the '90s 91
1999 198 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 412 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 136 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 300
1999 416 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 687 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 109 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) 500
1999 1605 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 866 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 117 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 1605 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 119 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 1605 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 382 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 1597 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2003 1594 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 1594 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 1592 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2021 628 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2022 1209 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 603
2023 1062 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 1229
2024 562 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2025 221 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500
2026 760 WYEP WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time 1180

Also listed as: Building A Mystery.

Charting alongside it in 1997

Best songs of 1997 →
  1. 1Song 2Blur
  2. 2Walkin' On The SunSmash Mouth
  3. 3TubthumpingChumbawamba
  4. 4FlySugar Ray
  5. 5The Impression That I GetThe Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  6. 6Semi-Charmed LifeThird Eye Blind

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