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Cover of Once Upon a Time by Simple Minds — Cover: Once Upon a Time

Song · Simple Minds

“Sanctify Yourself” by Simple Minds

From the album Once Upon a Time (1985)

“Sanctify Yourself” by Simple Minds appears on 20 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1985 and 2021. It was first released in 1985 on the album Once Upon a Time. Its best result is #4 on the Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1986. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #48 alternative song of 1986, #2,791 alternative song of all time and #355 of the '80s.

20countdowns

6stations

#4best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

1985–2021years charted

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Simple Minds - Sanctify Yourself

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

"Sanctify Yourself" came off Simple Minds' 1985 album Once Upon a Time as its second single in January 1986, and it's the Scottish band at their most exuberant, all stadium-sized drums, chiming guitar and a chorus pitched to the back row. Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill and Michael MacNeil wrote it, and Kerr credited producer Jimmy Iovine with pushing the song out of a riff the band already had; gospel and Sly & the Family Stone, he said, were the big influences, and you can hear both in the call-and-response fervor. Bob Clearmountain shares the production credit.

Cash Box praised the warm, friendly sound of a band in full bloom, and the single climbed to number 10 at home in Britain, while America's Billboard Hot 100 took it to number 14.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

#664 of the '80s

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1985	67	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985	107
1986	4	Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1986	30

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1989	357	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)	495
1996	445	Q101	Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)	500
1999	983	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	1889	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
1999	629	CFNY 102.1 The Edge	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)	1002
2000	1891	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1893	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	1878	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2003	1847	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	1848	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2007	1569	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1495	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1514	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1544	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1612	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1672	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	1738	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013
2021	346	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s	909

Charting alongside it in 1986

Best songs of 1986 →

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