RockLists.com

Song · Sponge

“Molly (Sixteen Candles)” by Sponge

From the album Rotting Piñata (1994)

“Molly (Sixteen Candles)” by Sponge appears on 37 radio countdowns from 18 stations between 1995 and 2025. It was first released in 1994 on the album Rotting Piñata. Its best result is #6 on the WMRQ Top 104 Songs of 1995. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #19 alternative song of 1995, #1,657 alternative song of all time and #249 of the '90s.

37countdowns
18stations
#6best position
0#1 finishes
2top 10 finishes
1995–2025years charted

Watch

Molly (Sixteen Candles)

Video from YouTube (Sponge - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Molly" first turned up on Rotting Piñata, Sponge's 1994 debut, and the following year the band re-cut the vocals, stretched out the title and sent it out as the album's third single. The name nods to Molly Ringwald and her 1984 film Sixteen Candles, but the song has a darker root: a story the band heard about a girl who fell for her teacher just shy of turning 16 and tried to take her own life after he turned her away.

Sponge produced it themselves, with Tim Palmer mixing and all five members sharing the writing credit, and it rides a big, bruised post-grunge chug, crunching guitars under a chorus that sticks like gum. It climbed to number 3 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, the highest the band ever got there.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1995 42 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1995 107
1995 83 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1995 91
1995 17 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1995 101
1995 17 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1995 100
1995 45 WBER Rochester, NY WBER Listener Countdown 1995 50
1995 6 Radio 104.1 Hartford-New Haven, CT WMRQ Top 104 Songs of 1995 104
1995 12 103.1 The Buzz West Palm Beach, FL The Buzz Top 103 Alternative Songs of '95 103
1995 10 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 95 Songs of 1995 95
1995 27 WDRE Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA WDRE Top 103.9 Songs of 1995 104
1997 77 WRCX Rock 103.5 Chicago, IL WRCX Top 103 Songs of 1997 103

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1999 431 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 487 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 1445 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 1445 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 1450 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 349 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 1448 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1718 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 1434 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 1434 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 1432 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 553 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2007 389 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2007 1720 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 1714 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 1732 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1770 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 1845 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1904 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1972 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2020 454 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2020 343 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2021 251 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2022 246 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2022 475 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2023 225 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2025 404 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500

Also listed as: Molly.

Charting alongside it in 1995

Best songs of 1995 →
  1. 1You Oughta KnowAlanis Morissette
  2. 2LumpThe Presidents of the United States of America
  3. 3Lightning CrashesLive
  4. 4Bullet With Butterfly WingsThe Smashing Pumpkins
  5. 5NameGoo Goo Dolls
  6. 6My FriendsRed Hot Chili Peppers

Comments

Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Molly (Sixteen Candles)" by Sponge.

Be kind and stay on topic. Guidelines

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.