Song · St. Vincent
“Cruel” by St. Vincent
From the album Strange Mercy (2011)
“Cruel” by St. Vincent appears on 12 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 2011 and 2026. It was first released in 2011 on the album Strange Mercy. Its best result is #17 on the WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2011. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #67 indie & aaa song of 2011 and #1,500 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"Cruel" comes from Strange Mercy, the third St. Vincent album, which 4AD released in Britain on September 12, 2011, with the American release following a day later. She wrote it herself, words and music, and John Congleton produced it.
Strange Mercy was the record that pushed St. Vincent up a level. Critics lavished praise on it, it reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200, her highest chart placing up to then, and it moved nearly 30,000 copies in its first three weeks by Nielsen SoundScan's count. She designed the cover herself, with Tina Tyrell behind the camera, and in August 2014 Pitchfork ranked it 23rd among the best albums of the decade to that point. Her next two solo albums, St. Vincent and Masseduction, would later chart even higher.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 85 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011 | 90 |
| 2011 | 17 | WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD | WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2011 | 104 |
| 2011 | 85 | WRSI 93.9 The River Northampton / Pioneer Valley, MA | WRSI Top 93 Songs of 2011 | 93 |
| 2011 | 32 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2011 | 89 |
| 2011 | 75 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2011 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 474 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2019 | 962 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 962 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2022 | 1146 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2025 | 564 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 469 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2026 | 251 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
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