Artist · chart history · #178 in indie & aaa artist polls
Steve Winwood
Solo artist Handsworth United Kingdom
Steve Winwood is an artist from Handsworth. Steve Winwood has 42 chart appearances on 30 radio countdowns from 20 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Higher Love”, which appears on 16 lists with a best position of #32. The station that charted Steve Winwood most often is Big 100 (Washington, DC), with 7 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2008.
Steve Winwood, born in Handsworth in 1948, had already lived a couple of careers before the '80s even started. He was an integral part of the Spencer Davis Group, then Traffic, then Blind Faith, with detours through Go and Ginger Baker's Air Force, and his soulful high tenor was the sound people remembered. He's mostly a keyboard player, guitarist and singer, Hammond organ included, but he'll pick up a mandolin, a bass, a saxophone, a flute or a pair of drumsticks if the song asks for it.
The '80s gave him a second life as a solo artist. Arc of a Diver in 1980 brought the shimmering "While You See a Chance", and "Valerie", first heard on Talking Back to the Night in 1982, became a hit all over again in a remix for the 1987 compilation Chronicles. Then came Back in the High Life in 1986, the top of the mountain: "Higher Love" went to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Back in the High Life Again" and "The Finer Things" right behind it. It's slick, synth-polished soul pop, but that voice keeps it honest. Roll With It in 1988 gave him a second Hot 100 number 1.
The hits dried up after the '80s, but the records kept coming, About Time in 2003 and Nine Lives in 2008 among them. He went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Traffic in 2004, has two Grammys and an Ivor Novello Award, and was made an MBE in 2025.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Steve Winwood on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Higher Love | 16 | #32 | – | 1986 | |
| 2 | Roll With It | 7 | #321 | – | – | |
| 3 | Dirty City | 2 | #18 | – | 2008 | |
| 4 | While You See a Chance | 8 | #377 | – | – | |
| 5 | Arc of a Diver | 2 | #351 | – | – | |
| 6 | Back in the High Life | 1 | #617 | – | – | |
| 7 | The Finer Things | 1 | #703 | – | – | |
| 8 | Don't You Know What The Night Can Do | 1 | #772 | – | – | |
| 9 | Different Light | 2 | #1059 | – | – | |
| 10 | Valerie | 1 | #838 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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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