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Cover of Solitude Standing by Suzanne Vega — Cover: Solitude Standing

Song · Suzanne Vega

“Tom's Diner” by Suzanne Vega featuring DNA

From the album Solitude Standing (1987) Featuring DNA

“Tom's Diner” by Suzanne Vega featuring DNA appears on 22 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1990 and 2026. It was first released in 1987 on the album Solitude Standing. Its best result is #24 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #107 alternative song of 1990 and #821 alternative song of all time.

22countdowns

13stations

#24best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1990–2026years charted

Watch

Suzanne Vega, DNA - Tom's Diner

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

Suzanne Vega had been carrying "Tom's Diner" around for years before it landed on Solitude Standing in 1987; it first surfaced on the January 1984 issue of Fast Folk Musical Magazine. Once "Luka" broke, it went out as a single, though only in Europe. Steve Addabbo and Lenny Kaye produced it, Shelly Yakus mixed it, and Vega's cool, level voice is the whole show.

Then it found a second life. In 1990 the English producers DNA built a remix around it that went to number one in Austria, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Switzerland, which is why DNA shares the credit here. The song also became a test track for the engineers developing MP3 compression, which earned Vega the nickname "Mother of the MP3".

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	#	Station	Countdown	of
1990	24	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 1990	91

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1994	195	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994)	497
1995	320	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995)	500
1998	28	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)	488
1999	264	WHFS	WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999)	500
1999	125	WLIR / WDRE	WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	300
1999	795	107.7 The End	The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1077
1999	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	218	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	454	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	165	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2005	714	99X	99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005)	1000
2012	239	WYEP	WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown	500
2021	255	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s	909
2023	47	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places	800
2026	417	WFPK	WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s	498
2026	796	KXT	KXT 917 Song Countdown	917

Charting alongside it in 1990

Best songs of 1990 →

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