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Cover of The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot
Cover: The Beautiful Letdown

Song · Switchfoot

“Meant to Live” by Switchfoot

From the album The Beautiful Letdown (2003)

“Meant to Live” by Switchfoot appears on 50 radio countdowns from 28 stations between 2003 and 2026. It was first released in 2003 on the album The Beautiful Letdown. Its best result is #3 on The Bear Top 107 Songs of 2004. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #33 alternative song of 2004, #1,656 alternative song of all time and #72 of the '00s.

50countdowns
28stations
#3best position
0#1 finishes
3top 10 finishes
2003–2026years charted

Watch

Switchfoot - Meant To Live [Official Audio]

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

"Meant to Live" led the way for Switchfoot's fourth album, The Beautiful Letdown, arriving at stations on January 27, 2003, and it's the song that finally got the band onto the charts. Jon Foreman and Tim Foreman wrote it, John Fields produced it with the band and recorded it, and Chris Lord-Alge mixed it.

It's a big, muscular slab of modern rock: a thick, grinding guitar riff, drums that land like punches and a soaring chorus built to fill arenas. The band plays it with real urgency.

It reached number five on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Hot 100, the band's first song to chart at all, and it went gold with the RIAA on October 22, 2004. It also appeared on the UK version of the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. In 2023 the band revisited it as an orchestral version featuring Jon Bellion, included on the reissue The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version).

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2003 21 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 2003 91
2003 83 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2003 100
2003 79 K-Rock New York, NY K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2003 92
2003 90 WFNX Boston, MA WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2003 100
2003 11 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON 89X Top 89 Songs of 2003 89
2003 18 CD101 Columbus, OH CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003 101
2003 68 Y100 Philadelphia, PA Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2003 100
2003 100 CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2003 102
2003 29 The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2003 99
2003 71 WCCC The Rock Hartford, CT WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2003 106
2003 20 Channel 104.9 San Jose, CA Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2003 105
2003 41 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 2003 103
2003 46 WBCN Boston, MA WBCN Top 104 Songs of 2003 104
2003 17 103.1 The Buzz West Palm Beach, FL Buzz 103.1 Top 103 Buzz Cuts of 2003 103
2003 39 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 50 Songs of 2003 50
2003 34 102.1 The Edge Dallas-Fort Worth, TX KDGE Top 102 Songs of 2003 102
2003 53 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2003 100
2004 54 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2004 107
2004 79 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2004 106
2004 54 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2004 101
2004 32 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2004 100
2004 49 K-Rock New York, NY K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2004 93
2004 86 CD101 Columbus, OH CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2004 101
2004 25 Y100 Philadelphia, PA Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2004 99
2004 21 CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2004 102
2004 39 CHOI Radio X Quebec City, QC CHOI Top 98 Songs of 2004 98
2004 3 The Bear Ottawa, ON The Bear Top 107 Songs of 2004 107
2004 30 The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2004 99
2004 42 WCCC The Rock Hartford, CT WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2004 106
2004 4 Channel 104.9 San Jose, CA Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2004 105
2004 6 X96 Salt Lake City, UT X96 Top 50 Songs of 2004 50
2004 45 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2004 88
2004 11 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2004 100
2004 43 WIRS 107.9 College station WIRS Top 107 Songs of 2004 107

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2003 1923 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 1923 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 1915 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 146 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2007 1852 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 1880 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 1912 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1967 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2014 183 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) 500
2015 181 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) 500
2019 306 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) 500
2020 195 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2022 245 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2022 256 101X 101X 500 (2022) 498
2023 222 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) 500
2026 162 101X 101X 500 (2026) 500

Also listed as: Meant To Live; Ment To Live.

Charting alongside it in 2004

Best songs of 2004 →
  1. 1Somebody Told MeThe Killers
  2. 2American IdiotGreen Day
  3. 3Float OnModest Mouse
  4. 4Take Me OutFranz Ferdinand
  5. 5VertigoU2
  6. 6MegalomaniacIncubus

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