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Cover of True Stories by Talking Heads — Cover: True Stories

Song · Talking Heads

“Love For Sale” by Talking Heads

From the album True Stories (1986)

“Love For Sale” by Talking Heads appears on 17 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1986 and 2014. It was first released in 1986 on the album True Stories. Its best result is #70 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #143 alternative song of 1986 and #2,317 alternative song of all time.

17countdowns

3stations

#70best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1986–2014years charted

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Talking Heads - Love for Sale (Official Video) [HD]

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

"Love for Sale" comes charging off True Stories, the 1986 Talking Heads album, and it's a David Byrne song top to bottom: he wrote the words and music, sings lead and plays guitar. The rest of the band pile on with gusto, Tina Weymouth's bass and Chris Frantz's drums bouncing like a jingle stuck on fast-forward, Jerry Harrison doubling on guitar and keyboards, and Harrison and Weymouth chiming in on backing vocals.

The band produced it themselves, with Eric Thorngren recording and mixing, and it comes out bright, brash and a little sardonic: rock and roll wearing a salesman's grin.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1986	70	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986	107
1987	93	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1987	107

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1996	342	Q101	Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)	500
1999	1724	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	1724	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1724	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	1715	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2003	1700	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	1700	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	1699	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1309	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1244	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1262	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1298	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1351	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1409	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	1472	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013

Also listed as: Love for Sale.

Charting alongside it in 1986

Best songs of 1986 →

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