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“Breakdown” by Tantric

From the album Tantric (2001)

“Breakdown” by Tantric appears on 18 radio countdowns from 16 stations between 2001 and 2019. It was first released in 2001 on the album Tantric. Its best result is #5 on the WBCN Top 41 Songs of 2001. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #26 alternative song of 2001, #7,042 alternative song of all time and #313 of the '00s.

18countdowns

16stations

#5best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

2001–2019years charted

Watch

Tantric - Breakdown (Official Music Video) | Warner Vault

Video from YouTube (Warner Records Vault). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Breakdown" was Tantric's debut single and the lead single from their self-titled first album in 2001, and it's post-grunge with the amps turned partway down: an acoustic-heavy churn with a digital twist tagged onto the end of the chorus. Guitarist Todd Whitener came up with it in a hotel in Amsterdam, and he wrote it with Hugo Ferreira, Matt Taul and Jesse Vest.

The words follow a high school kid stewing in resentment and self-disgust, but Whitener framed it as a song about getting knocked down, accepting that life keeps moving and holding your head up anyway. It went to number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and four on Modern Rock Tracks, and the video was all over MTV2.

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	#	Station	Countdown	of
2001	70	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2001	107
2001	49	Live 105 San Francisco, CA	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2001	106
2001	19	Q101 Chicago, IL	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2001	101
2001	57	WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD	WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2001	100
2001	15	K-Rock New York, NY	K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2001	93
2001	16	WFNX Boston, MA	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2001	100
2001	55	107.7 The End Seattle, WA	The End Top 107 Songs of 2001	107
2001	15	89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON	89X Top 89 Songs of 2001	89
2001	75	The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2001	99
2001	17	WCCC The Rock Hartford, CT	WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2001	106
2001	35	102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany)	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2001	103
2001	12	97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL	97X Top 97 Songs of 2001	97
2001	36	99X Atlanta, GA	99X Top 99 Songs of 2001	99
2001	5	WBCN Boston, MA	WBCN Top 41 Songs of 2001	40
2001	12	Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart)	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2001	100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2014	463	94.3 WCYY	WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014)	500
2015	487	94.3 WCYY	WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015)	500
2019	499	94.3 WCYY	WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019)	500

Charting alongside it in 2001

Best songs of 2001 →

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