Artist · chart history
The Airborne Toxic Event
Band Los Angeles United States Formed 2006 American indie band
The Airborne Toxic Event formed in 2006 in Los Angeles, United States. The Airborne Toxic Event has 127 chart appearances on 101 radio countdowns from 44 stations on RockLists, spanning 2008–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Sometime Around Midnight”, which appears on 53 lists and was voted number one once. In total the artist has topped 1 countdown. The station that charted The Airborne Toxic Event most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 14 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2011.
The Airborne Toxic Event took their name from a section of Don DeLillo's novel White Noise, which tells you something about Mikel Jollett, the singer, guitarist and keyboard player who leads this Los Angeles band. They came together in 2006 with Steven Chen on guitar and keys, with Noah Harmon on bass and Anna Bulbrook on violin and vocals among the players who passed through, and the self-titled EP of 2007 and debut album of 2008 put a literate, heart-on-sleeve songwriter in front of a band that could roar.
"Sometime Around Midnight" is the one that did it: a slow, spiralling rush of a song that keeps winding tighter and tighter until it finally bursts. That blend of rock band and orchestra became their signature, and they have played often with the Los Angeles string ensemble the Calder Quartet, and in concert with the Louisville Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
All at Once, in 2011, brought "Changing" and "All I Ever Wanted", The Secret EP offered "Timeless", and Dope Machines followed in 2015. The lineup has since shifted to Jollett, Chen, Adrian Rodriguez on bass, Daren Taylor on drums and Mimi Peschet on violin and backing vocals.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Airborne Toxic Event on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sometime Around Midnight | 53 | #1 | 1 | 2009 | |
| 2 | Changing | 29 | #2 | – | 2011 | |
| 3 | All I Ever Wanted | 15 | #18 | – | 2011 | |
| 4 | Wishing Well | 8 | #19 | – | 2009 | |
| 5 | Hell And Back | 4 | #26 | – | 2013 | |
| 6 | Timeless | 5 | #53 | – | 2013 | |
| 7 | Come On Out | 3 | #46 | – | 2020 | |
| 8 | Faithless | 2 | #62 | – | 2022 | |
| 9 | All These Engagements | 1 | #27 | – | 2020 | |
| 10 | Gasoline | 1 | #75 | – | 2009 | |
| 11 | Does This Mean You're Moving On | 2 | #73 | – | 2009 | |
| 12 | Wrong | 2 | #91 | – | 2014 | |
| 13 | Glory | 2 | #90 | – | 2024 |
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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