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Cover of Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire
Cover: Neon Bible

Song · The Arcade Fire

“Keep the Car Running” by The Arcade Fire

From the album Neon Bible (2007)

“Keep the Car Running” by The Arcade Fire appears on 30 radio countdowns from 16 stations between 2007 and 2025. It was first released in 2007 on the album Neon Bible. Its best result is #13 on the WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2007. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #42 alternative song of 2007 and #2,053 alternative song of all time.

30countdowns
16stations
#13best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
2007–2025years charted

Watch

Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running (Official Audio)

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

"Keep the Car Running" comes from Neon Bible, Arcade Fire's second album, from 2007, and the writing credit goes to all six of them: Win Butler, Will Butler, Régine Chassagne, Jeremy Gara, Tim Kingsbury and Richard Reed Parry. The band produced and arranged it, Markus Dravs and Scott Colburn recorded it and Nick Launay helped with the mix. It's a galloping, headlong rush of a song, all driving strum and swelling voices, restless and urgent.

They played it on Saturday Night Live in February 2007, and it came out as a single in the UK on Rough Trade, backed with "Broken Window", then in America on Merge. Rolling Stone put it at 22 among the year's best songs, and NME later slotted it at 61 in its best tracks of the past 15 years.

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#StationCountdownof
2007 63 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2007 107
2007 59 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 2007 91
2007 94 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2007 106
2007 51 WFNX Boston, MA WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2007 100
2007 84 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 2007 107
2007 85 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON 89X Top 89 Songs of 2007 89
2007 14 CD101 Columbus, OH CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2007 101
2007 17 CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON 102.1 The Edge Top 102 Songs of 2007 102
2007 54 CHOI Radio X Quebec City, QC CHOI Top 101 Songs of 2007 101
2007 81 KWOD Sacramento, CA KWOD Top 106 Songs of 2007 106
2007 22 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 2007 103
2007 13 WXPN Philadelphia, PA WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2007 100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2007 953 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 937 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 80 WYEP WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade 913
2009 932 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2009 156 CFNY 102.1 The Edge 102.1 The Edge Top 200 Songs of All-Time (2009) 200
2009 199 WYEP WYEP 913 Essential Songs 913
2010 870 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2010 64 WXPN WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) 885
2011 751 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 686 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2013 439 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) 885
2014 665 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2018 102 WTMD WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 896
2019 623 KEXP KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time 627
2022 376 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s 907
2022 253 KEXP KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) 491
2023 716 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 1229
2025 402 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) 714

Also listed as: Keep The Car Running.

Charting alongside it in 2007

Best songs of 2007 →
  1. 1Icky ThumpThe White Stripes
  2. 2DashboardModest Mouse
  3. 3The PretenderFoo Fighters
  4. 4Lazy EyeSilversun Pickups
  5. 5Read My MindThe Killers
  6. 6TarantulaThe Smashing Pumpkins

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