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Cover of Love by The Cult
Cover: Love

Song · The Cult

“She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult

From the album Love (1985)

“She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult appears on 83 radio countdowns from 27 stations between 1985 and 2026. It was first released in 1985 on the album Love. Its best result is #4 on the WFNX Top 101 Songs of the Decade (December 1989). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #25 alternative song of 1985, #61 alternative song of all time and #38 of the '80s.

83countdowns
27stations
#4best position
0#1 finishes
6top 10 finishes
1985–2026years charted

Watch

She Sells Sanctuary (Remastered)

Video from YouTube (The Cult - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"She Sells Sanctuary" is the swirling standout from Love, the Cult's second album, released as a single in 1985, and it's where gothic gloom collides head-on with full-blown rock swagger. Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy wrote it; Astbury sings, Duffy plays guitar, Jamie Stewart covers bass, keyboards and strings, and Nigel Preston sits in on drums as a guest. Steve Brown produced and engineered it, with Mark "Spike" Stent also engineering and Steve Williams recording.

Duffy's guitar is the star: a chiming, echoing wall of sound that spirals up and up before the band slams into gear, pure psychedelic swagger with a dance-floor pulse underneath. Astbury howls over the top like a shaman at a rave, half hippie and half rock god, and the whole thing moves with a momentum that barely lets up. It's glorious, grandiose and a bit ridiculous, which is precisely the point.

It reached 15 in the UK that July, and it refused to fade: re-released in 1993 as "Sanctuary MCMXCIII", it hit the same peak again and went top 10 in New Zealand. It has since gone platinum in Britain and New Zealand and double platinum in Canada.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1985 65 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985 107
1985 4 John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1985 50
1986 12 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1986 90

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
– 103 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of the 1980s 200
1988 39 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) 496
1988 41 Live 105 Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) 501
1988 21 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) 200
1989 79 91X 91X Top 191 Songs of the 1980s (1989) 191
1989 4 WFNX WFNX Top 101 Songs of the Decade (December 1989) 101
1989 72 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1989 5 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) 500
1989 35 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1989) 100
1990 278 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) 299
1990 22 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1990) 100
1991 17 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991) 302
1991 80 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) 500
1991 6 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1991 16 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1991) 100
1992 16 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1992 20 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992) 299
1994 59 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1995 72 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1995 522 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) 1000
1996 76 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) 500
1996 71 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1996 613 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1998 102 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1998 813 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1999 46 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 214 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 67 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 300
1999 114 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 737 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 70 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 7 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
1999 742 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2000 87 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 70 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2000 16 103.3 The Edge 103.3 The Edge Top 103 New Rock Songs of the Millennium 103
2001 89 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 73 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 438 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 89 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 73 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 366 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 18 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 97 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 73 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 288 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 273 Q101 Q101 Top 300 Party Songs of All-Time (July 2004) 300
2004 73 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 117 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) 500
2005 69 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 364 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2005 27 96.5 The Buzz 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 of the 70s & 80s 96
2006 120 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2006 215 Live 105 Live 105 500 Co-Op Countdown (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2006 145 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) 499
2006 49 107.7 The End The End Top 107 Resurrection Songs (December 2006) 107
2007 542 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2007 497 WTMD WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time 897
2008 108 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) 500
2008 515 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 296 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2009 501 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 515 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2010 671 WXPN WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) 885
2011 531 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2012 424 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) 885
2013 542 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 542 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2014 614 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) 885
2018 620 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2020 1230 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 84 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2022 441 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) 500
2022 449 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2022 315 KEXP KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) 491
2022 713 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time 1055
2023 18 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2023 9 91X 91X Top 91 Songs of The Last 40 Years 91
2025 291 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs 800
2026 383 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s 498

Also listed as: She Sells Snctuary; She Smells Sanctuary; (She Sells) Sanctuary.

Charting alongside it in 1985

Best songs of 1985 →
  1. 1Alive and KickingSimple Minds
  2. 2The Perfect KissNew Order
  3. 3In Between DaysThe Cure
  4. 4Take On Mea-ha
  5. 5Road to NowhereTalking Heads
  6. 6Shake the DiseaseDepeche Mode

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