Artist · chart history · #140 in indie & aaa artist polls · #288 in alternative artist polls
The Flaming Lips
Band Oklahoma City United States Formed 1983
The Flaming Lips formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, United States. The Flaming Lips has 241 chart appearances on 111 radio countdowns from 31 stations on RockLists, spanning 1994–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Do You Realize?”, which appears on 47 lists with a best position of #3. The station that charted The Flaming Lips most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 88 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2006.
The Flaming Lips came crawling out of Oklahoma City in 1983, a garage punk and noise pop outfit led by Wayne Coyne, with Michael Ivins alongside him on bass and keyboards, and over the years they turned into the most gloriously weird band in American rock. Their early records came out on the indie label Restless through the '80s and early '90s, fuzzy and chaotic, but the psychedelic and experimental streak was there from the start.
Warner Bros. signed them, and Hit to Death in the Future Head in 1992 was followed by Transmissions from the Satellite Heart in 1993, which gave them their mainstream breakthrough with "She Don't Use Jelly", a goofy, lopsided pop song that sounded like nothing else on the radio. "Turn It On" came from the same album. By then Steven Drozd had joined, and from 1991 to 2024 he was the band's secret weapon, a co-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose role in the band was crucial.
The Soft Bulletin in 1999 was the leap: lush, cosmic and deeply emotional, with "Race for the Prize", "Waitin' for a Superman" and "Buggin'", and the British music press named it the album of the year. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in 2002 followed with more acclaim, a record that blends electronic whimsy with genuine heartache. "Do You Realize?" is its heart, a gentle, luminous song that feels like a hug from the universe, and "Fight Test" and the title song, with its battle against pink robots, fill out the story.
"The W.A.N.D." and "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" came in 2006, and in February 2007 they earned a BRIT nomination for Best International Act. The Lips have won three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Ivins left in 2021, leaving Coyne as the only founding member, and the current lineup features Derek Brown, Matt Duckworth Kirksey, AJ Slaughter and Tommy McKenzie. On the countdowns, "Do You Realize?" and "She Don't Use Jelly" still float to the top of the pile.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Flaming Lips on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do You Realize? | 47 | #3 | – | 2002 | |
| 2 | Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 | 30 | #15 | – | 2005 | |
| 3 | She Don't Use Jelly | 47 | #62 | – | 1994 | |
| 4 | Fight Test | 25 | #19 | – | 2003 | |
| 5 | The W.A.N.D. | 14 | #3 | – | 2006 | |
| 6 | The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song | 17 | #11 | – | 2006 | |
| 7 | Turn It On | 18 | #461 | – | – | |
| 8 | Waitin' For A Superman | 12 | #12 | – | 1999 | |
| 9 | Race For The Prize | 6 | #8 | – | 1999 | |
| 10 | Buggin' | 8 | #101 | – | 1999 | |
| 11 | Borderline | 1 | #246 | – | – | |
| 12 | A Spoonful Weighs A Ton | 1 | #407 | – | – | |
| 13 | Silver Trembling Hands | 1 | #51 | – | 2010 | |
| 14 | Mr. Ambulance Driver | 1 | #87 | – | 2005 | |
| 15 | How?? | 1 | #62 | – | 2017 | |
| 16 | Sun Blows Up Today | 1 | #82 | – | 2013 | |
| 17 | Knives Out | 1 | #535 | – | – | |
| 18 | Begs and Aching | 1 | #654 | – | – | |
| 19 | Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part One | 1 | #77 | – | 2002 | |
| 20 | What Is the Light | 1 | #770 | – | – | |
| 21 | I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow | 1 | #86 | – | 2008 | |
| 22 | Flowers of Neptune 6 | 1 | #91 | – | 2020 | |
| 23 | Race For The Prize (remix) | 1 | #794 | – | – |
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.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about The Flaming Lips.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.