Song · The Fugees
“Killing Me Softly With His Song” by The Fugees
Released 1999
“Killing Me Softly With His Song” by The Fugees appears on 9 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1996 and 2026. It was first released in 1999. Its best result is #2 on the 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #177 alternative song of 1996.
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The Fugees took "Killing Me Softly with His Song", the Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel number Roberta Flack had carried to the top in 1973, and recorded it in 1996 with Lauryn Hill singing lead. The song's roots run back to Lori Lieberman, who helped shape the lyric after a Don McLean show in late 1971 moved her, though Fox and Gimbel kept her name off the credits.
Hill's take went to number one in twenty countries, and in Germany it was the first single to enter the chart at the top. It brought the Fugees a 1997 Grammy for the year's best R&B vocal performance by a duo or group, Flack later sang it with them, and Rolling Stone's 2021 revision of its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time found room for both versions.
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 | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 35 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1996 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 564 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2021 | 2 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
| 2022 | 426 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
| 2023 | 56 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2023 | 383 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2024 | 20 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs | 850 |
| 2025 | 10 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s | 500 |
| 2026 | 695 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
Also listed as: Killing Me Softly.
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