Artist · chart history · #154 in alternative artist polls · #665 in indie & aaa artist polls
The Go-Go's
Band Los Angeles United States Formed 1978 all-female American rock band formed in 1978
The Go-Go's formed in 1978 in Los Angeles, United States. The Go-Go's has 119 chart appearances on 65 radio countdowns from 23 stations on RockLists, spanning 1981–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “We Got the Beat”, which appears on 38 lists with a best position of #3. The station that charted The Go-Go's most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 38 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1981.
The Go-Go's crawled out of the Los Angeles punk scene in 1978, and by 1981 they'd scrubbed up into the most irresistible pop band in America without losing the spark. Belinda Carlisle sings, Charlotte Caffey plays lead guitar and keyboards, Jane Wiedlin plays rhythm guitar, Gina Schock drums and Kathy Valentine plays bass, and they write their own songs and play their own instruments, which, as it turns out, no all-female band had ever done on its way to the top of the Billboard album chart.
That album is Beauty and the Beat, from 1981. "We Got the Beat" is a stomping, clattering dance-floor rave-up that went to No. 2 on the Hot 100, "Our Lips Are Sealed" a breezy, bittersweet sway, and "This Town" and "Lust to Love" add a little sting. It took its sweet time getting there, but the record hit No. 1 in March 1982 and stayed for 6 weeks, selling more than 2 million copies. Vacation followed in 1982, its title track reaching No. 8, and Talk Show, in 1984, gave them "Head over Heels".
They broke up in 1985, with Carlisle scoring the biggest solo success. The reunions kept coming, with a new album, God Bless the Go-Go's, in 2001, a Broadway musical built on their songs, Head Over Heels, and in 2021 a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Go-Go's on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | We Got the Beat | 38 | #3 | – | 1981 | |
| 2 | Our Lips Are Sealed | 33 | #32 | – | 1981 | |
| 3 | Vacation | 21 | #8 | – | 1982 | |
| 4 | Head Over Heels | 6 | #79 | – | 1984 | |
| 5 | This Town | 5 | #50 | – | 1981 | |
| 6 | Lust to Love | 1 | #19 | – | 1981 | |
| 7 | The Whole World Lost Its Head | 2 | #70 | – | 1994 | |
| 8 | Beatnik Beach | 1 | #68 | – | 1982 | |
| 9 | Speeding | 1 | #74 | – | 1982 | |
| 10 | Club Zero | 2 | #98 | – | 2020 | |
| 11 | Unforgiven | 1 | #82 | – | 2001 | |
| 12 | How Much More | 1 | #87 | – | 1981 | |
| 13 | Get Up & Go | 1 | #96 | – | 1982 | |
| 14 | Our Lips Our Sealed | 1 | #492 | – | – |
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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