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The Human League
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Artist · chart history · #304 in alternative artist polls

The Human League

Band Sheffield United Kingdom Formed 1977

The Human League formed in 1977 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The Human League has 76 chart appearances on 47 radio countdowns from 19 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Don't You Want Me”, which appears on 41 lists with a best position of #5. The station that charted The Human League most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 20 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1982.

76appearances
47countdowns
12songs charted
19stations
0#1 finishes
1982–2026years

The Human League started in Sheffield in 1977 as a band of synthesizer boffins: Philip Oakey singing, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware on keyboards. They signed to Virgin in 1979 and made the experimental Travelogue, and then Marsh and Ware walked out to form Heaven 17, leaving Oakey holding the name.

His answer was a masterstroke. With Adrian Wright, the band's slide projectionist and visual director, he brought in 2 singers, Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, plus Ian Burden on bass and synths and Jo Callis on guitar and synths, and the new League made Dare in 1981. It's the sound of electronic pop discovering it could be warm: "The Sound Of The Crowd" and "Love Action" throb and shimmer, "Seconds" broods, and "Don't You Want Me", with a chorus that sinks in like a fishhook, went to number one in Britain and America. The Brits named them Best British Breakthrough Act.

The Fascination! EP followed with "Mirror Man" and "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", Hysteria added "The Lebanon", and Crash gave them a second American number one with "Human". MTV loved them, and they were a leading light of the second British Invasion. By the end of the '80s the band had boiled down to Oakey, Catherall and Sulley, and it still runs that way.

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

Songs by The Human League on radio countdowns

#SongStrengthListsBest#1sPeak year
1 Don't You Want Me
2,506		 41 #5 – 1982
2 (Keep Feeling) Fascination
353		 9 #100 – 1983
3 Human
186		 4 #118 – –
4 The Lebanon
104		 2 #28 – 1984
5 Seconds
101		 4 #51 – 1982
6 Heart Like a Wheel
77		 2 #44 – 1990
7 Love Action (I Believe In Love)
69		 1 #267 – –
8 Things That Dreams Are Made of
67		 3 #350 – –
9 Fascination
58		 1 #212 – –
10 Mirror Man
50		 5 #381 – –
11 Love Action
40		 1 #65 – 1982
12 The Sound Of The Crowd
5		 1 #952 – –

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.

82 83 84 90

Every countdown appearance

Year#SongCountdown
2026 1036 Don't You Want Me WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time
2026 42 Don't You Want Me WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s
2026 212 Fascination WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s
2026 241 Human WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s
2023 55 Don't You Want Me The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2023 262 (Keep Feeling) Fascination The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2023 267 Love Action (I Believe In Love) The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2022 306 Don't You Want Me X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time
2021 118 Human 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s
2021 307 Don't You Want Me 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s
2021 357 (Keep Feeling) Fascination 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s
2012 873 Don't You Want Me WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012)
2006 86 Don't You Want Me Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006)
2005 24 Don't You Want Me Virgin Radio Top 100 Brit Songs of All-Time (May 2005)
2005 50 Don't You Want Me Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2004 18 Don't You Want Me Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2003 776 Don't You Want Me Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003 1045 (Keep Feeling) Fascination Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003 1745 Things That Dreams Are Made of Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003 2014 Mirror Man Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2002 1135 Don't You Want Me Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002 1790 (Keep Feeling) Fascination Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002 1989 Mirror Man Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002 50 Artist ranking Virgin Radio Top 100 Brit Artists of All-Time (December 2002)
2001 46 Don't You Want Me Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2001 216 Don't You Want Me WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001)
1999 607 Don't You Want Me Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 169 Don't You Want Me WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 262 Don't You Want Me WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999)
1999 652 Don't You Want Me The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 280 Don't You Want Me WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999)
1999 144 Don't You Want Me CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1999 567 (Keep Feeling) Fascination CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1999 657 Human CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1999 949 Mirror Man CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1999 20 Don't You Want Me Channel 104.9 Top 101 Songs of the '80s (February 1999)
1998 132 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1998 398 (Keep Feeling) Fascination KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1998 439 Human KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1996 192 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996)
1996 341 Don't You Want Me Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)
1996 273 Don't You Want Me WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996)
1996 350 Things That Dreams Are Made of WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996)
1995 270 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995)
1995 411 (Keep Feeling) Fascination KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995)
1995 133 Don't You Want Me Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995)
1994 241 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994)
1994 332 Don't You Want Me Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994)
1994 304 Don't You Want Me WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994)
1994 388 Things That Dreams Are Made of WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994)
1992 107 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992)
1992 381 Mirror Man KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992)
1991 194 Don't You Want Me WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)
1991 393 Seconds WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)
1991 195 Don't You Want Me CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1991 952 The Sound Of The Crowd CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1990 89 Heart Like a Wheel KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990
1990 44 Heart Like a Wheel Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990
1990 187 Don't You Want Me Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990)
1989 59 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 130 (Keep Feeling) Fascination KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 408 Mirror Man KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 474 Seconds KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 177 Don't You Want Me WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)
1989 355 The Lebanon WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)
1989 395 Seconds WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)
1989 25 Don't You Want Me 91X Top 191 Songs of the 1980s (1989)
1989 99 Artist ranking Live 105 Top 105 Artists of All-Time (1989)
1988 151 Don't You Want Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988)
1988 313 Don't You Want Me Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1984 28 The Lebanon KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984
1983 100 (Keep Feeling) Fascination KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983
1982 5 Don't You Want Me KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982
1982 51 Seconds KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982
1982 65 Love Action KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982
– 54 Don't You Want Me WLIR Top 200 Songs of the 1980s

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