Artist · chart history
The Kooks
Band Brighton United Kingdom Formed 2004 UK band
The Kooks formed in 2004 in Brighton, United Kingdom. The Kooks has 113 chart appearances on 90 radio countdowns from 39 stations on RockLists, spanning 2006–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Naïve”, which appears on 24 lists with a best position of #2. The station that charted The Kooks most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 23 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2011.
The Kooks came together in Brighton in 2004, and they moved fast: Virgin signed them a mere 3 months in. Luke Pritchard fronted the band on vocals and guitar, and the sound he and his mates made was pure seaside swagger, jangly British Invasion guitar pop filtered through the post-punk revival, with a loose-limbed willingness to dabble in reggae and ska when the mood struck.
Inside In/Inside Out, their 2006 debut, was an instant smash at home, going 5 times platinum in Britain on the strength of the bouncy, bratty "Naive", the sunny "Ooh La" and "She Moves in Her Own Way", a breezy strum that picked up a Brit Awards nomination. The same year they were named Best UK & Ireland Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Konk, in 2008, went straight to number one on the UK Albums Chart, and Junk of the Heart (2011) and Listen (2014) kept the hooks coming; later experiments reached as far as funk and hip-hop.
The lineup has shuffled around Pritchard and Hugh Harris, who covers bass, guitar and synths: Max Rafferty left in 2008, Paul Garred in 2012, and Peter Denton after a decade on board, with Alexis Nunez behind the drums since 2012.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Kooks on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naïve | 24 | #2 | – | 2007 | |
| 2 | She Moves in Her Own Way | 21 | #11 | – | 2007 | |
| 3 | Junk of the Heart (Happy) | 22 | #14 | – | 2011 | |
| 4 | Always Where I Need to Be | 13 | #33 | – | 2008 | |
| 5 | Bad Habit | 7 | #9 | – | 2014 | |
| 6 | Sway | 2 | #16 | – | 2009 | |
| 7 | See Me Now | 2 | #36 | – | 2015 | |
| 8 | Do you wanna | 3 | #42 | – | 2008 | |
| 9 | Forgive & Forget | 2 | #39 | – | 2015 | |
| 10 | Taking Pictures of You | 1 | #361 | – | – | |
| 11 | Ooh La | 2 | #49 | – | 2007 | |
| 12 | How'd You Like That | 3 | #75 | – | 2012 | |
| 13 | Four Leaf Clover | 2 | #66 | – | 2018 | |
| 14 | Be Who You Are | 2 | #629 | – | – | |
| 15 | SunnyBaby | 1 | #60 | – | 2025 | |
| 16 | Shine On | 2 | #75 | – | 2010 | |
| 17 | Pamela | 1 | #81 | – | 2019 | |
| 18 | Around Town | 1 | #94 | – | 2014 | |
| 19 | If They Could Only Know | 1 | #55 | – | 2025 | |
| 20 | Kids (originally by MGMT) | 1 | #100 | – | – |
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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