Artist · chart history
The Maccabees
Band Brighton United Kingdom Active 2004–2017 Brighton, UK indie rock band
The Maccabees formed in 2004 in Brighton, United Kingdom and was active until 2017. The Maccabees has 4 chart appearances on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations on RockLists, spanning 2012–2015. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Love You Better”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #32. The station that charted The Maccabees most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2015.
The Maccabees started up in 2004 and spent the next dozen years growing into an English indie rock band of real subtlety. Orlando Weeks sings, with a fragile, wobbly voice that sounds like it could crack at any moment, and plays guitar and keyboards; Felix White and Hugo White play guitar and add backing vocals; Rupert Jarvis plays bass; and Sam Doyle took over the drums in 2008 from Robert Dylan Thomas.
Colour It In in 2007 was all jittery, jangling energy, but Wall of Arms in 2009 widened the frame, and "Love You Better" is its sweetest moment, a lovesick shuffle with a lump in its throat. Given to the Wild, released on 9 January 2012, went further still, trading scratchy guitars for slow-building, atmospheric swells, with "Pelican" as its most urgent pulse. Marks to Prove It, out on 31 July 2015, pulled the tension back in, its title track a wiry, restless blast.
That was their last album of the first run. They announced in August 2016 that they were calling it a day and played farewell gigs in 2017, and on 25 October 2024 word came that they were getting back together after seven years away.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Maccabees on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love You Better | 1 | #32 | – | – | |
| 2 | Marks to Prove It | 2 | #87 | – | 2015 | |
| 3 | Pelican | 1 | #97 | – | 2012 |
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.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 87 | Marks to Prove It | CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2015 |
| 2015 | 102.7 | Marks to Prove It | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2015 |
| 2013 | 32 | Love You Better | BBC 6 Music 100 Best Tracks Of The Last 10 Years |
| 2012 | 97 | Pelican | CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2012 |
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