Artist · chart history · #819 in indie & aaa artist polls
The Magnetic Fields
Band Boston United States Formed 1990
The Magnetic Fields formed in 1990 in Boston, United States. The Magnetic Fields has 17 chart appearances on 12 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 2006–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Papa Was a Rodeo”, which appears on 4 lists with a best position of #193. The station that charted The Magnetic Fields most often is The Colorado Sound (Fort Collins–Denver, CO), with 7 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2012.
The Magnetic Fields are Stephin Merritt's band, and Merritt is the whole engine: songwriter, producer, singer and whatever-else-is-lying-around player, with a pen that's funnier and sadder than almost anybody's. The group started in Boston and took its name from Les Champs Magnétiques, the novel by André Breton and Philippe Soupault.
The first single, "100,000 Fireflies", came out in 1991 and set the early template: Merritt's homemade synthesizers, with Susan Anway singing lead, until Merritt took over the vocals himself from the House of Tomorrow EP on. Over time a real band grew around him, Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol and John Woo, with Shirley Simms stepping in as a guest singer.
Then came the big one. 69 Love Songs in 1999 is a three-volume concept album that does exactly what it says, running the whole map of love through "Papa Was a Rodeo", "The Book of Love" and "I Think I Need a New Heart", and it's still what they're best known for. After that Merritt swore off synths for a trilogy, i in 2004, Distortion in 2008 and Realism in 2010, before Love at the Bottom of the Sea in 2012 and Quickies on May 29, 2020.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Magnetic Fields on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Papa Was a Rodeo | 4 | #193 | – | – | |
| 2 | The Book of Love | 4 | #467 | – | – | |
| 3 | Andrew in Drag | 1 | #20 | – | 2012 | |
| 4 | I Think I Need a New Heart | 2 | #402 | – | – | |
| 5 | The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side | 1 | #376 | – | – | |
| 6 | You Must Be Out Of Your Mind | 2 | #61 | – | 2010 | |
| 7 | Washington DC | 1 | #521 | – | – | |
| 8 | 100,000 Fireflies | 1 | #582 | – | – |
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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