Song · The National
“The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” by The National
From the album Sleep Well Beast (2017)
“The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” by The National appears on 20 radio countdowns from 14 stations between 2017 and 2026. It was first released in 2017 on the album Sleep Well Beast. Its best result is #4 on the WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2017. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #34 alternative song of 2017.
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Video from YouTube (The National). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" opened the door to Sleep Well Beast, the National's seventh album, arriving as its lead single in May 2017, and it's the band at its most restless: a jittery, stop-start groove, guitars that snap and fray, and Matt Berninger murmuring through lyrics he wrote with Carin Besser. Aaron and Bryce Dessner wrote the music, Aaron produced it with help from Bryce, Berninger and Peter Katis, and the guest list runs deep, with Justin Vernon and Lisa Hannigan among the voices and a small orchestra of strings and woodwinds waiting in the wings.
It was the first National song to reach any US airplay chart, and it went all the way to the top of Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart that August. Casey Reas directed the video, and the song later turned up in FIFA 18.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 52 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2017 | 91 |
| 2017 | 6 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2017 | 104 |
| 2017 | 22 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2017 | 89 |
| 2017 | 22 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2017 | 103 |
| 2017 | 14 | WERS 88.9 Boston, MA | WERS Top 88 Songs of 2017 | 88 |
| 2017 | 4 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2017 | 90 |
| 2017 | 36 | WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD | WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2017 | 104 |
| 2017 | 11 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2017 | 89 |
| 2017 | 36 | 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN | WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2017 | 50 |
| 2017 | 6 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 50 Songs of 2017 | 50 |
| 2017 | 19 | 90.9 The Bridge Kansas City, MO | 90.9 The Bridge Top 100 Songs of 2017 | 90 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 87 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 654 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 654 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2022 | 345 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2024 | 494 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 216 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 567 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 519 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
| 2026 | 204 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound | 1055 |
Also listed as: The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness.
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