Artist · chart history
The Ronettes
Band Washington Heights United States Active 1959–1974
The Ronettes formed in 1959 in Washington Heights, United States and was active until 1974. The Ronettes has 10 chart appearances on 9 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 2001–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Be My Baby”, which appears on 9 lists with a best position of #36. The station that charted The Ronettes most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 4 appearances.
The Ronettes were family before they were a group: Veronica Bennett, her older sister Estelle and their cousin Nedra Talley, three girls from Washington Heights in Manhattan who had been singing together since their teens under the name the Darling Sisters. Colpix signed them first, in 1961, but the real story starts in March 1963, when they moved over to Phil Spector's Philles label and became the Ronettes.
What Spector built around them was a sound as big as a cathedral, with Veronica's voice cutting through the lot with a tough, yearning ache. "Be My Baby" is the one that stopped traffic, and "Baby, I Love You", "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up" and "Walking in the Rain" kept the spell going. Their only studio album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, came out in 1964, the year the Rolling Stones served as their opening act on a UK tour. In 1966 the roles flipped when they opened for the Beatles in America, the only girl group ever to tour with them.
Veronica married Spector in 1968, and a short-lived comeback billed as Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes came along in the 1970s. "Be My Baby" entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame took the trio in in 2004, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed in 2007. With Nedra Talley's death in April 2026, all three original Ronettes are gone.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Ronettes on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Be My Baby | 9 | #36 | – | – | |
| 2 | Walking In The Rain | 1 | #1968 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 79 | Be My Baby | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2023 | 71 | Be My Baby | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time |
| 2023 | 209 | Be My Baby | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 |
| 2020 | 166 | Be My Baby | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2020 | 1968 | Walking In The Rain | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2018 | 208 | Be My Baby | The Current's 893 Essential Songs |
| 2012 | 450 | Be My Baby | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown |
| 2009 | 623 | Be My Baby | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) |
| 2004 | 412 | Be My Baby | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) |
| 2001 | 36 | Be My Baby | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time |
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