Artist · chart history
The xx
Band Wandsworth United Kingdom Formed 2005 UK indie/dream pop trio
The xx formed in 2005 in Wandsworth, United Kingdom. The xx has 84 chart appearances on 65 radio countdowns from 28 stations on RockLists, spanning 2009–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “On Hold”, which appears on 19 lists with a best position of #8. The station that charted The xx most often is 90.9 The Bridge (Kansas City, MO), with 9 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2017.
The xx make music out of what they leave out. Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim started the band in Wandsworth, London, in 2005 while they were students at Elliott School, trading hushed vocals over her soft, echoing guitar and his big, rubbery bass lines. Jamie Smith, soon known as Jamie xx, joined on beats and production, and Baria Qureshi on keyboards and guitar. Demos posted on Myspace got them noticed, and with producer Rodaidh McDonald they made their debut.
xx arrived in August 2009, a record of late-night whispers and empty space where "Crystalised", "VCR", "Islands" and "Basic Space" hang in the air like breath on a cold window. The boy-girl vocal back-and-forth feels less like a duet than 2 people talking in the dark. It went to number 3 in Britain, landed at or near the top of critics' year-end lists and won the Mercury Prize in 2010. Qureshi left not long after.
Coexist followed in September 2012 and went to number one at home and number 5 on the Billboard 200, with "Chained" and "Angels" keeping the lights low. After a long gap that included Jamie's solo album In Colour, I See You came out in January 2017, warmer and more open, with "On Hold" and "Say Something Loving", and went to number one in Britain and number 2 on the Billboard 200.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The xx on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On Hold | 19 | #8 | – | 2017 | |
| 2 | Crystalised | 17 | #6 | – | 2010 | |
| 3 | I Dare You | 13 | #24 | – | 2017 | |
| 4 | Chained | 9 | #23 | – | 2012 | |
| 5 | Islands | 6 | #23 | – | 2010 | |
| 6 | Say Something Loving | 5 | #55 | – | 2017 | |
| 7 | VCR | 5 | #43 | – | 2011 | |
| 8 | Angels | 2 | #19 | – | 2012 | |
| 9 | Sunset | 3 | #43 | – | 2013 | |
| 10 | Basic Space | 3 | #37 | – | 2010 | |
| 11 | Intro | 1 | #75 | – | – | |
| 12 | Heart Skipped A Beat | 1 | #838 | – | – |
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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