Song · Tom Cochrane
“Life Is A Highway” by Tom Cochrane
From the album Mad Mad World (1991)
“Life Is A Highway” by Tom Cochrane appears on 13 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1991 and 2026. It was first released in 1991 on the album Mad Mad World. Its best result is #32 on the WMMR Top 50 Songs of Summer (2012). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #130 alternative song of 1991.
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Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway" came out on Capitol in September 1991, pulled from Mad Mad World, the Canadian singer's second album, and it's a pedal-down, windows-open road song built for singing along at full volume. Cochrane wrote and arranged it, sings it and plays electric guitar and harmonica, with Mickey Curry on drums, Ken "Spider" Sinneave on bass, John Webster on organ and percussion, and John Cody and Molly Johnson on backing vocals. Joe Hardy produced, engineered and mixed.
It went to number one in Canada before 1991 was out, then reached number six on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100 in August 1992 and the top two in Australia and New Zealand. In 2016 Manitoba named a 322-kilometre stretch of Provincial Road 391, near where Cochrane was born, in honour of him and the song.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 35 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON | CFNY Top 91 Songs of 1991 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 48 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2012 | 485 | Big 100 | BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2012) | 500 |
| 2012 | 32 | 93.3 WMMR | WMMR Top 50 Songs of Summer (2012) | 49 |
| 2014 | 544 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2019 | 961 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 | 1025 |
| 2022 | 495 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
| 2022 | 1032 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) | 1043 |
| 2023 | 915 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) | 1043 |
| 2024 | 687 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) | 1043 |
| 2025 | 387 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2025) | 400 |
| 2025 | 210 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
| 2026 | 494 | 102.5 WDVE | DVE Memorial Day 500 (2026) | 500 |
Also listed as: Life is a Highway; Life IsA Highway; Life Is a Highway.
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