Artist · chart history
Tone Loc
Solo artist Los Angeles United States
Tone Loc is an artist from Los Angeles. Tone Loc has 7 chart appearances on 6 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 1988–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Wild Thing”, which appears on 5 lists with a best position of #9. The station that charted Tone Loc most often is 91X (San Diego, CA / Tijuana), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1988.
Tone Loc, born Anthony Terrell Smith in Los Angeles in 1966, had one thing nobody else did: that voice, a gravelly, raspy growl that made everything he said sound like a sly aside. Delicious Vinyl put out his debut album, Lōc‐ed After Dark, in 1989, and it made his name.
"Wild Thing" rolls along on a laid-back, loose-limbed flow, and it even found a home on rock countdowns. "Funky Cold Medina" followed with more of the same good-natured swagger, and the pair earned him a Grammy nomination. He also took his turn on "We're All in the Same Gang", the West Coast Rap All-Stars collaboration.
That voice later carried him into acting and voice work, but those two party-starting singles are what he's known for.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Tone Loc on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wild Thing | 5 | #9 | – | 1988 | |
| 2 | Funky Cold Medina | 2 | #178 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 178 | Funky Cold Medina | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s |
| 2021 | 894 | Wild Thing | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s |
| 2004 | 23 | Wild Thing | Q101 Top 300 Party Songs of All-Time (July 2004) |
| 2004 | 226 | Funky Cold Medina | Q101 Top 300 Party Songs of All-Time (July 2004) |
| 1989 | 119 | Wild Thing | 91X Top 191 Songs of the 1980s (1989) |
| 1988 | 9 | Wild Thing | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988 |
| 1988 | 15 | Wild Thing | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1988 |
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