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Cover of Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos
Cover: Little Earthquakes

Song · Tori Amos

“Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos

From the album Little Earthquakes (1991)

“Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos appears on 52 radio countdowns from 17 stations between 1992 and 2025. It was first released in 1991 on the album Little Earthquakes. Its best result is #10 on the WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1992. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #79 alternative song of 1992, #360 alternative song of all time and #458 of the '90s.

52countdowns
17stations
#10best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1992–2025years charted

Watch

Tori Amos - Silent All These Years (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (UPROXX Indie Mixtape). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Silent All These Years" was the second single from Tori Amos's debut album, Little Earthquakes, and it first surfaced in Britain in November 1991 on EastWest before Atlantic released it in North America the following year. Amos wrote the words and the music, plays the piano and sings every vocal on it, lead and backing alike.

It's just about the barest thing on a rock station's playlist: a restless, rippling piano figure and that voice, veering from a whisper to a wounded cry and back again, with nothing much else in the room except a few chimes from Philly on finger cymbals. Davitt Sigerson produced it, John Beverly Jones recorded it with extra recording by Leslie Ann Jones, and Ross Cullum handled the mix, and all of them had the sense to stay out of the way.

In the UK the single came out again on August 10, 1992, and the song later took on a life beyond the charts when it was used to raise awareness of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

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#StationCountdownof
1992 86 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1992 107
1992 74 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1992 91
1992 86 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1992 101
1992 10 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1992 100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 188 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994) 500
1995 310 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1996 480 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1996 219 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996) 498
1999 70 KROQ KROQ Top 300 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 1999) 300
1999 40 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 250 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 96 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 33 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) 500
1999 479 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 84 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 481 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 86 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 488 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 1994 WFPK WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time 2000
2001 108 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 94 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 488 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1589 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 92 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 488 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 488 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 220 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) 885
2005 119 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) 500
2005 485 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 961 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2006 130 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) 499
2007 269 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2007 488 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2007 451 WTMD WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time 897
2008 499 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 504 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2009 234 WYEP WYEP 913 Essential Songs 913
2009 723 WXPN WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) 885
2010 518 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 533 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2012 251 WYEP WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown 500
2013 548 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 566 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2018 452 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2020 244 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 222 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2022 595 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s 900
2023 102 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s 893
2023 97 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 1229
2023 398 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time 909
2024 348 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2025 27 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500

Also listed as: Silent all these Years.

Charting alongside it in 1992

Best songs of 1992 →
  1. 1Friday I'm in LoveThe Cure
  2. 2Under the BridgeRed Hot Chili Peppers
  3. 3DriveR.E.M.
  4. 4OneU2
  5. 5JeremyPearl Jam
  6. 6TomorrowMorrissey

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