Song · Tracy Chapman
“Baby Can I Hold You” by Tracy Chapman
From the album Tracy Chapman (1988)
“Baby Can I Hold You” by Tracy Chapman appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2001 and 2024. It was first released in 1988 on the album Tracy Chapman. Its best result is #300 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,938 alternative song of all time.
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"Baby Can I Hold You" closed out the singles run from Tracy Chapman's 1988 debut album, Tracy Chapman: Elektra sent it out that October as the third and last, hard on the heels of "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution". Chapman wrote it alone and sings and plays guitar, and David Kershenbaum's production sets her in a small band, with Larry Klein on bass, Denny Fongheiser on drums and percussion, Bob Marlette on keyboard, Jack Holder on Hammond organ and electric sitar, and David LaFlamme on electric violin.
In America it stopped at 48 on the Hot 100, her last US top-50 hit until "Give Me One Reason" in 1996, but it made the top 40 in Canada and New Zealand and went all the way to number one in Brazil and Portugal. Chapman brought it back in 2001 to promote Collection, her first greatest-hits set.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 300 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2005 | 384 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2024 | 1025 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
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