Artist · chart history · #658 in indie & aaa artist polls
Traveling Wilburys
Band Malibu United States Active 1988–1990
Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 in Malibu, United States and was active until 1990. Traveling Wilburys has 63 chart appearances on 41 radio countdowns from 16 stations on RockLists, spanning 1997–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “End of the Line”, which appears on 29 lists with a best position of #53. The station that charted Traveling Wilburys most often is 100.7 WZLX (Boston, MA), with 21 appearances.
The Traveling Wilburys were the kind of supergroup that sounds like a fantasy draft: Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, crammed into one band and pretending to be half-brothers. The idea first surfaced while Harrison and Lynne were working on Harrison's 1987 album Cloud Nine, and the five came together in April 1988 simply to cut an extra track for a Harrison single in Europe. That track was "Handle With Care", and it was far too good to waste as a bonus track.
So they made a whole record. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, released in October 1988, sounds like a backyard jam that happens to feature 5 of the most distinctive voices in rock: Orbison's operatic swoop, Dylan's sandpaper drawl, Petty's sneer, Harrison's sweetness, Lynne's knack for a hook. They hid behind silly Wilbury aliases, and the fun is audible on every track. "End of the Line" rolls along on a train-track rhythm like a bunch of old friends swapping stories. It won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group in 1990 and did wonders for Dylan's reputation.
Orbison died in December 1988, and the other four carried on as a quartet for Vol. 3 in 1990, then drifted back to their own careers. Harrison dreamed of more albums and even a film, but the band went quiet after 1991. Harrison died in 2001 and Petty in 2017. The albums were reissued in 2007 as The Traveling Wilburys Collection.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Traveling Wilburys on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | End of the Line | 29 | #53 | – | – | |
| 2 | Handle With Care | 28 | #109 | – | – | |
| 3 | Tweeter and the Monkey | 3 | #256 | – | – | |
| 4 | Tweeter And The Monkey Man | 2 | #863 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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