Song · Travis
“Sing” by Travis
“Sing” by Travis appears on 20 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 2001 and 2025. Its best result is #8 on the Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 2001. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #90 alternative song of 2001 and #3,840 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (Travis). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Fran Healy wrote "Sing" in 1999, and by the time it surfaced on The Invisible Band, Travis's third studio album, in 2001, Nigel Godrich had produced it at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. The tune began life as "Swing" until Healy dropped a letter and found his subject: getting through the rough patches of a relationship by letting your guard down and singing out in front of the one you love.
The hook is a banjo, played by lead guitarist Andy Dunlop, with Millennia Strings sweeping in behind it. Critics took to it, and it gave the Scottish band their highest-charting British single, at number three. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris shot the video, a dinner party that collapses into a food fight, and the band carried the mess onto Top of the Pops, pelting each other and the audience with pies.
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 | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 30 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2001 | 107 |
| 2001 | 72 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2001 | 91 |
| 2001 | 79 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2001 | 100 |
| 2001 | 78 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2001 | 101 |
| 2001 | 8 | Virgin Radio United Kingdom | Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 2001 | 10 |
| 2001 | 39 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2001 | 191 |
| 2001 | 93 | WHTG Monmouth-Ocean, NJ | G106.3 Top 106 Songs of 2001 | 106 |
| 2001 | 67 | 97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 97X Top 97 Songs of 2001 | 97 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 129 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2003 | 59 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio VR10x10 (April 2003) | 100 |
| 2004 | 377 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2006 | 432 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
| 2007 | 1939 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1949 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 145 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 1971 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2022 | 281 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 1016 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 828 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 227 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
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