Artist · chart history
UFO
Band Enfield United Kingdom Formed 1969 British space rock/hard rock band
UFO formed in 1969 in Enfield, United Kingdom. UFO has 52 chart appearances on 15 radio countdowns from 8 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Too Hot to Handle”, which appears on 12 lists with a best position of #65. The station that charted UFO most often is KISW (Seattle-Tacoma, WA), with 32 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2000.
UFO came out of London with one foot in space rock and the other planted in hard rock, and they became the bridge between the first hard rock bands and the NWOBHM kids who followed. Phil Mogg sang, Pete Way played bass and Andy Parker drummed, and the guitar slot went through Mick Bolton, Larry Wallis and Bernie Marsden before the band struck gold with Michael Schenker, formerly of the Scorpions.
With Schenker's slicing leads on board, UFO got down to business on Chrysalis. Phenomenon, in 1974, gave them "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom", two slabs of hard rock that swagger and sting. Paul Raymond joined on keyboards to complete the classic lineup, and Lights Out in 1977 brought "Too Hot to Handle" and the title track, followed by Obsession and "Only You Can Rock Me" in 1978. The 1979 live album Strangers in the Night made the Top 40 in both Britain and America.
Schenker was gone by the end of the decade, and the band came apart and regrouped more than once, with Mogg the only constant. They sold over 20 million records across 23 studio albums, a string of hard rock and metal bands later named them as a key influence, and after health problems scuttled Mogg's farewell tour, he confirmed the band's final split in 2024.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by UFO on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Too Hot to Handle | 12 | #65 | – | – | |
| 2 | Rock Bottom | 8 | #169 | – | – | |
| 3 | Love to Love | 7 | #75 | – | – | |
| 4 | Lights Out | 10 | #181 | – | – | |
| 5 | Only You Can Rock Me | 7 | #118 | – | – | |
| 6 | Godless | 1 | #22 | – | 2000 | |
| 7 | Doctor Doctor | 1 | #226 | – | – | |
| 8 | Cherry | 5 | #349 | – | – | |
| 9 | Feel Alive | 1 | #87 | – | 2000 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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