"Song on the Radio" is a composition by

Al Stewart Alastair Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a Scottish born singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock so ...

introduced on his 1978 album release ''

Time Passages ''Time Passages'' is the eighth studio album by Al Stewart, released in September 1978. It is the follow-up to his 1976 album '' Year of the Cat''. The album, like 1975's ''Modern Times'' and 1976's ''Year of the Cat'', was once again produced b ...

''.

Background

"Song on the Radio" was released in January 1979 as the second single from the ''Time Passages'' album, following the title cut which had been a Top Ten hit on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine whose

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

had afforded "Time Passages" a ten week tenure at No. 1 "Song on the Radio" would peak at No. 29 on the Hot 100 and rise as high as No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart In Canada "Song on the Radio" also peaked at No. 29 on the national hit parade as ranked by ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' magazine whose Adult Contemporary chart afforded the track a peak of No. 3.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1979 singles Al Stewart songs Arista Records singles 1978 songs Song recordings produced by Alan Parsons Songs about radio {{1970s-single-stub