Hootie and the Blowfish Best songs

Photo: Sgt. Brian Christiansen, U.S. Air Force / Public domain

Our Top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish Songs list takes a look at band whose debut album in 1994 stands as one of the top selling albums of all time. In fact, their debut album Cracked Rear View  is the 19th biggest selling rock record in United States history. That’s a pretty significant fact. In 1995 it was the biggest selling album of the year. Hootie & The Blowfish captured an incredibly wide audience with their magnificent sound of rock music that was extremely radio friendly. The band had a rock roots sound with elements of r&b, country and southern all mixed in. It’s why they captured such a large audience. In the end however, it always comes down to songs, and there first album was filled with great ones.

Hootie & The Blowfish were a hard working band. They dd not let their phenomenal success of their first album go their heads and take it easy. While they never achieved the massive success they did with their first album again, they still did quite well with their follow up albums.  The bands follow up album to Cracked Rear View was released in 1996 entitled Fairweather Johnson. The album reached all the way to number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts. It also went 3x Platinum sales. The band’s third album Musical Chairs was released in 1998. While it didn’t make it to number one, it still celebrated top 10 status on the Billboard Album charts peaking as high as number four. While both Fairweather Johnson and Musical Chairs did well on the album charts, both albums singles did not fare well. Only one song from Fairweather Johnson reached the Billboard Top 20 and none of the singles from Musical Chairs even reached the Billboard Top 100 singles charts. Still, the band continued to tour, sell out shows and release albums.

In 2003, Hootie & The Blowfish fulfilled their recording contract with Atlantic Records and released their final album for the label entitled Hootie & The Blowfish. The band would release one final album in the 2000s entitled Looking for Lucky. The album sold very poorly and the band went on a hiatus. Lead singer Darius Rucker would continue to explore a solo recording  career as a country music singer. Rucker would release six albums on his own and do very well in the country music genre.

In 2018, Hootie & The Blowfish reunited for a forty four night concert tour. During the tour they announced a new album. In 2019, the band released their first new album in fourteen years entitled Imperfect Circle.  The band’s comeback was complete and all was going well until the coronoavirus canceled all concerts around the world.

Our Top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish songs list takes a look at the catalog of this great American Band. We hope you enjoy this look back into the past and these great Hootie & The Blowfish songs, some of which are now twenty five years old.

# 10 – Rollin’

We open up our Top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish songs list with a brand new Hootie and the Blowfish song. In 2019, Hootie & The Blowfish released their first new album in fourteen years entitled Imperfect Circle. The album’s first single “Rollin'” captures that old feel good driving down the road style song that made us fall in love with Hootie and the Blowfish in the first place,

# 9 – Hey Hey What Can I Do

Yes we know this is a Led Zeppelin song. However we really like the way Hootie & The Blowfish covered this song. We only wish Darious would have let loose just a little bit more. Still, the band sounded great and the song’s original groove was such a perfect for for this band.  The song was released on the band’s great album of covers entitled Scattered, Smothered and Covered. The album was released in 2000.

# 8 – Hold On

Another great song from the band’s brand new 2019 album. This one features a killer chorus very reminiscent of their big time hits from the band’s first album. This is a great one. It should have been a big hit. Maybe it will be one day. It’s still pretty recent

# 7 – I Go Blind

Continuing with our Top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish songs list we turn to a great B side entitled “I Go Blind.” The song was originally released in 1986 as the flip side to the single “Hold My Hand.” The song would be later included on the the soundtrack to the hit television show Friends.

# 6 – Time

“Time,” was the fourth single released from the band’s debut album Cracked Rear View. It was also the fourth straight single to reach the Billboard Top 20. However, it was the first one to miss out on reaching the top 10 as it peaked at number 14. The song was written by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim Sonefeld.

# 5 – I Will Wait

In 1998, Hootie & The Blowfish released the album Musical Chairs. The fist single released form the album was the one presented here entitled “I Will Wait.” It was a fantastic song, but it failed to make its way onto the Billboard Top 100.

# 4 – Old Man & Me

Boy it must have been tough for Hootie & The Blowfish to follow up their incredible debut album that featured four top 20 singles and sold more records than any other album in 1985. The band didn’t back away form the task and released a really good follow up album in 1996 entitled Fairweather Johnson . While the album did nowhere as well as their debut album, we really like the initial single that we present here called Old Man & Me.

# 3 – Hold My Hand

“Hold My Hand,” was the first single released from the band’s debut album  Cracked Rear View. It was the song that first turned the world on to the great band Hootie & The Blowfish. The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994. The song was a welcome reprieve for many from the sounds of grunge bands that were so dominating the music world at the time.

# 2 – Let Her Cry

Hootie & The Blowfish won a Grammy Award for their song “Let Her Cry,” in 1994. The Cracked Rear View. The song was released as the second single from the album. It was even more successful than the album’s first single as “Let Her Cry,” peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in 94.

# 1 – I Only Wanna Be With You

We close out our top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish songs list with the band’s biggest hit of their career. The song I Only Wanna Be With You was the group’s highest charting song peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995. It was the third single released for their fab album    Cracked Rear View.

Top 10 Hootie & The Blowfish Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2022

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Brian Kachejian

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Brian Kachejian was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He is the founder and Editor in Chief of ClassicRockHistory.com. He has spent thirty years in the music business often working with many of the people who have appeared on this site. Brian Kachejian also holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Stony Brook University along with New York State Public School Education Certifications in Music and Social Studies. Brian Kachejian is also an active member of the New York Press.