Ranking Pearl Jam’s 5 Highest-Charting Singles

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, something major was happening in Seattle. A new sound was forming and there were young kids with guitars and drums defining it in real time. And from that sonic burbling, four bands rose to the top: Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. Today, only the latter remains close to its original lineup.

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There is something lasting and strong about the grunge group Pearl Jam. They subsist. They have subsisted. And while that’s because of a certain je ne sais quoi, it’s also because of great music. Here below, we wanted to explore some of those tunes. Indeed, let’s do so by ranking Pearl Jam’s five highest-charting tracks.

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5. “I Got Id/Long Road,” from Merkin Ball (1995)

These tracks, which were released together and hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, are lovely and lilting. They’re like introductions to a band or a feeling or a night or a moment. It’s like we’re in the collective consciousness of the band, swirling in their big oceanic mind’s eye. It’s a great feeling, euphoric. Sometime to want again and again. Like bliss itself.

4. “Tremor Christ/Spin The Black Circle” from Vitalogy (1994)

This dual single, which hit No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100, features buzzy, blasting big-guitar sounds. Pearl Jam are going down the White Rabbit’s rabbit hole on “Tremor Christ” and racing away from it on “The Black Circle.” These songs might get you dizzy before you realize it or they could cause you to head bang your blues away.

3. “Who You Are” from No Code (1996)

This song, which hit No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, is meditative. Hearkening to the tracks from The Beatles in the late 1960s, there is a sense of chant and spirituality to this tune. Metaphysical and existential, lead singer Eddie Vedder sings about the nature of life itself. It’s a left turn for a popular rock band but a welcomed one, complete with off-kilter instrumentation and irreverence.

2. “Given to Fly” from Yield (1997)

This song, which hit No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, was written by lead singer Eddie Vedder and lead guitarist Mike McCready. It has a lovely tone—wistful and wondering. It feels like the perfect song to play on a road trip. The world is just going by your windows, your windshields, your eyes. You’re thinking about your life, how you got here, and where you’re going. Suddenly you realize the Pearl Jam song is building and crescendoing like a wave.

1. “Last Kiss” from No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees (1999)

Just a perfect song. Written originally by Wayne Cochran, when performed by Pearl Jam, the track feels like summer—the last days of it. The season departing. But when you get down into it, the song, which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, is much deeper and darker than the surface tone and chorus might indicate. Still, that’s a difficult line to walk. Catchy and pained. Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder does it with such skill on this track. It sounds like a 1950s hit along the lines of Buddy Holly, but at its core it’s all emotive storytelling.

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