The rock radio countdown archive
Every year-end countdown. Every all-time list. One ranking.
RockLists preserves the listener-voted countdowns of rock radio, from KROQ’s Top 106.7 and Triple J’s Hottest 100 to Studio Brussel’s De Tijdloze, John Peel’s Festive Fifty and classic rock’s Top 1,043, and combines them into rankings for every song, artist, year and decade.
Alternative rock songs by year
All years and formats →Greatest alternative songs of all time
Top 100 →Combining every listener-voted alternative all-time countdown.
Voted #1 most often
Every number one →Songs that topped the most countdowns, every format.
- 1 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
- 2 Master of Puppets Metallica
- 3 How Soon is Now? The Smiths
- 4 Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
- 5 Black Pearl Jam
- 6 Seven Nation Army The White Stripes
- 7 Been Caught Stealing Jane's Addiction
- 8 Child in Time Deep Purple
- 9 Wonderwall Oasis
- 10 Intergalactic Beastie Boys
Every rock format, ranked on its own
All formats →Indie & Adult Alternative
- Heroes David Bowie
- London Calling The Clash
- Paranoid Android Radiohead
Classic Rock
- Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
- Freebird Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Hotel California The Eagles
Hard Rock & Metal
- Master of Puppets Metallica
- One Metallica
- Black Fuel Channel Zero
Recently added countdowns
What’s new →- Y100 Y100 Top 88.5 Songs of 2006
- Y100 Y100 Top 150 Songs of 2005
- Y100 Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2004
- Y100 Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2003
- Y100 Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2002
- WRCX Rock 103.5 WRCX Top 103 Songs of 1997
- WOXY 97X WOXY Top 10 Songs of 1984
- WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1988
- WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1987
- WIRS 107.9 WIRS Top 107 Songs of 2004
- WHFS WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2004
- WHFS WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2003
Radio stations
All 47 stations →- Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium
- KROQ KROQ-FM · 106.7 FM Los Angeles, CA
- 91X XETRA-FM · 91.1 FM San Diego, CA / Tijuana
- Triple J National network Australia (national)
- Live 105 KITS · 105.3 FM San Francisco, CA
- John Peel (BBC Radio 1)
- CD101 WWCD · 101.1 FM (later 102.5 and 92.9 FM) Columbus, OH
- CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY-FM · 102.1 FM Toronto, ON
- Q101 WKQX · 101.1 FM Chicago, IL
- 107.7 The End KNDD · 107.7 FM Seattle, WA
- The Current KCMP · 89.3 FM Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
- WFNX 101.7 FM Boston, MA
Make your own countdown
Rank your favorite songs, make your own version of a famous countdown and see how your taste compares with decades of radio listeners.
Most-charted artists
Artist index →- 1 U2
- 2 R.E.M.
- 3 Pearl Jam
- 4 The Cure
- 5 Red Hot Chili Peppers
- 6 Depeche Mode
- 7 Nirvana
- 8 The Beatles
- 9 The Clash
- 10 David Bowie
- 11 Green Day
- 12 The Smashing Pumpkins
Top alternative songs of 2025
Full 2025 ranking →- 1 Man I Need Olivia Dean
- 2 Dancing2 Keli Holiday
- 3 Dracula Tame Impala
- 4 Keith Playlunch
- 5 Where Is My Husband! RAYE
Latest updates
- Sep 22, 2026 — Added: 89X Top 89 Songs of 2015
- Sep 22, 2026 — Added 276 countdowns
- Jan 3, 2008 — Added 3 lists
- Jan 1, 2008 — Added 7 lists
What RockLists is
Since 2004, RockLists has collected the year-end and all-time countdowns broadcast by rock radio stations in North America, Europe and Australia. Each list is transcribed in full with its source, every song and artist is linked to its complete chart history, and the lists are combined into consensus rankings for each radio format. Members can make their own lists and help fill the gaps.