Rock radio formats
A classic rock station’s listeners and an alternative station’s listeners vote for very different songs, so RockLists ranks each format on its own. Every countdown belongs to one format, decided by its station, and every format has its own year, decade and all-time rankings. The all-rock ranking combines everything.
Alternative & Modern Rock
Modern rock, new wave, grunge, post-punk and indie as played on alternative radio: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, Triple J, CFNY and their peers.
- Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
- Creep Radiohead
- Alive Pearl Jam
- Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division
- Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers
Indie & Adult Alternative
Adult album alternative and listener-supported music stations such as The Current, KEXP, WFUV and WXPN, whose listener polls lean toward indie rock and singer-songwriters.
- Heroes David Bowie
- Tangled Up in Blue Bob Dylan
- Born to Run Bruce Springsteen
- Once in a Lifetime Talking Heads
- How Soon is Now? The Smiths
Classic Rock
Classic rock stations and their all-time countdowns: the rock canon of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as voted by listeners.
- Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
- Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
- Dream On Aerosmith
- Freebird Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Sweet Emotion Aerosmith
Hard Rock & Metal
Active rock, hard rock and heavy metal stations and polls.
- Master of Puppets Metallica
- One Metallica
- The Number Of The Beast Iron Maiden
- Paranoid Black Sabbath
- Enter Sandman Metallica
All Rock Formats
Every countdown on RockLists combined, across alternative, indie, classic rock and hard rock stations.
- Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
- Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
- Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
- Alive Pearl Jam
- Hotel California The Eagles