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
- Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division
- Alive Pearl Jam
- Creep Radiohead
- Sunday Bloody Sunday U2
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
- London Calling The Clash
- Paranoid Android Radiohead
- Superstition Stevie Wonder
- Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division
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
- Freebird Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Hotel California The Eagles
- Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
- Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd
Hard Rock & Metal
Active rock, hard rock and heavy metal stations and polls.
- Master of Puppets Metallica
- One Metallica
- Black Fuel Channel Zero
- Ace of Spades Motorhead
- Chop Suey System of a Down
All Rock Formats
Every countdown on RockLists combined, across alternative, indie, classic rock and hard rock stations.
- Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
- Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division
- Alive Pearl Jam
- Sunday Bloody Sunday U2
- With or Without You U2