Radio format

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. RockLists has 236 countdowns from 26 stations in this format.

236countdowns

26stations

1999–2025year rankings

Greatest indie rock songs of all time

Top 100 →

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Year
1	Heroes David Bowie	1,753	20	#1	2	1977
2	Tangled Up in Blue Bob Dylan	1,703	18	#5	–	–
3	Born to Run Bruce Springsteen	1,675	18	#4	–	–
4	Once in a Lifetime Talking Heads	1,622	19	#14	–	1980
5	How Soon is Now? The Smiths	1,613	20	#18	–	1984
6	Hurt Johnny Cash	1,603	21	#16	–	2003
7	Into the Mystic Van Morrison	1,601	17	#2	–	–
8	A Day in the Life The Beatles	1,599	17	#4	–	–
9	Purple Rain Prince	1,578	19	#1	2	–
10	Thunder Road Bruce Springsteen	1,575	17	#1	4	–
11	Hallelujah Jeff Buckley	1,567	17	#4	–	–
12	Respect Aretha Franklin	1,547	18	#2	–	–
13	One U2	1,531	17	#10	–	1992
14	Running Up That Hill Kate Bush	1,528	19	#9	–	2022
15	What's Going On Marvin Gaye	1,516	18	#5	–	–
16	London Calling The Clash	1,508	18	#13	–	1980
17	Harvest Moon Neil Young	1,503	18	#4	–	–
18	Imagine John Lennon	1,502	17	#1	3	–
19	This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) Talking Heads	1,498	17	#2	–	–
20	Do You Realize? The Flaming Lips	1,482	17	#7	–	2002
21	Like a Rolling Stone Bob Dylan	1,478	16	#2	–	–
22	The Weight The Band	1,476	15	#1	2	–
23	Jesus Etc. Wilco	1,460	19	#10	–	2002
24	Ring Of Fire Johnny Cash	1,441	17	#10	–	–
25	Hallelujah Leonard Cohen	1,440	17	#26	–	–

Indie & Adult Alternative

Greatest indie rock songs of all time

Best indie rock songs by year

Countdown series

Stations

Latest countdowns