Artist consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · 13 countdowns from 6 stations

The greatest alternative rock artists of all time

Several stations have asked listeners to rank the greatest artists rather than songs: KROQ’s Top 106.7 Artists of All-Time, Live 105’s Top 105.3 Artists, 91X’s Top 100 Artists, WHFS’s Top 99 and WLIR’s Top 92. This ranking combines all 13 of them. For a ranking based on song appearances instead, see the most-charted artists.

#	Artist	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Depeche Mode71 charting songs	1,242	13	#1	2
2	U2139 charting songs	1,226	13	#1	1
3	The Cure94 charting songs	1,191	13	#1	2
4	Nirvana45 charting songs	1,072	11	#1	4
5	Red Hot Chili Peppers52 charting songs	1,036	12	#1	2
6	The Clash62 charting songs	1,014	13	#9	–
7	Beastie Boys43 charting songs	982	11	#1	1
8	The Smashing Pumpkins50 charting songs	972	11	#5	–
9	Green Day70 charting songs	968	11	#1	1
10	Pearl Jam103 charting songs	965	11	#4	–
11	R.E.M.97 charting songs	958	13	#5	–
12	Sublime18 charting songs	926	11	#2	–
13	The Ramones42 charting songs	914	13	#7	–
14	Nine Inch Nails46 charting songs	907	11	#6	–
15	Rage Against the Machine23 charting songs	902	10	#5	–
16	New Order46 charting songs	895	13	#4	–
17	Radiohead54 charting songs	869	11	#5	–
18	No Doubt21 charting songs	848	11	#5	–
19	Jane's Addiction31 charting songs	846	11	#9	–
20	Stone Temple Pilots32 charting songs	844	11	#17	–
21	The Offspring37 charting songs	816	10	#3	–
22	The Smiths52 charting songs	801	9	#3	–
23	blink-18234 charting songs	795	10	#7	–
24	Violent Femmes21 charting songs	766	12	#16	–
25	Weezer50 charting songs	761	11	#13	–
26	Bob Marley24 charting songs	756	11	#11	–
27	Foo Fighters65 charting songs	756	11	#6	–
28	Beck43 charting songs	747	11	#8	–
29	Social Distortion26 charting songs	707	11	#17	–
30	Oingo Boingo36 charting songs	677	9	#9	–
31	Alice In Chains27 charting songs	676	11	#24	–
32	Soundgarden21 charting songs	669	10	#21	–
33	The Police43 charting songs	666	12	#16	–
34	David Bowie81 charting songs	661	12	#19	–
35	31125 charting songs	651	11	#24	–
36	Linkin Park43 charting songs	636	8	#3	–
37	Bush17 charting songs	629	11	#26	–
38	Duran Duran34 charting songs	620	10	#4	–
39	Korn34 charting songs	619	9	#11	–
40	Tool20 charting songs	615	10	#14	–
41	Incubus25 charting songs	614	8	#17	–
42	Oasis36 charting songs	609	11	#34	–
43	Metallica61 charting songs	564	8	#16	–
44	The B-52's34 charting songs	552	10	#7	–
45	The Sex Pistols15 charting songs	548	12	#18	–
46	Garbage22 charting songs	547	11	#13	–
47	System of a Down19 charting songs	530	8	#12	–
48	Bad Religion19 charting songs	523	9	#36	–
49	Coldplay37 charting songs	498	8	#11	–
50	Dave Matthews Band28 charting songs	496	8	#17	–
51	INXS44 charting songs	482	10	#18	–
52	Talking Heads42 charting songs	479	10	#14	–
53	Blondie30 charting songs	476	10	#6	–
54	Siouxsie and the Banshees40 charting songs	461	10	#6	–
55	Rancid11 charting songs	461	10	#44	–
56	Morrissey39 charting songs	425	6	#12	–
57	Live21 charting songs	419	10	#31	–
58	Devo31 charting songs	417	11	#25	–
59	Echo and the Bunnymen25 charting songs	415	12	#9	–
60	Hole16 charting songs	395	10	#24	–
61	The Strokes25 charting songs	394	8	#30	–
62	Elvis Costello & the Attractions55 charting songs	387	7	#12	–
63	The Killers27 charting songs	379	5	#13	–
64	Erasure25 charting songs	364	5	#7	–
65	The White Stripes25 charting songs	361	6	#23	–
66	Cake24 charting songs	359	9	#46	–
67	Limp Bizkit18 charting songs	356	7	#14	–
68	Billy Idol23 charting songs	355	10	#45	–
69	The Cult25 charting songs	352	11	#38	–
70	The Psychedelic Furs24 charting songs	346	8	#26	–
71	Pennywise14 charting songs	337	7	#31	–
72	Jimmy Eat World16 charting songs	318	8	#38	–
73	The Pixies35 charting songs	308	11	#26	–
74	Pet Shop Boys23 charting songs	302	5	#14	–
75	Tori Amos18 charting songs	290	5	#20	–
76	The Smiths/Morrissey0 charting songs	289	4	#23	–
77	Third Eye Blind14 charting songs	287	6	#34	–
78	The English Beat12 charting songs	277	6	#21	–
79	AFI20 charting songs	273	5	#25	–
80	Marilyn Manson16 charting songs	265	7	#49	–
81	The Pretenders35 charting songs	264	7	#29	–
82	Alanis Morissette14 charting songs	258	5	#30	–
83	Staind20 charting songs	253	5	#19	–
84	Peter Gabriel32 charting songs	252	7	#30	–
85	Tears for Fears18 charting songs	243	6	#32	–
86	Everclear20 charting songs	243	8	#30	–
87	Fatboy Slim13 charting songs	243	7	#42	–
88	Queens of the Stone Age29 charting songs	238	5	#38	–
89	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark20 charting songs	231	4	#21	–
90	Blur25 charting songs	231	8	#52	–
91	X25 charting songs	217	9	#63	–
92	10,000 Maniacs20 charting songs	211	4	#36	–
93	The Cranberries13 charting songs	209	6	#53	–
94	My Chemical Romance17 charting songs	209	4	#32	–
95	Muse37 charting songs	205	4	#22	–
96	Gorillaz23 charting songs	203	4	#35	–
97	Eminem16 charting songs	198	3	#10	–
98	Rob Zombie12 charting songs	192	3	#33	–
99	Cypress Hill11 charting songs	191	5	#56	–
100	Lenny Kravitz26 charting songs	191	7	#43	–

The greatest alternative rock artists of all time

The artist countdowns