RockLists.com

Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · one countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 1977

One radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1977: John Peel (BBC Radio 1). Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 1977 is “Dancing the Night Away” by Motors, which appeared on one of the one countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Motors was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 4 times across the countdowns.

1countdowns
61songs charted
1different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1977

Ranked by combined points across every 1977 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

# Song Strength Lists Best #1s
1 Dancing the Night Away Motors
100		 1 #1 1
2 Uptown Top Ranking Althea & Donna
98		 1 #2 –
3 You Beat The Hell Out of Me Motors
97		 1 #3 –
4 I Can't Stand My Baby Rezillos
95		 1 #4 –
5 Suspended Sentence John Cooper Clarke
93		 1 #5 –
6 Smokescreen Desperate Bicycles
92		 1 #6 –
7 Right Track Marlene Webber
90		 1 #7 –
8 Like a Hurricane Neil Young
89		 1 #8 –
9 Complete Control The Clash
87		 1 #9 –
10 Be Good To Yourself Frankie Miller
85		 1 #10 –
11 Holidays In The Sun The Sex Pistols
84		 1 #11 –
12 Shadow Lurkers
82		 1 #12 –
13 Truly Jays & Ranking Trevor*
80		 1 #13 –
14 Pigs Pink Floyd
79		 1 #14 –
15 Incendiary Device Johnny Moped
77		 1 #15 –
16 New Religion Some Chicken
75		 1 #16 –
17 See Them Come Culture
74		 1 #17 –
18 Emergency Motors
72		 1 #18 –
19 The Worm Song Yobs
70		 1 #19 –
20 Box Number Boys
69		 1 #20 –
21 London Lady The Stranglers
67		 1 #21 –
22 I Don't Wanna Sham 69
66		 1 #22 –
23 Pinhead The Ramones
64		 1 #23 –
24 Freedom Connection Jah Woosh
62		 1 #24 –
25 Can't Give You More Status Quo
61		 1 #25 –
26 Blue Wind Jeff Beck
59		 1 #26 –
27 White Riot The Clash
57		 1 #27 –
28 Success Iggy Pop
56		 1 #28 –
29 Your Generation Generation X
54		 1 #29 –
30 Nobody Go Run Me King Short Shirt
52		 1 #30 –
31 Love Story Lurkers
51		 1 #31 –
32 Waiting In Vain Bob Marley
49		 1 #32 –
33 Paradise Dr Feelgood
48		 1 #33 –
34 Cruel Brother Five Hand Reel
46		 1 #34 –
35 (I'm) Stranded The Saints
44		 1 #35 –
36 Heroes David Bowie
43		 1 #36 –
37 Sick of You Users
41		 1 #37 –
38 Oh Bondage Up Yours! X-Ray Spex
39		 1 #38 –
39 Lookin' After No. 1 Boomtown Rats
38		 1 #39 –
40 No Man's Land June Tabor
36		 1 #40 –
41 Neat Neat Neat The Damned
34		 1 #41 –
42 The Dark End Of The Street Ry Cooder
33		 1 #42 –
43 Questions Suburban Studs
31		 1 #43 –
44 Feel Like Making Love Elizabeth Archer And The Equators
30		 1 #44 –
45 I Knew The Bride Dave Edmunds
28		 1 #45 –
46 Away From The Numbers The Jam
26		 1 #46 –
47 Whole Wide World Wreckless Eric
25		 1 #47 –
48 Green Onions Roy Buchanan
23		 1 #48 –
49 Wild Dub Generation X
21		 1 #49 –
50 I.R.T. Snatch
20		 1 #50 –
51 Pretty Vacant The Sex Pistols
18		 1 #51 –
52 John Willie's Ferret Oldham Tinkers
16		 1 #52 –
53 Stepping Razor Peter Tosh
15		 1 #53 –
54 Capital Radio The Clash
13		 1 #54 –
55 Watching the Detectives Elvis Costello & the Attractions
11		 1 #55 –
56 Bringing In The Morning Light Motors
10		 1 #56 –
57 Beginning of The End Eddie and the Hot Rods
8		 1 #57 –
58 Jocko Homo Devo
7		 1 #58 –
59 Whatever Happened To The Buzzcocks
5		 1 #59 –
60 Rocket In My Pocket Little Feat
3		 1 #60 –
61 God Save the Queen The Sex Pistols
2		 1 #61 –

Every station’s number one of 1977

StationNumber one songCountdown
John Peel (BBC Radio 1) Dancing The Night Away Motors John Peel's Forgotten Fifty of 1977

All 1977 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1977 ranking

Radio stations count down their listeners’ favorite songs at the end of every year. Each station’s list reflects its own audience, so a song that ruled Los Angeles could miss the top ten in Chicago. To find the songs that defined 1977 everywhere, RockLists gives every appearance percentile-based points (a number one earns 100, the last position earns close to zero) and adds them up across all one qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the alternative results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.