Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · two countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 1980

Q: What was the top rock song of 1980?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1980 is "And the Cradle Will Rock" by Van Halen, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1980: KROQ and KISW. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1980 is “And the Cradle Will Rock” by Van Halen, which appeared on two of the two countdowns. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Whip It” by Devo and “I Will Follow” by U2. AC/DC was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 6 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

119songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1980

All 119 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1980 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	And the Cradle Will Rock Van Halen	177	2	#2	–
2	Another One Bites the Dust Queen	172	2	#3	–
3	Whip It Devo	168	2	#1	1
4	Don't Stand So Close to Me The Police	143	2	#7	–
5	Once in a Lifetime Talking Heads	140	2	#9	–
6	You Shook Me All Night Long AC/DC	136	2	#5	–
7	Even It Up Heart	128	2	#10	–
8	Hit Me With Your Best Shot Pat Benatar	101	2	#18	–
9	Back in Black AC/DC	100	1	#1	1
10	Anyway You Want It Journey	99	2	#4	–
11	The Wait The Pretenders	99	1	#2	–
12	Fashion David Bowie	98	2	#16	–
13	Refugee Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	98	1	#3	–
14	She's So Cold The Rolling Stones	97	1	#4	–
15	Give Me Back My Man The B-52's	96	1	#5	–
16	Another Brick in the Wall Pink Floyd	95	1	#6	–
17	Touch and Go The Cars	94	1	#7	–
18	Love Stinks J. Geils Band	94	2	#13	–
19	De Do Do Do De Da Da Da The Police	93	1	#8	–
20	Train in Vain The Clash	92	1	#10	–
21	Only a Lad Oingo Boingo	91	1	#11	–
22	Clean Up Time John Lennon	90	1	#12	–
23	What Do You Do for Money Honey AC/DC	89	1	#13	–
24	Turning Japanese The Vapors	88	1	#14	–
25	Holiday In Cambodia Dead Kennedys	87	1	#15	–
26	Los Angeles X	86	1	#16	–
27	Freedom of Choice Devo	85	1	#17	–
28	What I Like About You The Romantics	84	1	#18	–
29	Mystery Achievement The Pretenders	83	1	#19	–
30	Don't Do Me Like That Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	82	1	#20	–
31	Crazy Train Ozzy Osbourne	80	1	#6	–
32	Her Strut Bob Seger	79	1	#23	–
33	Ashes to Ashes David Bowie	78	1	#24	–
34	Games Without Frontiers Peter Gabriel	77	1	#25	–
35	Let Me Go The Rolling Stones	76	1	#26	–
36	Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd	75	1	#27	–
37	Up and Down The Cars	75	1	#28	–
38	Cars Gary Numan	74	1	#29	–
39	Clones (We're All) Alice Cooper	73	1	#30	–
40	The Zoo Scorpions	72	1	#8	–
41	Private Idaho The B-52's	72	1	#31	–
42	Misunderstanding Genesis	71	1	#32	–
43	Foolish Behavior Rod Stewart	70	1	#33	–
44	Tattooed Love Boys The Pretenders	68	1	#35	–
45	Crosseyed And Painless Talking Heads	66	1	#37	–
46	Clampdown The Clash	65	1	#38	–
47	Danger The Motels	63	1	#40	–
48	Ramrod Bruce Springsteen	62	1	#41	–
49	Rough Boys Pete Townshend	61	1	#42	–
50	5ive Gears in Reverse Elvis Costello & the Attractions	60	1	#43	–
51	Against the Wind Bob Seger	60	1	#11	–
52	My Beach The Surf Punks	59	1	#44	–
53	Teacher Teacher Rockpile	58	1	#46	–
54	Ain't This the Life Oingo Boingo	57	1	#47	–
55	Let My Love Open The Door Pete Townshend	56	1	#12	–
56	Girl U Want Devo	56	1	#48	–
57	Here Comes My Girl Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	55	1	#49	–
58	Emotional Rescue The Rolling Stones	54	1	#50	–
59	Misfit Kid The Cars	53	1	#51	–
60	Victims of the Fury Robin Trower	51	1	#53	–
61	Rock It (Prime Jive) Queen	50	1	#54	–
62	Free Me Roger Daltry	49	1	#55	–
63	Snortin' Whiskey Pat Travers	48	1	#56	–
64	Hells Bells AC/DC	48	2	#20	–
65	(Just Like) Starting Over John Lennon	47	1	#57	–
66	Strobe Light The B-52's	46	1	#58	–
67	Talk of the Town The Pretenders	45	1	#59	–
68	Run Like Hell Pink Floyd	44	1	#60	–
69	I Don't Know Ozzy Osbourne	44	1	#15	–
70	Canary In A Coalmine The Police	43	1	#61	–
71	Generals and Majors XTC	42	1	#62	–
72	Turn It On Again Genesis	41	1	#64	–
73	Houses in Motion Talking Heads	40	1	#65	–
74	Gates of Steel Devo	39	1	#66	–
75	London Calling The Clash	38	1	#67	–
76	Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Bob Seger	37	1	#68	–
77	Living After Midnight Judas Priest	36	1	#17	–
78	Gimme Some Slack The Cars	36	1	#69	–
79	Even The Losers Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	35	1	#70	–
80	Send it to Me The Rolling Stones	34	1	#71	–
81	Everybody Wants Some Van Halen	33	1	#72	–
82	Dragon Attack Queen	32	1	#73	–
83	Gi'me Wings Rod Stewart	31	1	#74	–
84	I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down Elvis Costello & the Attractions	30	1	#75	–
85	Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) David Bowie	29	1	#76	–
86	Bebe Le Strange Heart	28	1	#77	–
87	Keep On Loving You REO Speedwagon	28	1	#19	–
88	Pain Alice Cooper	27	1	#78	–
89	Not One of Us Peter Gabriel	26	1	#79	–
90	Christine Siouxsie and the Banshees	25	1	#80	–
91	Who Cares Huey Lewis and the News	25	1	#81	–
92	Driven To Tears The Police	23	1	#83	–
93	Brass in Pocket The Pretenders	22	1	#84	–
94	Don't Bring Me Down Tom Petty	21	1	#85	–
95	Bad Reputation Joan Jett	20	1	#21	–
96	She Talks In Stereo Gary Myrick & Figures	20	1	#86	–
97	Don't Tell Me No The Cars	19	1	#87	–
98	All Night Long Joe Walsh	18	1	#88	–
99	Temporary Secretary Paul McCartney	17	1	#89	–
100	Seriously Affected The Romeos	16	1	#90	–

Every station’s number one of 1980

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Whip It Devo	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1980
KISW	I Will Follow U2	KISW 25 Greatest Rock Songs from 1980

All 1980 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1980 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 1980 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 two qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.