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

The best rock songs of 1981

Q: What was the top rock song of 1981?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1981 is "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1981: KROQ and KISW. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1981 is “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones, which appeared on two of the two countdowns. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Mental Hopscotch” by Missing Persons and “Limelight” by Rush. Adam & the Ants was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 5 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

121songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1981

All 121 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1981 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Start Me Up The Rolling Stones	162	2	#7	–
2	Tom Sawyer Rush	122	2	#12	–
3	I Love Rock-N-Roll Joan Jett	106	2	#4	–
4	Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic The Police	104	2	#20	–
5	Jukebox Hero Foreigner	103	2	#6	–
6	For Those About to Rock AC/DC	100	1	#1	1
7	Mental Hopscotch Missing Persons	100	1	#1	1
8	Antmusic Adam & the Ants	99	1	#2	–
9	We Got the Beat The Go-Go's	98	1	#3	–
10	It's My Party Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin	97	1	#4	–
11	Johnny Are You Queer? Josie Cotton	96	1	#5	–
12	Unchained Van Halen	96	1	#2	–
13	On the Outside Oingo Boingo	95	1	#6	–
14	Never Say Never Romeo Void	93	1	#8	–
15	We Want The Airwaves The Ramones	92	1	#9	–
16	Don't Stop Believing Journey	92	1	#3	–
17	I'm With the Guys The Penetrators	92	1	#10	–
18	Stand and Deliver Adam & the Ants	91	1	#11	–
19	Janitor Suburban Lawns	90	1	#12	–
20	Homosapien Pete Shelley	89	1	#13	–
21	The Adultress The Pretenders	88	1	#14	–
22	Destroyer The Kinks	88	2	#22	–
23	Funny Face Sparks	87	1	#15	–
24	White Girl X	86	1	#16	–
25	Jerkin' Back and Forth Devo	85	1	#17	–
26	You Better You Bet The Who	84	2	#16	–
27	Centerfold J. Geils Band	84	1	#5	–
28	New Toy Lene Lovich	84	1	#18	–
29	Lust to Love The Go-Go's	83	1	#19	–
30	The Stroke Billy Squier	83	2	#7	–
31	Waiting on a Friend The Rolling Stones	82	1	#20	–
32	I Will Follow U2	81	1	#21	–
33	Urgent Foreigner	81	2	#18	–
34	Electricity Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	79	1	#23	–
35	Prince Charming Adam & the Ants	78	1	#24	–
36	Girls on Film Duran Duran	77	1	#25	–
37	W.O.R.K. Bow Wow Wow	76	1	#26	–
38	I Know What Boys Like The Waitresses	75	1	#27	–
39	Upstairs Sparks	75	1	#28	–
40	To Cut a Long Story Short Spandau Ballet	74	1	#29	–
41	The Friends of Mr. Cairo Jon Anderson & Vangelis	73	1	#30	–
42	In the Air Tonight Phil Collins	72	1	#8	–
43	Our Lips Are Sealed The Go-Go's	71	1	#32	–
44	It's Too Late Jim Carroll Band	70	1	#33	–
45	Dancin' With Myself Generation X	69	1	#34	–
46	Lunatic Fringe Red Rider	68	1	#35	–
47	Shake It Up The Cars	68	2	#19	–
48	U.F.O. Caution	67	1	#36	–
49	Hard Act to Follow Split Enz	65	1	#38	–
50	Bang Bang Iggy Pop	64	1	#39	–
51	Flying High Again Ozzy Osbourne	64	1	#10	–
52	See You on the Other Side Brian Briggs	63	1	#40	–
53	Ghost Town The Specials	62	1	#41	–
54	Turn Me Loose Loverboy	61	1	#42	–
55	Dog Eat Dog Adam & the Ants	60	1	#43	–
56	High N Dry Def Leppard	60	1	#11	–
57	Bad Boys Get Spanked The Pretenders	59	1	#44	–
58	Rock This Town The Stray Cats	58	1	#45	–
59	Primary The Cure	58	1	#46	–
60	Fascist Groove Thing Heaven 17	57	1	#47	–
61	Under Pressure Queen	56	1	#48	–
62	Elephant Talk King Crimson	55	1	#49	–
63	This Town The Go-Go's	54	1	#50	–
64	Neighbors The Rolling Stones	53	1	#51	–
65	Edge of Seventeen Stevie Nicks	52	1	#13	–
66	Life of Illusion Joe Walsh	52	1	#52	–
67	Through Being Cool Devo	51	1	#53	–
68	Sex Junkie The Plasmatics	50	1	#54	–
69	Red Light Wall of Voodoo	48	1	#56	–
70	The Waiting Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	48	1	#14	–
71	Spirits In The Material World The Police	47	1	#57	–
72	What Does Sex Mean to Me? Human Sexual Response	46	1	#58	–
73	I Married a Martian Sparks	45	1	#59	–
74	Live Wire Motley Crue	44	1	#15	–
75	Pack It Up The Pretenders	43	1	#61	–
76	Almost Saturday Night Dave Edmunds	42	1	#62	–
77	What You See Oingo Boingo	42	1	#63	–
78	Working In A Coal Mine Devo	41	1	#64	–
79	The Once Over Twice X	39	1	#66	–
80	Tips for Teens Sparks	38	1	#67	–
81	Mercury Blues David Lindley	37	1	#68	–
82	Who's Crying Now Journey	36	1	#17	–
83	Nuclear Boy 20/20	36	1	#69	–
84	Chihuahua Bow Wow Wow	35	1	#70	–
85	Spellbound Siouxsie and the Banshees	34	1	#71	–
86	I Like Boys Missing Persons	33	1	#72	–
87	Better Be Good to Me Spider	32	1	#73	–
88	City Bound E Train Novo Combo	31	1	#74	–
89	Superfreak Rick James	30	1	#75	–
90	Jackie O Human Sexual Response	29	1	#76	–
91	Friends Adam & the Ants	28	1	#77	–
92	Goin' Under Devo	27	1	#78	–
93	Follow the Leader Killing Joke	26	1	#79	–
94	Problem Child AC/DC	25	1	#80	–
95	Lunacy The Plasmatics	25	1	#81	–
96	Mony Mony Billy Idol	24	1	#82	–
97	Nightwatchman Tom Petty	22	1	#84	–
98	What We All Want Gang of Four	21	1	#85	–
99	Stop Draggin' My Heart Around Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty	20	1	#21	–
100	Abacab Genesis	20	1	#86	–

Every station’s number one of 1981

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Mental Hopscotch Missing Persons	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1981
KISW	Limelight Rush	KISW 25 Biggest Rock Songs from 1981

All 1981 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1981 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 1981 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.