Every song that charted in 1981

Combined ranking of all 121 songs from the rock year-end countdowns of 1981. ← Top 100 of 1981

#	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	–
101	How Much More The Go-Go's	19	1	#87	–
102	Day After Day The Pretenders	17	1	#89	–
103	Tempted Squeeze	16	1	#90	–
104	Slave The Rolling Stones	15	1	#91	–
105	Up All Night Boomtown Rats	14	1	#92	–
106	Mothers Little Helper P.S.	13	1	#93	–
107	People Who Died Jim Carroll Band	12	1	#94	–
108	Over the Mountain Ozzy Osbourne	12	1	#23	–
109	From a Whisper to a Scream Elvis Costello & the Attractions	11	1	#95	–
110	Dream Away The Cars	10	1	#96	–
111	Just Can't Get Enough Depeche Mode	9	1	#97	–
112	Mirror in the Bathroom The English Beat	8	1	#98	–
113	Hold On Loosely .38 Special	8	1	#24	–
114	Take Her Where The Boys Are Eye Protection	8	1	#99	–
115	Little Sister Rockpile	6	1	#101	–
116	Now The Plimsouls	5	1	#102	–
117	Limelight Rush	4	1	#25	–
118	Can't Stop Hurting Myself Greg Kihn	4	1	#103	–
119	One World (Not Three) The Police	3	1	#104	–
120	Adult Books X	2	1	#105	–
121	Amoeba The Adolescents	1	1	#106	–