What was the top rock song of 1982?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1982 is "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 1982

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1982: KROQ and John Peel (BBC Radio 1). Combining every list, the top rock song of 1982 is “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash, which appeared on two of the two countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash and “Temptation” by New Order. The Clash was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 8 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

153songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1982

All 153 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1982 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Rock the Casbah The Clash	122	2	#1	1
2	Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Clash	122	2	#26	–
3	Promised You a Miracle Simple Minds	106	2	#30	–
4	Temptation New Order	100	1	#1	1
5	I Ran (So Far Away) A Flock of Seagulls	99	1	#2	–
6	Sex Dwarf Soft Cell	98	1	#3	–
7	Shipbuilding Robert Wyatt	98	1	#2	–
8	Words Missing Persons	97	1	#4	–
9	Know Your Rights The Clash	97	2	#27	–
10	Don't You Want Me The Human League	96	1	#5	–
11	The Message Grandmaster Flash And The Furious 5	96	1	#3	–
12	Rock This Town The Stray Cats	95	1	#6	–
13	I Predict Sparks	94	1	#7	–
14	The Back of Love Echo and the Bunnymen	94	1	#4	–
15	Vacation The Go-Go's	93	1	#8	–
16	Talk Talk Talk Talk	93	1	#9	–
17	Mad World Tears for Fears	92	1	#5	–
18	Blue Spark X	92	1	#10	–
19	Walking in L.A. Missing Persons	91	1	#11	–
20	Straight To Hell The Clash	90	1	#6	–
21	Hungry For You The Police	90	1	#12	–
22	Town Called Malice The Jam	89	1	#13	–
23	The Story Of The Blues Wah!	88	1	#7	–
24	Since You're Gone The Cars	88	1	#14	–
25	Mickey Toni Basil	87	1	#15	–
26	Do You Believe In The Westworld Theatre Of Hate	86	1	#8	–
27	Never Say Never Romeo Void	86	1	#16	–
28	Stand and Deliver Adam & the Ants	85	1	#17	–
29	Elephant Talk King Crimson	84	1	#18	–
30	Into The Garden Artery	84	1	#9	–
31	Goin to a Go Go The Rolling Stones	83	1	#19	–
32	Peekaboo! Devo	82	1	#20	–
33	Revolutionary Spirit The Wild Swans	82	1	#10	–
34	Shock the Monkey Peter Gabriel	81	1	#21	–
35	Nip it in the Bud The B-52's	80	1	#22	–
36	A Town Called Malice The Jam	80	1	#11	–
37	Senses Working Overtime XTC	79	1	#23	–
38	White Wedding Billy Idol	79	1	#24	–
39	Only You Yazoo	78	1	#12	–
40	Goody Two Shoes Adam Ant	78	1	#25	–
41	Love Plus One Haircut 100	77	1	#26	–
42	Faithless Scritti Politti	76	1	#13	–
43	Hungry Like the Wolf Duran Duran	76	1	#27	–
44	I Love a Man in Uniform Gang of Four	75	1	#28	–
45	Ziggy Stardust Bauhaus	74	1	#14	–
46	Party Fears Two The Associates	74	1	#14	–
47	The Space Between Roxy Music	74	1	#29	–
48	Heartbeat King Crimson	73	1	#30	–
49	Open Your Eyes Lords of the New Church	71	1	#32	–
50	Space Age Love Song A Flock of Seagulls	70	1	#33	–
51	Fireworks Siouxsie and the Banshees	70	1	#16	–
52	Girls on Film Duran Duran	69	1	#34	–
53	Runaway Boys The Stray Cats	68	1	#35	–
54	Hurt New Order	68	1	#17	–
55	Who Can It Be Now? Men At Work	67	1	#36	–
56	Europa and the Pirate Twins Thomas Dolby	66	1	#37	–
57	Asylums In Jerusalem Scritti Politti	66	1	#18	–
58	Tainted Love Soft Cell	65	1	#38	–
59	Come On Eileen Dexy's Midnight Runners	64	1	#19	–
60	Destination Unknown Missing Persons	64	1	#40	–
61	Primary The Cure	63	1	#41	–
62	Empire Song Killing Joke	62	1	#20	–
63	Too Much Information The Police	62	1	#42	–
64	Back on the Chain Gang The Pretenders	61	1	#43	–
65	Whatever Is He Like? Farmer's Boys	60	1	#21	–
66	Mexican Radio Wall of Voodoo	60	1	#44	–
67	American Music The Blasters	59	1	#45	–
68	African And White China Crisis	58	1	#22	–
69	Stick to the Grind King Cotton	58	1	#46	–
70	Wild Sex (In the Working Class) Oingo Boingo	57	1	#47	–
71	Spring In Fialta Slow Children	56	1	#48	–
72	Slowdive Siouxsie and the Banshees	56	1	#23	–
73	You Got Lucky Tom Petty	55	1	#49	–
74	Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage Killer Pussy	54	1	#50	–
75	Pillar to Post Aztec Camera	54	1	#24	–
76	Seconds The Human League	53	1	#51	–
77	Skin on Skin Boomtown Rats	52	1	#52	–
78	The Hanging Garden The Cure	52	1	#25	–
79	Stray Cat Strut The Stray Cats	51	1	#53	–
80	867-5309/Jenny Tommy Tutone	50	1	#54	–
81	I Eat Cannibals Toto Coelo	50	1	#55	–
82	Cat People David Bowie	48	1	#57	–
83	One World (Not Three) The Police	47	1	#58	–
84	The Figurehead The Cure	46	1	#28	–
85	Georgia Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	46	1	#59	–
86	Mickey Mouse Sparks	45	1	#60	–
87	Love My Way The Psychedelic Furs	44	1	#29	–
88	Quit The Waitresses	44	1	#61	–
89	The Hungry Wolf X	43	1	#62	–
90	Goodbye Goodbye Oingo Boingo	42	1	#63	–
91	Shake It Up The Cars	41	1	#64	–
92	Love Action The Human League	40	1	#65	–
93	Peasant Army Redskins	40	1	#31	–
94	Me and the Boys Dave Edmunds	39	1	#66	–
95	It Ain't None of Your Business Missing Persons	38	1	#67	–
96	Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) Simple Minds	38	1	#32	–
97	Beatnik Beach The Go-Go's	37	1	#68	–
98	Precious The Jam	36	1	#69	–
99	A Strange Day The Cure	36	1	#33	–
100	Down Under Men At Work	36	1	#70	–

Every station’s number one of 1982

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Rock the Casbah The Clash	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Temptation New Order	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982

All 1982 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1982 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 1982 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.