What was the top rock song of 1986?

Combining 5 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1986 is "Panic" by The Smiths, which appeared on 4 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 1986

Five radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1986: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, John Peel (BBC Radio 1) and Studio Brussel. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1986 is “Panic” by The Smiths, which appeared on four of the five countdowns. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Suburbia” by Pet Shop Boys, “Dead Man's Party” by Oingo Boingo, “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order, “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” by Smiths and “Papa Don't Preach” by Madonna. The Smiths was the year’s most-charted artist, with eight different songs placing 19 times across the countdowns.

5countdowns

218songs charted

5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1986

All 218 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1986 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Panic The Smiths	324	4	#5	–
2	Ask The Smiths	315	4	#5	–
3	Bigmouth Strikes Again The Smiths	292	4	#3	–
4	Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel	286	3	#2	–
5	Wild Wild Life Talking Heads	275	3	#4	–
6	Don't Get Me Wrong The Pretenders	222	3	#8	–
7	Bizarre Love Triangle New Order	221	3	#1	1
8	Blood and Roses The Smithereens	219	3	#5	–
9	Walk Like an Egyptian The Bangles	213	3	#6	–
10	What You Need INXS	208	3	#7	–
11	Pain Oingo Boingo	191	2	#3	–
12	But Not Tonight Depeche Mode	179	2	#2	–
13	There is a Light That Never Goes Out The Smiths	178	3	#1	1
14	Desire Gene Loves Jezebel	174	2	#6	–
15	Anything, Anything (I'll Give You) Dramarama	172	2	#4	–
16	To Be a Lover Billy Idol	170	2	#15	–
17	Boys Don't Cry The Cure	166	2	#2	–
18	Summer of Love The B-52's	163	2	#8	–
19	Cities in Dust Siouxsie and the Banshees	163	2	#10	–
20	Oh L'Amour Erasure	161	2	#3	–
21	Shellshock New Order	155	2	#9	–
22	A Question of Time Depeche Mode	151	2	#11	–
23	If You Leave Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	147	2	#16	–
24	Superman R.E.M.	146	3	#8	–
25	Close to Me The Cure	144	2	#11	–
26	Big Time Peter Gabriel	144	2	#23	–
27	Not My Slave Oingo Boingo	140	2	#21	–
28	Look Away Big Country	137	3	#25	–
29	Notorious Duran Duran	133	3	#9	–
30	Absolute Beginners David Bowie	124	2	#3	–
31	Missionary Man Eurythmics	119	2	#22	–
32	Stay Oingo Boingo	117	2	#31	–
33	Dead Man's Party Oingo Boingo	100	1	#1	1
34	Suburbia Pet Shop Boys	100	1	#1	1
35	Papa Don't Preach Madonna	100	1	#1	1
36	A Question of Lust Depeche Mode	99	1	#2	–
37	Kiss Age Of Chance	98	1	#2	–
38	Mr. Pharmacist The Fall	96	1	#3	–
39	Rock Me Amadeus Falco	95	2	#12	–
40	Venus Bananarama	95	2	#45	–
41	She Brakes For Rainbows The B-52's	94	1	#7	–
42	Velocity Girl Primal Scream	94	1	#4	–
43	Babies Real Life	93	2	#47	–
44	Addicted to Love Robert Palmer	91	2	#50	–
45	Secret Separation The Fixx	91	2	#48	–
46	Everybody Have Fun Tonight Wang Chung	90	2	#46	–
47	Sanctify Yourself Simple Minds	90	1	#4	–
48	I Know It's Over The Smiths	90	1	#6	–
49	Brand New Lover Dead or Alive	90	1	#12	–
50	Listen Like Thieves INXS	90	2	#44	–
51	Kundalini Express Love and Rockets	89	2	#45	–
52	The Queen Is Dead The Smiths	88	1	#7	–
53	Ink and Paper Modern English	88	1	#14	–
54	She Sells Sanctuary The Cult	88	1	#12	–
55	Safety Net Shop Assistants	86	1	#8	–
56	Faults and All General Public	86	1	#14	–
57	Puzzlin' Evidence Talking Heads	85	2	#46	–
58	French Kissing in the USA Deborah Harry	84	1	#18	–
59	Heartbreak Beat The Psychedelic Furs	84	2	#49	–
60	Some Candy Talking The Jesus and Mary Chain	84	1	#9	–
61	Are Friends Electric? Gary Numan	83	1	#6	–
62	Dear God XTC	82	1	#20	–
63	US 80s 90s The Fall	82	1	#10	–
64	Wig The B-52's	81	1	#18	–
65	E=MC2 Big Audio Dynamite	81	2	#40	–
66	Nothing in Common Thompson Twins	80	1	#22	–
67	The Way It Is Bruce Hornsby and the Range	80	1	#7	–
68	Bitchin' Camaro Dead Milkmen	80	1	#19	–
69	Forever Live and Die Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	79	2	#44	–
70	I Didn't Mean to Turn You On Robert Palmer	79	2	#37	–
71	Rise Public Image Ltd.	79	1	#24	–
72	Almost Prayed Weather Prophets	76	1	#13	–
73	Ever Fallen in Love Fine Young Cannibals	75	1	#28	–
74	Trumpton Riots Half Man Half Biscuit	74	1	#14	–
75	You Can Call Me Al Paul Simon	73	1	#9	–
76	Cry For Love Iggy Pop	73	1	#25	–
77	In Your Eyes Peter Gabriel	72	2	#10	–
78	Fall On Me R.E.M.	72	1	#26	–
79	Living Too Late The Fall	72	1	#15	–
80	The Calling Ken Heaven	72	1	#31	–
81	Everywhere I Go The Call	71	1	#27	–
82	Behind the Wall of Sleep The Smithereens	71	2	#62	–
83	Music That You Can Dance To Sparks	70	1	#33	–
84	Once More Wedding Present	70	1	#16	–
85	Red Rain Peter Gabriel	70	1	#28	–
86	Hang Ten! The Soup Dragons	68	1	#17	–
87	True Colors Cyndi Lauper	67	1	#11	–
88	This Boy Can Wait Wedding Present	66	1	#18	–
89	Higher Love Steve Winwood	66	1	#32	–
90	Love Missile F1-11 Sigue Sigue Sputnik	65	1	#38	–
91	Steal My Flame Arcadia	64	1	#39	–
92	The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades Timbuk 3	64	1	#33	–
93	Therese Bodines	64	1	#19	–
94	Pretty In Pink The Psychedelic Furs	63	2	#64	–
95	Kiss The Dirt ( Falling Down the Mountain) INXS	63	1	#34	–
96	You Know I Love You, Don't You? Howard Jones	62	2	#58	–
97	Bournemouth Runner The Fall	62	1	#20	–
98	Digging Your Scene Blow Monkeys	61	1	#43	–
99	Love's Easy Tears Cocteau Twins	60	1	#21	–
100	West End Girls Pet Shop Boys	59	1	#38	–

Every station’s number one of 1986

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Suburbia Pet Shop Boys	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986
91X	Dead Man's Party Oingo Boingo	91X Top 91 Songs of 1986
Live 105	Bizarre Love Triangle New Order	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1986
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Smiths	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1986
Studio Brussel	Papa Don't Preach Madonna	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1986

All 1986 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1986 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 1986 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 five qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.