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

The best rock songs of 1987

Q: What was the top rock song of 1987?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1987 is "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths, which appeared on 6 of the lists.

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1987: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, WLIR / WDRE, John Peel (BBC Radio 1) and Studio Brussel. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1987 is “Girlfriend in a Coma” by The Smiths, which appeared on six of the six countdowns. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure (2 stations), “Love's Taboo” by Cube, “Why Can't I Be You” by The Cure, “Birthday” by Sugarcubes and “Dear God” by XTC. U2 was the year’s most-charted artist, with eleven different songs placing 32 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

297songs charted

5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1987

All 297 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1987 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Girlfriend in a Coma The Smiths	536	6	#2	–
2	With or Without You U2	467	5	#3	–
3	Dear God XTC	464	5	#1	1
4	Why Can't I Be You? The Cure	457	5	#1	1
5	Strangelove Depeche Mode	393	4	#2	–
6	Lips Like Sugar Echo and the Bunnymen	385	4	#2	–
7	Need You Tonight INXS	378	4	#5	–
8	True Faith New Order	376	4	#3	–
9	Just Like Heaven The Cure	353	4	#1	2
10	The One I Love R.E.M.	347	4	#5	–
11	I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2	341	5	#16	–
12	No New Tale To Tell Love and Rockets	331	4	#13	–
13	It's a Sin Pet Shop Boys	322	4	#11	–
14	Alex Chilton The Replacements	316	4	#8	–
15	Hourglass Squeeze	277	4	#11	–
16	Rain in the Summertime The Alarm	276	4	#19	–
17	Never Let Me Down Again Depeche Mode	270	3	#9	–
18	Where the Streets Have No Name U2	265	3	#12	–
19	The Sweetest Thing U2	258	3	#3	–
20	I Go Crazy Flesh for Lulu	252	4	#21	–
21	The Motion of Love Gene Loves Jezebel	240	3	#15	–
22	We Close Our Eyes Oingo Boingo	227	3	#22	–
23	Seattle Public Image Ltd.	223	4	#10	–
24	Hazy Shade of Winter The Bangles	221	4	#12	–
25	It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) R.E.M.	220	3	#13	–
26	Luka Suzanne Vega	194	4	#10	–
27	Bullet the Blue Sky U2	190	3	#35	–
28	We'll Be Together Sting	186	3	#24	–
29	Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before The Smiths	186	4	#12	–
30	April Skies The Jesus and Mary Chain	185	3	#16	–
31	Sign O The Times Prince	182	3	#8	–
32	Vanishing Girl The Dukes of Stratosphear	175	3	#33	–
33	1963 New Order	173	3	#15	–
34	The Passenger Siouxsie and the Banshees	170	4	#33	–
35	Love Removal Machine The Cult	162	3	#23	–
36	Hot! Hot! Hot! The Cure	161	3	#17	–
37	La Bamba Los Lobos	159	5	#26	–
38	Behind the Wheel Depeche Mode	156	2	#19	–
39	New Direction Echo and the Bunnymen	145	3	#37	–
40	Crazy Icehouse	143	2	#28	–
41	Never Let Me Down David Bowie	143	3	#43	–
42	Always the Sun The Stranglers	142	3	#28	–
43	People Are Strange Echo and the Bunnymen	139	3	#48	–
44	We Care A Lot Faith No More	135	2	#29	–
45	All in My Mind Love and Rockets	134	3	#32	–
46	Sheila Take a Bow The Smiths	133	3	#34	–
47	This Corrosion Sisters of Mercy	133	3	#7	–
48	Alone Again Or The Damned	128	3	#36	–
49	I Wanna Live The Ramones	128	2	#34	–
50	Pop Goes the World Men Without Hats	127	3	#32	–
51	Wild Flower The Cult	126	2	#28	–
52	What Have I Done To Deserve This? Pet Shop Boys	123	2	#36	–
53	Jane's Getting Serious Jon Astley	123	4	#52	–
54	In God's Country U2	121	3	#44	–
55	Please The Bolshoi	115	2	#21	–
56	How Beautiful You Are The Cure	110	2	#20	–
57	Absolute Perfection Private Domain	110	2	#35	–
58	Sometimes Erasure	103	4	#27	–
59	Panic The Smiths	101	2	#24	–
60	Birthday The Sugarcubes	100	1	#1	1
61	Love's Taboo Cube	100	1	#1	1
62	Rules and Regulations Public Image Ltd.	100	2	#25	–
63	Australians In Europe The Fall	98	1	#2	–
64	True Faith / 1963 New Order	97	1	#4	–
65	Shoplifters of the World Unite The Smiths	97	4	#20	–
66	When Smokey Sings ABC	97	2	#50	–
67	I Lie and I Cheat Won Ton Ton	97	1	#2	–
68	Unhappy Birthday The Smiths	97	2	#41	–
69	Fight for Your Right to Party Beastie Boys	97	2	#18	–
70	Heartbreak Beat The Psychedelic Furs	96	2	#38	–
71	Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft Wedding Present	96	1	#3	–
72	Is It Really So Strange The Smiths	96	2	#16	–
73	Spanish Eyes U2	95	3	#40	–
74	Big Decision That Petrol Emotion	94	1	#4	–
75	U Got The Look Prince	93	1	#3	–
76	Painted Moon The Silencers	93	2	#49	–
77	Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me The Smiths	92	1	#5	–
78	Not My Slave Oingo Boingo	91	2	#37	–
79	My Favourite Dress Wedding Present	90	1	#6	–
80	Hope Road Anne Clark	88	1	#14	–
81	Victim of Love Erasure	87	2	#49	–
82	Motion of Love Gene Loves Jezebel	87	1	#15	–
83	A Million Miles Wedding Present	86	1	#8	–
84	The Promise When in Rome	86	1	#15	–
85	American Soviets CCCP	86	1	#16	–
86	Fourth of July X	86	2	#40	–
87	Rent Pet Shop Boys	85	1	#17	–
88	Song from the Edge of the World Siouxsie and the Banshees	85	2	#33	–
89	The Great Commandment Camoflauge	85	1	#17	–
90	I Started Something I Couldn't Finish The Smiths	85	2	#40	–
91	Hit the North Part 1 The Fall	84	1	#9	–
92	You Owe Me Some Kind of Love Chris Isaak	84	1	#18	–
93	Lots of People Elisa Waut	83	1	#6	–
94	Voyage, Voyage Desireless	83	1	#19	–
95	I Can't Believe Robert Seidler	82	1	#20	–
96	Anyone Can Make A Mistake Wedding Present	82	1	#10	–
97	Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) U2	82	1	#19	–
98	Jesus on the Payroll Thrashing Doves	81	1	#20	–
99	Preposterous Tales I, Ludicrous	80	1	#11	–
100	The Body Public Image Ltd.	80	1	#21	–

Every station’s number one of 1987

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Just Like Heaven The Cure	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1987
91X	Just Like Heaven The Cure	91X Top 91 Songs of 1987
Live 105	Love's Taboo Cube	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1987
WLIR / WDRE	Why Can't I Be You The Cure	WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1987
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Birthday Sugarcubes	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1987
Studio Brussel	Dear God XTC	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1987

All 1987 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1987 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 1987 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 six qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.