What was the top rock song of 1988?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1988 is "Suedehead" by Morrissey, which appeared on 6 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 1988

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1988: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, WLIR / WDRE, John Peel (BBC Radio 1) and Studio Brussel. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1988 is “Suedehead” by Morrissey, which appeared on six of the six countdowns. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Route 66” by Depeche Mode (2 stations), “Peek-A-Boo” by Siouxsie and the Banshees, “This Party Sucks” by The Slickee Boys, “Destroy The Heart” by House Of Love and “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. Morrissey was the year’s most-charted artist, with seven different songs placing 18 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

293songs charted

5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1988

All 293 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1988 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Suedehead Morrissey	486	6	#4	–
2	Desire U2	468	5	#2	–
3	Beds are Burning Midnight Oil	436	5	#3	–
4	Route 66 Depeche Mode	392	4	#1	2
5	Peek-A-Boo Siouxsie and the Banshees	387	4	#1	1
6	Chains of Love Erasure	364	4	#7	–
7	Everyday Is Like Sunday Morrissey	325	4	#5	–
8	Crash The Primitives	322	5	#12	–
9	Mandinka Sinéad O'Connor	306	4	#5	–
10	Orange Crush R.E.M.	304	4	#6	–
11	Wild Wild West Escape Club	299	4	#16	–
12	What's On Your Mind Information Society	287	4	#4	–
13	(Nothing But) Flowers Talking Heads	280	4	#20	–
14	Tears Run Rings Marc Almond	279	4	#13	–
15	The Dead Heart Midnight Oil	262	4	#20	–
16	Fast Car Tracy Chapman	261	3	#1	1
17	Wild World Maxi Priest	247	4	#11	–
18	The Killing Jar Siouxsie and the Banshees	236	3	#20	–
19	What I Am Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians	233	3	#9	–
20	Just Play Music Big Audio Dynamite	231	3	#8	–
21	Under the Milky Way The Church	230	3	#3	–
22	A Little Respect Erasure	220	3	#4	–
23	Doctorin' the Tardis The Timelords	217	4	#19	–
24	I Don't Want Your Love Duran Duran	210	4	#24	–
25	Like the Weather 10,000 Maniacs	207	3	#15	–
26	What's The Matter Here 10,000 Maniacs	203	3	#21	–
27	Touched by the Hand of God New Order	195	3	#8	–
28	All That Money Wants The Psychedelic Furs	195	4	#23	–
29	Dreaming Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	190	4	#26	–
30	Angel of Harlem U2	189	3	#11	–
31	Motorcrash The Sugarcubes	187	4	#36	–
32	Harley David (Son of a Bitch) Bollock Brothers	185	2	#2	–
33	Christine The House of Love	184	3	#9	–
34	Carolyn's Fingers Cocteau Twins	180	5	#26	–
35	Always on My Mind Pet Shop Boys	178	2	#7	–
36	Wild Thing Tone Loc	177	2	#9	–
37	Where Did I Go Wrong? UB40	176	2	#8	–
38	The Great Commandment Camouflage	170	2	#10	–
39	Reach Martini Ranch	167	2	#16	–
40	Only A Memory The Smithereens	160	2	#13	–
41	Tomorrow People Ziggy Marley	158	3	#23	–
42	Ye Ke Ye Ke Mory Kante	153	2	#5	–
43	Soviet Snow Shona Laing	152	3	#25	–
44	Birthday The Sugarcubes	149	2	#7	–
45	Inside Out Mighty Lemon Drops	149	3	#29	–
46	I Want Your Hands On Me Sinéad O'Connor	148	3	#29	–
47	This Corrosion Sisters of Mercy	148	3	#45	–
48	God Part II U2	147	2	#17	–
49	Stand R.E.M.	146	2	#28	–
50	Charlotte Anne Julian Cope	143	4	#46	–
51	Never Tear Us Apart INXS	139	3	#19	–
52	Bedbugs and Ballyhoo Echo and the Bunnymen	137	3	#25	–
53	Situations Cetu Javu	137	3	#22	–
54	Reptile The Church	134	2	#13	–
55	Cinderella Undercover Oingo Boingo	129	2	#24	–
56	Im Nin'Alu ofra Haza	128	2	#36	–
57	Tower of Strength Mission U.K.	127	2	#32	–
58	Jane Says Jane's Addiction	126	3	#40	–
59	Kick INXS	125	2	#10	–
60	The Different Story Peter Schilling	122	2	#33	–
61	There is No Love Between Us Anymore Pop Will Eat Itself	116	3	#29	–
62	All Night Long Peter Murphy	111	3	#55	–
63	Ship of Fools Erasure	110	2	#46	–
64	So Important Sparks	106	2	#47	–
65	Def.Con.One Pop Will Eat Itself	106	3	#25	–
66	Gigantic The Pixies	106	2	#7	–
67	Fine Time New Order	106	2	#9	–
68	New Sensation INXS	104	2	#6	–
69	Perfect Fairground Attraction	103	2	#27	–
70	In Your Room The Bangles	102	3	#44	–
71	I Beg Your Pardon Kon Kan	100	2	#13	–
72	This Party Sucks The Slickee Boys	100	1	#1	1
73	Destroy The Heart The House of Love	100	1	#1	1
74	Breakfast in Bed UB40	100	2	#26	–
75	Delicious Demon The Sugarcubes	99	2	#16	–
76	Nobody's Twisting Your Arm Wedding Present	98	1	#2	–
77	Teardrops Womack And Womack	97	1	#2	–
78	Indigo Eyes Peter Murphy	96	2	#31	–
79	Sidewalking The Jesus and Mary Chain	96	1	#3	–
80	Somewhere In My Heart Aztec Camera	95	2	#49	–
81	Take Me I'm Yours Wedding Present	94	1	#4	–
82	An Englishmen In New York Sting	93	1	#3	–
83	Winning Side Oingo Boingo	92	2	#31	–
84	Freak Scene Dinosaur Jr.	92	1	#5	–
85	That Smiling Face Camouflage	91	1	#10	–
86	Halfway Home The Scabs	90	1	#4	–
87	You Made Me Realise My Bloody Valentine	90	1	#6	–
88	Devil Inside INXS	90	2	#42	–
89	The Promise When in Rome	90	1	#12	–
90	Glad I'm Not a Kennedy Shona Laing	89	2	#35	–
91	Domino Dancing Pet Shop Boys	88	2	#47	–
92	Prison Bound Social Distortion	88	1	#14	–
93	Tell that Girl to Shut up Transvision Vamp	88	3	#56	–
94	Stop This Car The Woodentops	87	1	#15	–
95	Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? Wedding Present	86	1	#8	–
96	Deus The Sugarcubes	85	2	#20	–
97	Painkiller Westworld	85	1	#17	–
98	Ana Ng They Might Be Giants	85	2	#53	–
99	Balloon Man Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians	85	3	#41	–
100	So Excited Ranking Roger	84	2	#63	–

Every station’s number one of 1988

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Route 66 Depeche Mode	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988
91X	Peek-A-Boo Siouxsie and the Banshees	91X Top 91 Songs of 1988
Live 105	This Party Sucks The Slickee Boys	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988
WLIR / WDRE	Route 66 Depeche Mode	WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1988
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Destroy The Heart House Of Love	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1988
Studio Brussel	Fast Car Tracy Chapman	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1988

All 1988 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1988 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 1988 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.