What was the top rock song of 1989?

Combining 5 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1989 is "Love Song" by The Cure, which appeared on 4 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 1989

Five radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1989: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, John Peel (BBC Radio 1) and Studio Brussel. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1989 is “Love Song” by The Cure, which appeared on four of the five countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Love Song” by The Cure, “Love Shack” by The B-52's, “So Alive” by Love & Rockets, “Can't Be Sure” by Sundays and “Orange Crush” by R.E.M.. The Cure was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 11 times across the countdowns.

5countdowns

243songs charted

5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1989

All 243 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1989 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Love Song The Cure	391	4	#1	1
2	Stand R.E.M.	342	4	#4	–
3	Here Comes Your Man The Pixies	322	5	#2	–
4	She Drives Me Crazy Fine Young Cannibals	320	4	#4	–
5	Love Shack The B-52's	294	3	#1	1
6	Personal Jesus Depeche Mode	290	3	#4	–
7	So Alive Love and Rockets	285	3	#1	1
8	Veronica Elvis Costello	283	4	#10	–
9	Fire Woman The Cult	273	3	#6	–
10	Mayor of Simpleton XTC	273	3	#3	–
11	Sowing the Seeds of Love Tears for Fears	271	4	#5	–
12	Fascination Street The Cure	268	3	#5	–
13	Good Thing Fine Young Cannibals	267	3	#6	–
14	Lullaby The Cure	258	4	#3	–
15	Disappointed Public Image Ltd.	250	3	#11	–
16	I'll Be You The Replacements	247	3	#8	–
17	Monkey Gone To Heaven The Pixies	231	3	#5	–
18	Compulsion Martin Gore	228	3	#20	–
19	Higher Ground Red Hot Chili Peppers	211	3	#16	–
20	I Want That Man Deborah Harry	211	3	#13	–
21	Way of the World Max Q	209	3	#23	–
22	Channel Z The B-52's	204	3	#8	–
23	Proud to Fall Ian McCulloch	198	3	#12	–
24	Let The Day Begin The Call	195	3	#33	–
25	Everlasting Love U2	192	3	#3	–
26	Round and Round New Order	182	2	#7	–
27	Kingdom of Rain The The	182	3	#22	–
28	Orange Crush R.E.M.	181	2	#1	1
29	Blues from a Gun The Jesus and Mary Chain	178	5	#13	–
30	Last of the Famous International Playboys Morrissey	175	3	#18	–
31	Pictures of Matchstick Men Camper Van Beethoven	170	3	#28	–
32	Between Something and Nothing The Ocean Blue	167	3	#15	–
33	Look Who's Dancing Ziggy Marley	166	3	#41	–
34	Pop Song '89 R.E.M.	163	3	#32	–
35	Last Cigarette Dramarama	162	3	#11	–
36	She Bangs the Drums The Stone Roses	158	3	#7	–
37	Interesting Drug Morrissey	158	4	#14	–
38	Sold Me Down The River The Alarm	151	2	#7	–
39	Edie (Ciao Baby) The Cult	148	2	#15	–
40	Ouija Board, Ouija Board Morrissey	148	2	#16	–
41	Fine Time New Order	143	2	#27	–
42	Come Anytime Hoodoo Gurus	143	3	#33	–
43	No Big Deal Love and Rockets	142	3	#22	–
44	Contact Big Audio Dynamite	141	2	#29	–
45	Sick of It The Primitives	140	3	#45	–
46	Drama Erasure	137	2	#23	–
47	Pet Semetary The Ramones	136	2	#23	–
48	Love and Anger Kate Bush	135	2	#11	–
49	Regina The Sugarcubes	134	3	#44	–
50	Don't Crash the Car Tonight Mary's Danish	129	2	#21	–
51	Love is a Shield Camouflage	124	2	#41	–
52	A Girl Like You The Smithereens	123	2	#30	–
53	Debaser The Pixies	118	2	#3	–
54	Cult of Personality Living Colour	116	2	#42	–
55	Eat For Two 10,000 Maniacs	116	2	#31	–
56	Mixed Emotions The Rolling Stones	115	2	#9	–
57	Pure The Lightning Seeds	114	2	#14	–
58	Roam The B-52's	111	2	#25	–
59	Dear God Midge Ure	110	2	#46	–
60	God is a Bullet Concrete Blonde	108	2	#45	–
61	Don't Ask Me Why Eurythmics	107	2	#28	–
62	Flesh and Blood Oingo Boingo	106	2	#27	–
63	Let Love Rule Lenny Kravitz	103	3	#15	–
64	Can't Be Sure The Sundays	100	1	#1	1
65	Oh Daddy Adrian Belew	98	3	#50	–
66	Kennedy Wedding Present	98	1	#2	–
67	Nineteen Forever Joe Jackson	96	2	#32	–
68	Vanishing Point New Order	96	2	#27	–
69	Stop! Erasure	95	2	#29	–
70	Batdance Prince	95	2	#6	–
71	W.F.L.-Vince Clarke Mix Happy Mondays	94	1	#4	–
72	Cosmic Thing The B-52's	91	2	#36	–
73	I Am The Resurrection The Stone Roses	90	1	#6	–
74	Dream Attack New Order	87	1	#15	–
75	Sit Down James	86	1	#8	–
76	Trouble Me 10,000 Maniacs	86	1	#14	–
77	Baby I Don't Care Transvision Vamp	85	2	#50	–
78	Joe Inspiral Carpets	84	1	#9	–
79	So Many People Hubert KaH	84	1	#18	–
80	Going Southbound Stan Ridgway	83	2	#48	–
81	I Wanna Be Adored The Stone Roses	83	3	#29	–
82	Have in Mind Cetu Javu	82	1	#20	–
83	I Don't Know Why I Love You The House of Love	82	1	#10	–
84	If It's Love Squeeze	81	2	#24	–
85	Last of the International Playboys Morrissey	80	1	#22	–
86	Sugar Daddy Thompson Twins	80	2	#55	–
87	Eternal Flame The Bangles	80	1	#7	–
88	Sight Of You Pale Saints	80	1	#11	–
89	Dirty Boulevard Lou Reed	79	3	#19	–
90	Just Like Heaven Dinosaur Jr.	78	1	#12	–
91	Belfast Child Simple Minds	77	1	#8	–
92	This Is Acid Maurice	76	1	#26	–
93	Fisherman's Blues The Waterboys	76	2	#57	–
94	No Myth Michael Penn	75	1	#28	–
95	Take Me! Wedding Present	74	1	#14	–
96	Only A Prawn In Whitby Cud	72	1	#15	–
97	Hairstyle of the Devil Momus	71	1	#32	–
98	The Last of the Famous International Playboys Morrissey	70	1	#10	–
99	You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face) Mudhoney	70	1	#16	–
100	Dancing Barefoot U2	69	1	#34	–

Every station’s number one of 1989

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Love Song The Cure	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989
91X	Love Shack The B-52's	91X Top 91 Songs of 1989
Live 105	So Alive Love & Rockets	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1989
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Can't Be Sure Sundays	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1989
Studio Brussel	Orange Crush R.E.M.	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1989

All 1989 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1989 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 1989 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.