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

The best rock songs of 1990

Q: What was the top rock song of 1990?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1990 is "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor, which appeared on 5 of the lists.

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1990: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, John Peel (BBC Radio 1) and Studio Brussel. Combining every list, the top rock song of 1990 is “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinéad O'Connor, which appeared on five of the six countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinéad O'Connor, “Been Caught Stealing” by Jane's Addiction, “I'm Free” by Soup Dragons, “Fools Gold” by The Stone Roses and “Bill Is Dead” by Fall and others. Depeche Mode was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 16 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

272songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1990

All 272 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1990 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Nothing Compares 2 U Sinéad O'Connor	472	5	#1	1
2	The Only One I Know The Charlatans	451	6	#6	–
3	Blue Sky Mine Midnight Oil	403	5	#9	–
4	Enjoy the Silence Depeche Mode	389	4	#2	–
5	Here's Where The Story Ends The Sundays	378	5	#3	–
6	The Emperor's New Clothes Sinéad O'Connor	357	5	#12	–
7	Candy Iggy Pop	356	5	#3	–
8	Suicide Blonde INXS	350	4	#8	–
9	World In My Eyes Depeche Mode	340	4	#5	–
10	Wicked Game Chris Isaak	330	4	#7	–
11	I'm Free The Soup Dragons	328	4	#1	1
12	Been Caught Stealing Jane's Addiction	326	4	#1	1
13	Policy of Truth Depeche Mode	326	4	#2	–
14	Joey Concrete Blonde	321	4	#15	–
15	Cuts You Up Peter Murphy	314	4	#12	–
16	Never Enough The Cure	301	4	#2	–
17	Pictures of You The Cure	301	5	#4	–
18	Stop! Jane's Addiction	291	4	#6	–
19	Hippychick Soho	278	4	#5	–
20	November Spawned a Monster Morrissey	274	5	#16	–
21	Fools Gold The Stone Roses	261	3	#1	1
22	Step On Happy Mondays	261	5	#8	–
23	Night and Day U2	243	3	#14	–
24	Head Like a Hole Nine Inch Nails	240	4	#18	–
25	Ball and Chain Social Distortion	237	3	#8	–
26	Jealous Gene Loves Jezebel	235	3	#13	–
27	Don't Ask Me Public Image Ltd.	230	3	#6	–
28	Cradle of Love Billy Idol	228	3	#19	–
29	Tom's Diner DNA (Featuring Suzanne Vega)	225	3	#14	–
30	Pure The Lightning Seeds	223	3	#13	–
31	Kool Thing Sonic Youth	223	5	#30	–
32	Getting Away With It Electronic	212	4	#21	–
33	The Way You Do The Things You Do UB40	211	3	#20	–
34	Only Tongue Can Tell The Trash Can Sinatras	200	3	#7	–
35	Head On The Jesus and Mary Chain	195	4	#21	–
36	Epic (What Is It) Faith No More	180	2	#6	–
37	More Sisters of Mercy	178	4	#23	–
38	So Hard Pet Shop Boys	169	4	#16	–
39	Strawberry Fields Forever Candy Flip	167	4	#39	–
40	Groove Is In The Heart Dee-Lite	166	3	#4	–
41	Room at the Top Adam Ant	164	3	#44	–
42	World in Motion New Order	162	4	#21	–
43	Here I Am (Come and Take Me) UB40	160	3	#18	–
44	Way Down Now World Party	156	4	#40	–
45	Personal Jesus Depeche Mode	156	2	#20	–
46	Hello I Love You The Cure	154	3	#35	–
47	Type Living Colour	153	2	#16	–
48	Velouria The Pixies	151	3	#5	–
49	King of the Mountain Midnight Oil	147	2	#25	–
50	Loaded Primal Scream	145	2	#26	–
51	God Tonight Real Life	139	3	#29	–
52	Crystal Clear The Darling Buds	138	3	#41	–
53	Metropolis The Church	138	3	#33	–
54	Roam The B-52's	133	3	#23	–
55	Ouija Board, Ouija Board Morrissey	127	2	#33	–
56	One Love The Stone Roses	126	3	#38	–
57	No Myth Michael Penn	124	3	#23	–
58	Istanbul (Not Constantinople) They Might Be Giants	122	2	#24	–
59	Iceblink Luck Cocteau Twins	119	3	#22	–
60	Good Morning Britain Aztec Camera	116	2	#22	–
61	Forgotten Years Midnight Oil	110	2	#38	–
62	Cubic 808 State	108	2	#15	–
63	I'll Be Your Chauffeur David J.	107	2	#17	–
64	What is Love Dee-Lite	106	2	#29	–
65	Never Do That The Pretenders	105	2	#42	–
66	That's A Lie! Too Much Joy	105	3	#51	–
67	Fury Eyes The Creatures	103	3	#32	–
68	I Don't Know Why I Love You The House of Love	101	4	#32	–
69	Show Me Your Soul Red Hot Chili Peppers	101	2	#40	–
70	Bill Is Dead The Fall	100	1	#1	1
71	Hard Times The Scabs	100	1	#1	1
72	Soon My Bloody Valentine	98	1	#2	–
73	Ik Wil Je De Kreuners	97	1	#2	–
74	Onion Skin Boom Crash Opera	97	2	#36	–
75	Dreams Burn Down Ride	96	1	#3	–
76	Like A Daydream Ride	94	1	#4	–
77	Can't Be Sure The Sundays	93	2	#18	–
78	Tunic (Song For Karen) Sonic Youth	92	1	#5	–
79	This Is How It Feels Inspiral Carpets	92	2	#51	–
80	Birdhouse In Your Soul They Might Be Giants	92	2	#35	–
81	Post Post Modern Man Devo	91	2	#49	–
82	Prodigal Blues Billy Idol	90	2	#43	–
83	Parachute Something Happens	90	1	#4	–
84	All On You (Perfume) Paris Angels	90	1	#6	–
85	Falling to Pieces Faith No More	89	2	#40	–
86	Epic Faith No More	89	1	#11	–
87	Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) Wedding Present	88	1	#7	–
88	Hello The Beloved	86	3	#66	–
89	Ice Ice Baby Vanilla Ice	84	1	#15	–
90	The Obvious Child Paul Simon	84	2	#49	–
91	Corduroy Wedding Present	84	1	#9	–
92	Blauw The Scene	83	1	#6	–
93	Shall We Take a Trip Northside	83	1	#19	–
94	Loving You The Orb	82	1	#10	–
95	Falling Julee Cruise	82	2	#50	–
96	Gimme Hope Jo'anna Eddy Grant	81	2	#46	–
97	Ship Song Nick Cave	80	1	#7	–
98	Everything Flows Teenage Fanclub	80	1	#11	–
99	Disappear INXS	80	2	#27	–
100	Justify My Love Madonna	78	2	#53	–

Every station’s number one of 1990

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Nothing Compares 2 U Sinéad O'Connor	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990
91X	Been Caught Stealing Jane's Addiction	91X Top 91 Songs of 1990
Live 105	I'm Free Soup Dragons	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Fools Gold The Stone Roses	CFNY Top 90 Songs of 1990
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Bill Is Dead Fall	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1990
Studio Brussel	Hard Times The Scabs	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1990

All 1990 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1990 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 1990 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.