Decade consensus · Hard Rock & Metal · 1 year-end countdowns

The best hard rock songs of the 1990s

This ranking of the 1990s combines 1 year-end countdowns from 1990 through 1999. The top song of the '90s is “Touch, Peel, and Stand” by Days of the New, which charted on 1 countdowns and reached number one one times. The decade’s most-charted artists are Metallica, Aerosmith, Soundgarden, The Offspring and Local H.

103songs charted

1year-end countdowns

0decade countdowns

Top 100 songs of the '90s

Top 1000 →

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Year
1	Touch, Peel, and Stand Days of the New	100	1	#1	1	1997
2	King Nothing Metallica	99	1	#2	–	1997
3	Trust Megadeth	98	1	#3	–	1997
4	Bleeding Me Metallica	97	1	#4	–	1997
5	Gone Away The Offspring	96	1	#5	–	1997
6	Would? Alice In Chains	95	1	#6	–	1992
7	Devil Boy Seven Mary Three	94	1	#7	–	1997
8	Hero of the Day Metallica	93	1	#8	–	1996
9	Fritz's Corner Local H	92	1	#9	–	1997
10	Rhinosaur Soundgarden	91	1	#10	–	1997
11	Monkey Wrench Foo Fighters	90	1	#11	–	1997
12	Lakini's Juice Live	89	1	#12	–	1997
13	Driven Rush	88	1	#13	–	1997
14	Volcano Girls Veruca Salt	87	1	#14	–	1997
15	Stinkfist Tool	86	1	#15	–	1996
16	Little White Lies Sammy Hagar	85	1	#16	–	1997
17	Almost Honest Megadeth	84	1	#17	–	1997
18	Precious Declaration Collective Soul	84	1	#18	–	1997
19	Last Cup of Sorrow Faith No More	83	1	#19	–	1997
20	Marching to Mars Sammy Hagar	82	1	#20	–	1997
21	A Taste of India Aerosmith	81	1	#21	–	1997
22	Eddie Vedder Local H	80	1	#22	–	1997
23	I Choose The Offspring	79	1	#23	–	1997
24	Everlong Foo Fighters	78	1	#24	–	1997
25	Falling in Love (is Hard on the Knees) Aerosmith	77	1	#25	–	1997
26	Anybody Seen My Baby? The Rolling Stones	76	1	#26	–	1997
27	One Headlight The Wallflowers	75	1	#27	–	1997
28	Greedy Fly Bush	74	1	#28	–	1997
29	Cemetery Gates Pantera	73	1	#29	–	1997
30	Me Wise Magic Van Halen	72	1	#30	–	1997
31	Burden in My Hand Soundgarden	71	1	#31	–	1996
32	Dirty Eyes AC/DC	70	1	#32	–	1997
33	The Memory Remains Metallica	69	1	#33	–	1997
34	My Own Prison Creed	68	1	#34	–	1998
35	Down in a Hole Alice In Chains	67	1	#35	–	1997
36	Trippin' Through a Hole in a Paper Heart Stone Temple Pilots	66	1	#36	–	1997
37	The Beautiful People Marilyn Manson	65	1	#37	–	1996
38	Blow Up the Outside World Soundgarden	64	1	#38	–	1996
39	Back on Earth Ozzy Osbourne	63	1	#39	–	1997
40	Muzzle The Smashing Pumpkins	62	1	#40	–	1996
41	Discotheque U2	61	1	#41	–	1997
42	Pink Aerosmith	60	1	#42	–	1997
43	Sign o' the Times Queensryche	59	1	#43	–	1997
44	If You Could Only See Tonic	58	1	#44	–	1997
45	Freshmen The Verve Pipe	57	1	#45	–	1997
46	Flip the Switch The Rolling Stones	56	1	#46	–	1997
47	The Girl I Love Led Zeppelin	55	1	#47	–	1997
48	Until It Sleeps Metallica	54	1	#48	–	1996
49	Hole in My Soul Aerosmith	53	1	#49	–	1997
50	Shelf in the Room Days of the New	52	1	#50	–	1998
51	Listen Collective Soul	51	1	#51	–	1997
52	Everything to Everyone Everclear	50	1	#52	–	1997
53	The Difference The Wallflowers	50	1	#53	–	1997
54	The End is the Beginning of the End The Smashing Pumpkins	49	1	#54	–	1997
55	You're All I've Got Tonight The Smashing Pumpkins	48	1	#55	–	1997
56	High Jimmie's Chicken Shack	47	1	#56	–	1997
57	The Impression That I Get The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	46	1	#57	–	1997
58	Blame Collective Soul	45	1	#58	–	1997
59	Superman's Dead Our Lady Peace	44	1	#59	–	1997
60	Lazy Eye Goo Goo Dolls	43	1	#60	–	1997
61	Slow Ride Kenny Wayne Shepherd	42	1	#61	–	1997
62	Vanishing Cream The Hunger	41	1	#62	–	1997
63	Abuse Me Silverchair	40	1	#63	–	1997
64	Jungle Kiss	39	1	#64	–	1997
65	Tumble in the Rough Stone Temple Pilots	38	1	#65	–	1997
66	Push Matchbox 20	37	1	#66	–	1997
67	Freaks Live	36	1	#67	–	1997
68	Bleed Together Soundgarden	35	1	#68	–	1997
69	Rattlesnake Live	34	1	#69	–	1997
70	The Unforgiven Metallica	33	1	#70	–	1997
71	Down 311	32	1	#71	–	1996
72	RockCrown Seven Mary Three	31	1	#72	–	1997
73	Stale Stir	30	1	#73	–	1997
74	Baton Rouge The Nixons	29	1	#74	–	1997
75	Given To Fly Pearl Jam	28	1	#75	–	1998
76	Mann's Chinese Naked	27	1	#76	–	1997
77	Molly Sponge	26	1	#77	–	1995
78	Black Sevendust	25	1	#78	–	1997
79	Staring At The Sun U2	24	1	#79	–	1997
80	Like I Care Helmet	23	1	#80	–	1997
81	Fuel Metallica	22	1	#81	–	1998
82	Say Goodbye Cheap Trick	21	1	#82	–	1997
83	Casual Affair Tonic	20	1	#83	–	1997
84	Half the World Rush	19	1	#84	–	1997
85	46x2 Tool	18	1	#85	–	1997
86	Hello Hello Talk Show	17	1	#86	–	1997
87	The Fall The Nixons	17	1	#87	–	1997
88	Sugarcane Cry of Love	16	1	#88	–	1997
89	Downtime Fat	15	1	#89	–	1997
90	Tag Along Local H	14	1	#90	–	1997
91	Resignation Superman Big Head Todd and the Monsters	13	1	#91	–	1997
92	Cold Contagious Bush	12	1	#92	–	1997
93	Amazed The Offspring	11	1	#93	–	1997
94	Both Sides Now Sammy Hagar	10	1	#94	–	1997
95	Lucky Seven Mary Three	9	1	#95	–	1997
96	So What! Jane's Addiction	8	1	#96	–	1997
97	Afraid Motley Crue	7	1	#97	–	1997
98	Temptation The Tea Party	6	1	#98	–	1997
99	The Perfect Drug Nine Inch Nails	5	1	#99	–	1997
100	Hitchin' A Ride Green Day	4	1	#100	–	1997

About this ranking

The 1990s ranking adds together two kinds of evidence: the year-end countdowns from each year of the decade, and the retrospective “songs of the decade” countdowns that stations aired afterwards. Year-end lists capture what listeners loved at the time; decade countdowns capture what lasted. Every appearance earns percentile-based points, and the totals are ranked. See the methodology for details.