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

The best rock songs of 1991

Q: What was the top rock song of 1991?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 1991 is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, which appeared on 6 of the lists.

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1991: 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 1991 is “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, which appeared on six of the six countdowns and was voted number one by four of them. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana (4 stations) and “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. (2 stations). R.E.M. was the year’s most-charted artist, with seven different songs placing 19 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

291songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1991

All 291 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1991 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana	552	6	#1	4
2	Losing My Religion R.E.M.	496	5	#1	2
3	Unbelievable EMF	385	4	#2	–
4	Kiss Them for Me Siouxsie and the Banshees	382	4	#3	–
5	Rush Big Audio Dynamite II	379	4	#5	–
6	Give It Away Red Hot Chili Peppers	369	4	#4	–
7	Sexuality Billy Bragg	366	6	#17	–
8	Mysterious Ways U2	356	4	#8	–
9	Get The Message Electronic	353	5	#7	–
10	Shiny Happy People R.E.M.	348	4	#8	–
11	3 Strange Days School of Fish	319	4	#9	–
12	Chorus Erasure	305	4	#8	–
13	The Fly U2	304	4	#10	–
14	The Globe Big Audio Dynamite II	300	4	#9	–
15	Crazy Seal	298	4	#6	–
16	Right Here, Right Now Jesus Jones	288	3	#3	–
17	There's No Other Way Blur	285	4	#20	–
18	See the Lights Simple Minds	259	4	#13	–
19	All Together Now The Farm	250	4	#19	–
20	I Touch Myself The Divinyls	247	3	#12	–
21	Valerie Loves Me Material Issue	241	4	#19	–
22	Monsters and Angels Voice of the Beehive	223	4	#27	–
23	There She Goes The La's	218	3	#16	–
24	It Won't Be Long Alison Moyet	217	3	#19	–
25	Love to Hate You Erasure	217	4	#21	–
26	Real, Real, Real Jesus Jones	210	3	#13	–
27	Groovy Train The Farm	209	3	#21	–
28	International Bright Young Thing Jesus Jones	206	4	#11	–
29	Radio Song R.E.M.	205	3	#10	–
30	American Music Violent Femmes	204	4	#14	–
31	Until She Comes The Psychedelic Furs	203	3	#13	–
32	So You Think You're in Love Robyn Hitchcock	195	3	#28	–
33	Jerry Was A Race Car Driver Primus	185	3	#26	–
34	All This Time Sting	182	3	#11	–
35	Planet of Sound The Pixies	181	3	#3	–
36	Sing Your Life Morrissey	178	3	#29	–
37	Pearl Chapterhouse	174	4	#33	–
38	Shadowtime Siouxsie and the Banshees	173	3	#27	–
39	Jesus Built My Hotrod Ministry	170	3	#17	–
40	Pandora's Box (It's a Long, Long Way) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	169	2	#14	–
41	That's Entertainment Morrissey	161	3	#31	–
42	Enter Sandman Metallica	160	2	#12	–
43	I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred	157	3	#24	–
44	Feel Every Beat Electronic	156	3	#37	–
45	Rocket Man Kate Bush	144	3	#34	–
46	Caught In My Shadow The Wonderstuff	143	2	#30	–
47	Near Wild Heaven R.E.M.	143	3	#13	–
48	Sit Down James	139	2	#15	–
49	Wild Hearted Son The Cult	139	3	#33	–
50	Happy Ned's Atomic Dustbin	138	4	#22	–
51	Move Any Mountain The Shamen	138	2	#29	–
52	Star Sign Teenage Fanclub	137	2	#5	–
53	Walking Down Madison Kirsty MacColl	131	4	#57	–
54	Crush Story Too Much Joy	130	2	#14	–
55	Fall at Your Feet Crowded House	126	3	#12	–
56	Satisfied Squeeze	125	3	#18	–
57	Chocolate Cake Crowded House	121	2	#20	–
58	Human Nature Gary Clail	114	2	#36	–
59	Texarkana R.E.M.	113	2	#43	–
60	Sailing the Seven Seas Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	110	2	#38	–
61	My Love Life Morrissey	107	2	#42	–
62	Tighten Up Electronic	107	3	#54	–
63	(Everything I Do) I Do It For You Bryan Adams	103	2	#8	–
64	Our Frank Morrissey	101	2	#30	–
65	Always On The Run Lenny Kravitz	100	2	#9	–
66	A Letter To Memphis The Pixies	99	2	#19	–
67	Dress PJ Harvey	98	1	#2	–
68	If I Had A Million Dollars Barenaked Ladies	98	1	#3	–
69	Calling Elvis Dire Straits	97	2	#10	–
70	It's Only Natural Crowded House	97	2	#35	–
71	Superman's Song Crash Test Dummies	97	1	#4	–
72	Shiny happy people R.E.M. & Kate Pierson	97	1	#2	–
73	Ten Little Girls Curve	96	1	#3	–
74	Caribbean Blue Enya	95	3	#42	–
75	More than Words Extreme	94	2	#4	–
76	Edinburgh Man The Fall	94	1	#4	–
77	Naked Rain This Picture	93	3	#38	–
78	Sing Your Life (Live) Morrissey	93	1	#9	–
79	Sadeness (Part 1) Enigma	91	2	#53	–
80	Take Five Northside	91	1	#10	–
81	The Concept Teenage Fanclub	90	1	#6	–
82	Political Spirit of the West	89	1	#11	–
83	Burn Black Hole	88	1	#7	–
84	Grey Cell Green Ned's Atomic Dustbin	88	2	#53	–
85	You And Your Sister This Mortal Coil	87	1	#5	–
86	Dalliance Wedding Present	86	1	#8	–
87	Bring the Noise Anthrax	86	3	#31	–
88	Head Like a Hole Nine Inch Nails	85	1	#15	–
89	A Lot Of Wind The Fall	84	1	#9	–
90	Here She Comes Motorcycle Boy	84	1	#18	–
91	Liefde voor muziek Raymond van het Groenewoud	83	1	#6	–
92	Sex On Wheelz My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult	82	3	#48	–
93	Teenage Whore Hole	82	1	#10	–
94	Mcdonald's Girl Barenaked Ladies	81	1	#18	–
95	Miss Freelove '69 Hoodoo Gurus	81	2	#44	–
96	Lieve kleine piranha Gorki	80	1	#7	–
97	Higher Than The Sun Primal Scream	80	1	#11	–
98	Little Bones The Tragically Hip	79	1	#20	–
99	Thinking of You Seven Red Seven	79	1	#23	–
100	Take 5 Northside	79	1	#24	–

Every station’s number one of 1991

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Losing My Religion R.E.M.	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1991
91X	Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana	91X Top 91 Songs of 1991
Live 105	Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1991
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana	CFNY Top 91 Songs of 1991
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1991 (the 'Phantom Fifty')
Studio Brussel	Losing my religion R.E.M.	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1991

All 1991 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1991 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 1991 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.