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Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · seven countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 1992

Seven radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1992: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WHFS, CFNY 102.1 The Edge and John Peel (BBC Radio 1). Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 1992 is “Friday I'm in Love” by The Cure, which appeared on six of the seven countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (3 stations), “One” by U2, “Creep” by Radiohead, “Friday, I'm in Love” by The Cure and “Geek Love” by Bang Bang Machine. U2 was the year’s most-charted artist, with eight different songs placing 27 times across the countdowns.

7countdowns
300songs charted
5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1992

All 300 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1992 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

# Song Strength Lists Best #1s
1 Friday I'm in Love The Cure
572		 6 #1 1
2 Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers
571		 6 #1 3
3 Drive R.E.M.
553		 6 #3 –
4 One U2
552		 6 #1 1
5 Jeremy Pearl Jam
539		 6 #2 –
6 Tomorrow Morrissey
530		 6 #6 –
7 Hit The Sugarcubes
456		 6 #3 –
8 All I Want Toad The Wet Sprocket
451		 5 #6 –
9 Divine Thing The Soup Dragons
420		 6 #8 –
10 Come As You Are Nirvana
412		 6 #4 –
11 Weirdo The Charlatans
409		 6 #16 –
12 Digging In The Dirt Peter Gabriel
403		 5 #12 –
13 Blood Makes Noise Suzanne Vega
390		 6 #20 –
14 A Letter to Elise The Cure
389		 5 #3 –
15 Lithium Nirvana
384		 6 #11 –
16 These Are Days 10,000 Maniacs
382		 6 #9 –
17 Born of Frustration James
376		 6 #3 –
18 Even Flow Pearl Jam
372		 4 #8 –
19 We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful Morrissey
352		 5 #22 –
20 Hunger Strike Temple of the Dog
351		 4 #11 –
21 Mysterious Ways U2
348		 4 #2 –
22 Not Enough Time INXS
347		 5 #13 –
23 Something Good Utah Saints
341		 5 #31 –
24 Helpless Sugar
340		 6 #9 –
25 N.W.O. Ministry
338		 6 #13 –
26 Even Better Than The Real Thing U2
332		 6 #23 –
27 Black Metallic Catherine Wheel
323		 6 #19 –
28 Walking On Broken Glass Annie Lennox
309		 5 #29 –
29 Would? Alice In Chains
303		 4 #13 –
30 Two Worlds Collide Inspiral Carpets
302		 4 #5 –
31 Suck My Kiss Red Hot Chili Peppers
294		 5 #30 –
32 Pretend We're Dead L7
294		 4 #15 –
33 Revolution Earth The B-52's
282		 5 #13 –
34 Midlife Crisis Faith No More
277		 5 #12 –
35 Nearly Lost You Screaming Trees
277		 6 #27 –
36 Alive Pearl Jam
276		 4 #6 –
37 Somebody To Shove Soul Asylum
274		 6 #35 –
38 High The Cure
263		 4 #32 –
39 100% Sonic Youth
260		 7 #23 –
40 The Sweetest Drop Peter Murphy
255		 3 #4 –
41 Sheela Na Gig PJ Harvey
245		 5 #2 –
42 Why Annie Lennox
244		 3 #19 –
43 Take a Chance on Me Erasure
240		 4 #23 –
44 Jesus Built My Hotrod Ministry
237		 3 #3 –
45 Breaking the Girl Red Hot Chili Peppers
236		 4 #26 –
46 You Think You Know Her Cause and Effect
235		 3 #18 –
47 Mrs. Robinson The Lemonheads
230		 5 #19 –
48 The Life of Riley The Lightning Seeds
230		 5 #42 –
49 What Are We Gonna Do? Dramarama
228		 3 #24 –
50 It's A Shame About Ray The Lemonheads
222		 4 #18 –
51 Far Gone and Out The Jesus and Mary Chain
221		 4 #5 –
52 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses U2
216		 3 #14 –
53 Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead XTC
214		 4 #21 –
54 Temple of Dreams Messiah
207		 5 #42 –
55 Love The Sundays
207		 4 #36 –
56 You're the One for Me Fatty Morrissey
205		 4 #25 –
57 Face To Face Siouxsie and the Banshees
204		 4 #15 –
58 Dizz Knee Land dada
201		 5 #25 –
59 Pleasure The Soup Dragons
195		 5 #39 –
60 Not Sleeping Around Ned's Atomic Dustbin
195		 5 #19 –
61 Caribbean Blue Enya
193		 3 #28 –
62 Stay Shakespear's Sister
188		 2 #7 –
63 Teen Angst Cracker
186		 3 #16 –
64 Bad Luck Social Distortion
184		 5 #22 –
65 Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now) Cracker
184		 3 #14 –
66 Drown The Smashing Pumpkins
181		 3 #9 –
67 Black Pearl Jam
179		 4 #41 –
68 For Love Lush
176		 4 #40 –
69 So What'cha Want Beastie Boys
168		 3 #39 –
70 Into The Fire Sarah McLachlan
164		 3 #47 –
71 Walk On The Ocean Toad The Wet Sprocket
160		 3 #15 –
72 Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World U2
158		 3 #49 –
73 Trout Neneh Cherry
155		 4 #39 –
74 Dyslexic Heart Paul Westerberg
155		 5 #24 –
75 In Bloom Nirvana
155		 3 #48 –
76 Zoo Station U2
148		 3 #42 –
77 Jump Around House of Pain
148		 3 #34 –
78 Silent All These Years Tori Amos
147		 4 #10 –
79 Disappointed Electronic
144		 3 #21 –
80 Spiritual High Moodswings
137		 4 #43 –
81 Girlfriend Matthew Sweet
137		 3 #12 –
82 Good Stuff The B-52's
137		 3 #32 –
83 Crucify Tori Amos
136		 2 #34 –
84 Galileo The Indigo Girls
127		 2 #35 –
85 Dragging Me Down Inspiral Carpets
117		 2 #21 –
86 Happiness in Slavery Nine Inch Nails
117		 3 #46 –
87 Visions of You Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart
115		 2 #33 –
88 Someday? Concrete Blonde
115		 3 #53 –
89 Free Range The Fall
115		 2 #6 –
90 Only Love Can Break Your Heart St. Etienne
113		 2 #46 –
91 Uh Huh Oh Yeh Paul Weller
112		 2 #43 –
92 When She Begins Social Distortion
111		 3 #50 –
93 Constant Craving KD Lang
110		 3 #63 –
94 Physical Nine Inch Nails
102		 2 #52 –
95 Creep Radiohead
100		 1 #1 1
96 Geek Love Bang Bang Machine
100		 1 #1 1
97 Just One Fix Ministry
95		 2 #20 –
98 Come Play With Me Wedding Present
94		 1 #4 –
99 The Witch The Cult
93		 1 #8 –
100 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
92		 1 #9 –

Every station’s number one of 1992

StationNumber one songCountdown
KROQ Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1992
91X One U2 91X Top 91 Songs of 1992
Live 105 Creep Radiohead Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1992
Q101 Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1992
WHFS Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1992
CFNY 102.1 The Edge Friday, I'm in Love The Cure CFNY Top 102 Songs of 1992
John Peel (BBC Radio 1) Geek Love Bang Bang Machine John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1992

All 1992 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1992 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 1992 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 seven qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the alternative results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.