Year-end consensus · Hard Rock & Metal · one countdowns combined
The best hard rock songs of 1994
One radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1994: KISW. Combining every list, the top hard rock song of 1994 is “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, which appeared on one of the one countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Soundgarden was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 3 times across the countdowns.
Top 100 songs of 1994
Ranked by combined points across every 1994 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Hole Sun Soundgarden | 1 | #1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Better Man Pearl Jam | 1 | #2 | – | |
| 3 | No Excuses Alice In Chains | 1 | #3 | – | |
| 4 | The Man Who Sold the World Nirvana | 1 | #4 | – | |
| 5 | Interstate Love Song Stone Temple Pilots | 1 | #5 | – | |
| 6 | When I Come Around Green Day | 1 | #6 | – | |
| 7 | Glycerine Bush | 1 | #7 | – | |
| 8 | Closer Nine Inch Nails | 1 | #8 | – | |
| 9 | Lightning Crashes Live | 1 | #9 | – | |
| 10 | Sabotage Beastie Boys | 1 | #10 | – | |
| 11 | Self-Esteem The Offspring | 1 | #11 | – | |
| 12 | Big Empty Stone Temple Pilots | 1 | #12 | – | |
| 13 | Machinehead Bush | 1 | #13 | – | |
| 14 | Spoonman Soundgarden | 1 | #14 | – | |
| 15 | Loser Beck | 1 | #15 | – | |
| 16 | Basket Case Green Day | 1 | #16 | – | |
| 17 | Hurt Nine Inch Nails | 1 | #17 | – | |
| 18 | Come Out and Play The Offspring | 1 | #18 | – | |
| 19 | Plowed Sponge | 1 | #19 | – | |
| 20 | The Day I Tried To Live Soundgarden | 1 | #20 | – | |
| 21 | Buddy Holly Weezer | 1 | #21 | – | |
| 22 | Vasoline Stone Temple Pilots | 1 | #22 | – | |
| 23 | Backwater Meat Puppets | 1 | #23 | – | |
| 24 | Possum Kingdom Toadies | 1 | #24 | – | |
| 25 | Seether Veruca Salt | 1 | #25 | – |
Every station’s number one of 1994
| Station | Number one song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|
| KISW | Seether Veruca Salt | KISW 25 Greatest Rock Songs from 1994 |
All 1994 countdowns in this ranking
About the 1994 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 1994 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 one qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the hard rock results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.