What was the top alternative rock song of 1997?

Combining 15 year-end radio countdowns, the top alternative rock song of 1997 is "Song 2" by Blur, which appeared on 15 of the lists.

Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · 15 countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 1997

15 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 1997: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WHFS, 107.7 The End, 102.7 WEQX, 105.7 The Point, John Peel (BBC Radio 1), KNRK, Virgin Radio, WBER, X103.9, Triple J and Radio & Records. Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 1997 is “Song 2” by Blur, which appeared on 15 of the 15 countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Eleven different songs were voted number one somewhere: “The Impression That I Get” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (3 stations), “Fly” by Sugar Ray (2 stations), “Everlong” by Foo Fighters (2 stations), “Wrong Way” by Sublime and “Walkin' on the Sun” by Smash Mouth and others. Sublime was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 36 times across the countdowns.

15countdowns

433songs charted

11different #1s

Top 100 songs of 1997

All 433 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 1997 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Song 2 Blur	1,363	15	#1	1
2	Walkin' On The Sun Smash Mouth	1,202	13	#1	1
3	Tubthumping Chumbawamba	1,184	14	#3	–
4	Semi-Charmed Life Third Eye Blind	1,129	13	#1	1
5	Fly Sugar Ray	1,095	12	#1	2
6	The Impression That I Get The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	1,026	11	#1	3
7	The Freshmen The Verve Pipe	993	12	#6	–
8	Wrong Way Sublime	974	11	#1	1
9	Everything to Everyone Everclear	921	13	#16	–
10	Everlong Foo Fighters	915	10	#1	2
11	Push Matchbox 20	879	10	#5	–
12	One Headlight The Wallflowers	879	11	#4	–
13	Sell Out Reel Big Fish	857	12	#4	–
14	6 Underground Sneaker Pimps	854	12	#2	–
15	Your Woman White Town	848	13	#14	–
16	Santeria Sublime	821	10	#5	–
17	Hell Squirrel Nut Zippers	820	12	#10	–
18	Breathe The Prodigy	812	12	#2	–
19	If You Could Only See Tonic	775	10	#3	–
20	Building a Mystery Sarah McLachlan	773	12	#10	–
21	The New Pollution Beck	771	12	#8	–
22	Criminal Fiona Apple	752	11	#8	–
23	The Perfect Drug Nine Inch Nails	729	12	#12	–
24	Gone Away The Offspring	726	10	#9	–
25	Eye The Smashing Pumpkins	699	10	#9	–
26	Hitchin' A Ride Green Day	684	12	#25	–
27	Sex and Candy Marcy Playground	684	10	#3	–
28	Monkey Wrench Foo Fighters	678	12	#14	–
29	Staring At The Sun U2	633	11	#23	–
30	Wrong Number The Cure	629	12	#20	–
31	Volcano Girls Veruca Salt	617	9	#5	–
32	Not An Addict K's Choice	613	10	#10	–
33	Crash Into Me Dave Matthews Band	607	9	#4	–
34	Greedy Fly Bush	597	9	#20	–
35	Female of the Species Space	581	12	#22	–
36	It's No Good Depeche Mode	576	9	#13	–
37	Bitch Meredith Brooks	561	9	#12	–
38	Don't Go Away Oasis	553	10	#20	–
39	Dammit blink-182	548	9	#3	–
40	Naked Eye Luscious Jackson	548	10	#15	–
41	Jack-Ass Beck	536	9	#11	–
42	Turn My Head Live	534	9	#13	–
43	Lakini's Juice Live	531	11	#14	–
44	Summertime The Sundays	525	12	#32	–
45	#1 Crush Garbage	510	9	#29	–
46	The Difference The Wallflowers	503	10	#18	–
47	Bitter Sweet Symphony The Verve	498	8	#1	1
48	Graduate Third Eye Blind	484	9	#12	–
49	3 A.M. Matchbox 20	481	10	#27	–
50	Doin' Time Sublime	473	8	#5	–
51	The Rascal King The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	464	10	#10	–
52	Firestarter The Prodigy	440	7	#23	–
53	Lovefool The Cardigans	434	9	#14	–
54	Block Rockin' Beats The Chemical Brothers	415	9	#19	–
55	Superman's Dead Our Lady Peace	413	7	#18	–
56	Bittersweet Sympthony The Verve	402	6	#4	–
57	D'You Know What I Mean? Oasis	398	9	#29	–
58	Touch, Peel, and Stand Days of the New	392	9	#22	–
59	Virtual Insanity Jamiroquai	375	7	#19	–
60	How's It Going To Be Third Eye Blind	373	9	#17	–
61	Mouth Bush	373	9	#22	–
62	Karma Police Radiohead	371	6	#5	–
63	A Long December Counting Crows	348	8	#26	–
64	The End Is The Beginning Is The End The Smashing Pumpkins	339	8	#26	–
65	Discotheque U2	319	10	#50	–
66	Abuse Me Silverchair	318	6	#21	–
67	My Town Buck-O-Nine	318	5	#12	–
68	I Will Survive Cake	308	5	#20	–
69	A.D.I.D.A.S. Korn	305	4	#4	–
70	Sleep To Dream Fiona Apple	303	8	#40	–
71	Swallowed Bush	297	7	#16	–
72	Brick Ben Folds Five	296	7	#6	–
73	Don't Speak No Doubt	291	6	#3	–
74	Precious Declaration Collective Soul	288	5	#32	–
75	Thirty-Three The Smashing Pumpkins	270	6	#39	–
76	Brimful of Asha Cornershop	268	7	#1	1
77	Da Funk Daft Punk	260	5	#10	–
78	What I Got Sublime	257	5	#24	–
79	All Mixed Up 311	246	4	#36	–
80	Sunday Morning No Doubt	246	5	#22	–
81	Come On Eileen Save Ferris	238	5	#7	–
82	What Do You Want From Me? Monaco	237	7	#42	–
83	Deadweight Beck	236	7	#32	–
84	Paranoid Android Radiohead	227	3	#7	–
85	You Were Meant For Me Jewel	226	3	#13	–
86	Desperately Wanting Better Than Ezra	222	4	#13	–
87	Sweet Surrender Sarah McLachlan	221	7	#19	–
88	Freak Silverchair	217	3	#13	–
89	Beautiful Disaster 311	211	5	#13	–
90	I Choose The Offspring	206	7	#51	–
91	Everyday Is A Winding Road Sheryl Crow	196	5	#41	–
92	Dream Forest For The Trees	196	7	#51	–
93	Transistor 311	189	6	#38	–
94	How Bizarre OMC	186	5	#23	–
95	Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Green Day	179	4	#45	–
96	Listen Collective Soul	176	4	#47	–
97	Cold Contagious Bush	174	6	#40	–
98	Tripping Billies Dave Matthews Band	173	4	#46	–
99	Stinkfist Tool	168	3	#24	–
100	Elegantly Wasted INXS	168	5	#43	–

Every station’s number one of 1997

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Wrong Way Sublime	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1997
91X	Walkin' on the Sun Smash Mouth	91X Top 91 Songs of 1997
Live 105	The Impression That I Get The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1997
Q101	Fly Sugar Ray	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1997
WHFS	The Impression That I Get The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1997
107.7 The End	Everlong Foo Fighters	The End Top 107 Songs of 1997
102.7 WEQX	The Impression That I Get The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	WEQX Top 102.7 of 1997
105.7 The Point	Baker Street The Foo Fighters	105.7 The Point Top 105.7 of 1997
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Brimful Of Asha Cornershop	John Peel's 'Pretty' Festive Thirty-One of 1997
KNRK	Everlong Foo Fighters	KNRK Top 94 Songs of 1997
Virgin Radio	Bitter Sweet Symphony The Verve	Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1997
WBER	Halls Of Illusions Insane Clown Posse	WBER Listener Countdown 1997
X103.9	Fly Sugar Ray	X103.9 Top 103.9 Songs of 1997
Triple J	No Aphrodisiac The Whitlams	Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997
Radio & Records	Semi-Charmed Life Third Eye Blind	Radio & Records Top 97 Songs of 1997

All 1997 countdowns in this ranking

About the 1997 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 1997 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 15 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.

Most-charted artists of 1997

1Sublime36 entries · 5 songs
2Third Eye Blind31 entries · 3 songs
3Beck31 entries · 5 songs
4Foo Fighters24 entries · 4 songs
5The Mighty Mighty Bosstones23 entries · 4 songs
6The Wallflowers27 entries · 5 songs
7Bush33 entries · 5 songs
8The Smashing Pumpkins28 entries · 5 songs
9Matchbox 2022 entries · 3 songs
10The Prodigy23 entries · 5 songs

The 1990s

Best alternative rock songs of the '90s →

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