Year-end consensus · Indie & Adult Alternative · one countdowns combined

The best indie rock songs of 2002

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2002?

Combining 1 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2002 is "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones, which appeared on 1 of the lists.

One radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2002: 93XRT. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2002 is “Don't Know Why” by Norah Jones, which appeared on one of the one countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Wilco was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 3 times across the countdowns.

1countdowns

30songs charted

1different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2002

Ranked by combined points across every 2002 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Don't Know Why Norah Jones	100	1	#1	1
2	Heavy Metal Drummer Wilco	97	1	#2	–
3	Your Body is a Wonderland John Mayer	93	1	#3	–
4	Steve McQueen Sheryl Crow	90	1	#4	–
5	Do You Realize? The Flaming Lips	87	1	#5	–
6	Soak Up The Sun Sheryl Crow	83	1	#6	–
7	Jesus Etc. Wilco	80	1	#7	–
8	The Rising Bruce Springsteen	80	1	#7	–
9	Electrical Storm U2	73	1	#9	–
10	In My Place Coldplay	70	1	#10	–
11	Clocks Coldplay	67	1	#11	–
12	Last Nite The Strokes	63	1	#12	–
13	Lost Cause Beck	60	1	#13	–
14	American Girl Counting Crows	57	1	#14	–
15	Nuclear Ryan Adams	53	1	#15	–
16	No Such Thing John Mayer	50	1	#16	–
17	The Last D.J. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	47	1	#17	–
18	Up All Night Counting Crows	47	1	#17	–
19	Flake Jack Johnson	40	1	#19	–
20	You're The One Tracy Chapman	37	1	#20	–
21	Where Are You Going? Dave Matthews Band	33	1	#21	–
22	Growing Up Peter Gabriel	30	1	#22	–
23	Game Of Love Santana	30	1	#22	–
24	Lonesome Day Bruce Springsteen	23	1	#24	–
25	More Than This Peter Gabriel	20	1	#25	–
26	I'm The Man Who Loves You Wilco	17	1	#26	–
27	Bubble Toes Jack Johnson	13	1	#27	–
28	A Little Less Conversation Elvis vs. JXL	10	1	#28	–
29	Strange Condition Pete Yorn	7	1	#29	–
30	Let Me Down Easy Chris Isaak	3	1	#30	–

Every station’s number one of 2002

Station	Number one song	Countdown
93XRT	Don't Know Why Norah Jones	WXRT Listener Poll: Top 30 Songs of 2002

All 2002 countdowns in this ranking

93XRT WXRT Listener Poll: Top 30 Songs of 2002 30 songs

About the 2002 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 2002 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 indie & aaa results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.