Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · 22 countdowns combined
The best alternative rock songs of 2003
22 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2003: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WHFS, K-Rock, WFNX, 89X, CD101, Y100, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, The Buzz, Channel 104.9, 102.1 The Edge, 102.7 WEQX, 103.1 The Buzz, 88.3 The Sting, John Peel (BBC Radio 1), WBCN, WBER, Triple J and Radio & Records. Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 2003 is “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, which appeared on 22 of the 22 countdowns and was voted number one by eight of them. 13 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes (8 stations), “Like a Stone” by Audioslave (2 stations), “Headstrong” by Trapt (2 stations), “The Scientist” by Coldplay and “Faint” by Linkin Park and others. Audioslave was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 62 times across the countdowns.
Top 100 songs of 2003
All 617 songs →Ranked by combined points across every 2003 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.
Every station’s number one of 2003
All 2003 countdowns in this ranking
- KROQ KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2003
- 91X 91X Top 91 Songs of 2003
- Live 105 Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2003
- Q101 Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2003
- WHFS WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2003
- K-Rock K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2003
- WFNX WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2003
- 89X 89X Top 89 Songs of 2003
- CD101 CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003
- Y100 Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2003
- CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2003
- The Buzz The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2003
- Channel 104.9 Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2003
- 102.1 The Edge KDGE Top 102 Songs of 2003
- 102.7 WEQX WEQX Top 102.7 of 2003
- 103.1 The Buzz Buzz 103.1 Top 103 Buzz Cuts of 2003
- 88.3 The Sting 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 50 Songs of 2003
- John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003
- WBCN WBCN Top 104 Songs of 2003
- WBER WBER Listener Countdown 2003
- Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003
- Radio & Records Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2003
About the 2003 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 2003 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 22 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.