Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 18 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2003

Q: What was the top rock song of 2003?

Combining 18 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2003 is "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, which appeared on 18 of the lists.

18 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 Bear, The Buzz, WCCC The Rock, Channel 104.9, John Peel (BBC Radio 1), Triple J and Radio & Records. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2003 is “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, which appeared on 18 of the 18 countdowns and was voted number one by seven of them. Eleven different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes (7 stations), “Headstrong” by Trapt (2 stations), “The Scientist” by Coldplay, “Like a Stone” by Audioslave and “Faint” by Linkin Park and others. Linkin Park was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 46 times across the countdowns.

18countdowns

556songs charted

11different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2003

All 556 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2003 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	1,735	18	#1	7
2	Like a Stone Audioslave	1,528	16	#1	1
3	Somewhere I Belong Linkin Park	1,301	15	#1	1
4	Bring Me to Life Evanescence	1,282	14	#1	1
5	Times Like These Foo Fighters	1,252	14	#3	–
6	Faint Linkin Park	1,224	14	#1	1
7	Weak and Powerless A Perfect Circle	1,218	17	#10	–
8	Headstrong Trapt	1,174	13	#1	2
9	Clocks Coldplay	1,156	13	#1	1
10	Just Because Jane's Addiction	1,130	16	#7	–
11	Are You Gonna Be My Girl Jet	1,119	17	#1	1
12	The Hardest Button to Button The White Stripes	1,118	16	#10	–
13	Go With the Flow Queens of the Stone Age	1,094	14	#9	–
14	Can't Stop Red Hot Chili Peppers	1,091	12	#4	–
15	So Far Away Staind	1,083	14	#6	–
16	Send the Pain Below Chevelle	1,075	12	#3	–
17	There There Radiohead	1,017	15	#4	–
18	Show Me How to Live Audioslave	1,002	13	#14	–
19	Girls Not Grey AFI	992	14	#7	–
20	Hey Ya! Outkast	989	13	#2	–
21	No One Knows Queens of the Stone Age	903	10	#2	–
22	Feeling This blink-182	887	15	#5	–
23	Numb Linkin Park	884	15	#12	–
24	12:51 The Strokes	880	15	#8	–
25	Going Under Evanescence	851	14	#16	–
26	Someday Nickelback	847	13	#8	–
27	The Scientist Coldplay	831	14	#1	1
28	Creatures (For a While) 311	831	13	#16	–
29	Bandages Hot Hot Heat	825	13	#3	–
30	When I'm Gone 3 Doors Down	818	10	#2	–
31	I Hate Everything About You Three Days Grace	811	13	#4	–
32	Hands Down Dashboard Confessional	802	13	#15	–
33	Minerva Deftones	658	13	#28	–
34	Stupid Girl Cold	657	11	#11	–
35	Price to Play Staind	640	13	#27	–
36	Bottom of a Bottle Smile Empty Soul	636	9	#10	–
37	The Red Chevelle	627	9	#8	–
38	Still Waiting Sum 41	626	9	#11	–
39	The Anthem Good Charlotte	625	11	#5	–
40	Straight Out of Line Godsmack	619	10	#3	–
41	The Leaving Song Pt. II AFI	603	11	#8	–
42	Fine Again Seether	587	8	#16	–
43	Swing Swing The All-American Rejects	587	9	#16	–
44	Fall Back Down Rancid	575	13	#20	–
45	All My Life Foo Fighters	572	7	#6	–
46	Meant to Live Switchfoot	566	12	#11	–
47	Hit That The Offspring	544	15	#29	–
48	Dosed Red Hot Chili Peppers	542	11	#19	–
49	Serenity Godsmack	540	9	#7	–
50	The Boys of Summer The Ataris	539	7	#9	–
51	I Am the Highway Audioslave	538	13	#24	–
52	The Horizon Has Been Defeated Jack Johnson	535	10	#22	–
53	Boys of Summer The Ataris	509	7	#11	–
54	Falls On Me Fuel	496	11	#22	–
55	Honestly Zwan	491	14	#18	–
56	Will You P.O.D.	477	11	#38	–
57	Always Saliva	473	7	#15	–
58	Away From Me Puddle of Mudd	467	14	#27	–
59	Still Frame Trapt	457	10	#22	–
60	Stacy's Mom Fountains of Wayne	455	9	#3	–
61	Buried Myself Alive The Used	451	11	#36	–
62	Diamonds and Guns Transplants	443	9	#25	–
63	The Seed (2.0) The Roots	416	8	#4	–
64	Fortune Faded Red Hot Chili Peppers	410	12	#22	–
65	Hurt Johnny Cash	400	7	#6	–
66	St. Anger Metallica	393	9	#27	–
67	Darling Nikki Foo Fighters	381	7	#18	–
68	It's My Life No Doubt	375	6	#6	–
69	Did My Time Korn	365	8	#28	–
70	PDA Interpol	351	7	#29	–
71	The Hell Song Sum 41	344	9	#33	–
72	In This Diary The Ataris	342	8	#33	–
73	Here Without You 3 Doors Down	328	6	#23	–
74	Gravedigger Dave Matthews	322	7	#33	–
75	Remember Disturbed	322	7	#35	–
76	What It Is to Burn Finch	319	9	#46	–
77	I Believe in a Thing Called Love The Darkness	310	9	#39	–
78	Moses Coldplay	306	7	#25	–
79	Right Now Korn	295	8	#28	–
80	All In The Suit That You Wear Stone Temple Pilots	286	9	#41	–
81	Poem Taproot	285	5	#22	–
82	Low Foo Fighters	283	11	#48	–
83	Innervision System of a Down	281	6	#38	–
84	The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows Brand New	272	8	#27	–
85	Driven Under Seether	272	7	#40	–
86	Think Twice Eve 6	271	6	#26	–
87	Liberate Disturbed	270	4	#4	–
88	United States of Whatever Liam Lynch	268	9	#5	–
89	One Thing Finger Eleven	257	6	#20	–
90	Prayer Disturbed	256	4	#18	–
91	Cochise Audioslave	252	6	#44	–
92	You Know You're Right Nirvana	251	4	#21	–
93	Take It Off The Donnas	248	8	#37	–
94	Talk to Me, Dance With Me Hot Hot Heat	246	5	#26	–
95	Blue and Yellow The Used	244	7	#3	–
96	Out of Control Hoobastank	244	8	#43	–
97	With My Own Two Hands Ben Harper	241	6	#29	–
98	Closure Chevelle	241	7	#34	–
99	Let's Push Things Forward The Streets	238	4	#6	–
100	Girls and Boys Good Charlotte	232	4	#19	–

Every station’s number one of 2003

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2003
91X	The Scientist Coldplay	91X Top 91 Songs of 2003
Live 105	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2003
Q101	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2003
WHFS	Like a Stone Audioslave	WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2003
K-Rock	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2003
WFNX	Headstrong Trapt	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2003
89X	Faint Linkin Park	89X Top 89 Songs of 2003
CD101	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003
Y100	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2003
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Somewhere I Belong Linkin Park	CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2003
The Bear	Clocks Coldplay	The Bear Top 107 Songs of 2003
The Buzz	Seven Nation Army The White Stripes	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2003
WCCC The Rock	Stillborn (Planet of Sound version) Zakk Wylde	WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2003
Channel 104.9	Bring Me to Life Evanescence	Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2003
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Don't Touch That Dial Cinerama	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2003
Triple J	Are You Gonna Be My Girl? Jet	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003
Radio & Records	Headstrong Trapt	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2003

All 2003 countdowns in this ranking

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 18 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.