Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 27 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2004

Q: What was the top rock song of 2004?

Combining 27 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2004 is "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers, which appeared on 24 of the lists.

27 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2004: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WHFS, K-Rock, WFNX, 107.7 The End, 89X, CD101, Y100, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, CHOI Radio X, The Bear, The Buzz, WCCC The Rock, Channel 104.9, 102.7 WEQX, 88.3 The Sting, 99X, John Peel (BBC Radio 1), WBER, WHTG, X96, Triple J, Radio & Records and WIRS 107.9. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2004 is “Somebody Told Me” by The Killers, which appeared on 24 of the 27 countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. 14 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Float On” by Modest Mouse (8 stations), “American Idiot” by Green Day (4 stations), “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day (2 stations), “Megalomaniac” by Incubus (2 stations) and “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand (2 stations) and others. Linkin Park was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 54 times across the countdowns.

27countdowns

853songs charted

14different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2004

All 853 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2004 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Somebody Told Me The Killers	2,214	24	#1	1
2	American Idiot Green Day	2,192	25	#1	4
3	Float On Modest Mouse	2,144	24	#1	8
4	Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand	2,112	24	#1	2
5	Vertigo U2	1,959	25	#4	–
6	Megalomaniac Incubus	1,834	23	#1	2
7	The Reason Hoobastank	1,758	20	#5	–
8	I Miss You blink-182	1,690	22	#8	–
9	Breaking the Habit Linkin Park	1,686	19	#4	–
10	Vindicated Dashboard Confessional	1,629	23	#4	–
11	Pain Jimmy Eat World	1,620	23	#10	–
12	Cold Hard Bitch Jet	1,604	22	#3	–
13	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	1,546	22	#1	3
14	Slither Velvet Revolver	1,530	19	#1	1
15	Love Song 311	1,491	19	#2	–
16	Ch-Check It Out Beastie Boys	1,451	20	#6	–
17	Maps Yeah Yeah Yeahs	1,387	20	#4	–
18	Time Is Running Out Muse	1,346	20	#6	–
19	Fall to Pieces Velvet Revolver	1,314	18	#6	–
20	Talk Shows On Mute Incubus	1,305	21	#13	–
21	Last Train Home Lostprophets	1,301	18	#2	–
22	Mr. Brightside The Killers	1,281	20	#5	–
23	Ocean Breathes Salty Modest Mouse	1,259	20	#5	–
24	Are You Gonna Be My Girl Jet	1,241	15	#3	–
25	Run Snow Patrol	1,237	21	#7	–
26	Numb Linkin Park	1,186	15	#2	–
27	Just Like You Three Days Grace	1,104	15	#6	–
28	Meant to Live Switchfoot	1,093	17	#3	–
29	I Believe in a Thing Called Love The Darkness	1,088	17	#9	–
30	Slow Hands Interpol	1,086	19	#10	–
31	Lying From You Linkin Park	1,046	14	#2	–
32	Vitamin R (Leading Us Along) Chevelle	1,028	18	#4	–
33	A Decade Under the Influence Taking Back Sunday	974	17	#1	1
34	Duality Slipknot	967	13	#4	–
35	Somewhere Only We Know Keane	925	17	#12	–
36	One Thing Finger Eleven	914	15	#11	–
37	Broken Seether	901	14	#13	–
38	Ocean Avenue Yellowcard	891	15	#6	–
39	I Am the Highway Audioslave	888	13	#12	–
40	This Fire Franz Ferdinand	886	19	#21	–
41	Reptilia The Strokes	877	17	#10	–
42	The Outsider A Perfect Circle	860	14	#8	–
43	Look What You've Done Jet	840	18	#23	–
44	So Cold Breaking Benjamin	829	13	#1	1
45	Silver and Cold AFI	818	14	#16	–
46	Down blink-182	810	18	#15	–
47	Such Great Heights The Postal Service	805	9	#2	–
48	The End of the World The Cure	804	20	#17	–
49	Until the Day I Die Story of the Year	796	14	#13	–
50	Triple Trouble Beastie Boys	785	17	#22	–
51	Hit That The Offspring	755	14	#7	–
52	A Favor House Atlantic Coheed and Cambria	751	16	#2	–
53	No Phone Cake	745	15	#24	–
54	Reach for the Sky Social Distortion	733	15	#21	–
55	(Can't Get My) Head Around You The Offspring	732	17	#25	–
56	Anthem of Our Dying Day Story of the Year	701	17	#3	–
57	Hysteria Muse	687	15	#3	–
58	I'm Not Okay (I Promise) My Chemical Romance	684	14	#22	–
59	Dare You To Move Switchfoot	679	14	#13	–
60	Feeling This blink-182	674	13	#20	–
61	Getting Away With Murder Papa Roach	664	13	#11	–
62	I Hate Everything About You Three Days Grace	660	8	#3	–
63	Darling Nikki Foo Fighters	636	10	#10	–
64	Walk Idiot Walk The Hives	600	18	#32	–
65	Echo Trapt	598	13	#10	–
66	Figured You Out Nickelback	572	8	#4	–
67	C'mon C'mon The Von Bondies	544	13	#27	–
68	Only One Yellowcard	530	13	#25	–
69	Irish Blood, English Heart Morrissey	529	15	#26	–
70	Los Angeles Is Burning Bad Religion	527	8	#21	–
71	Personal Jesus Marilyn Manson	491	12	#16	–
72	We're All To Blame Sum 41	484	13	#14	–
73	Ride The Vines	483	15	#43	–
74	Dry Your Eyes The Streets	483	8	#1	1
75	Wake Up (Make a Move) Lostprophets	476	11	#18	–
76	Cold Crossfade	461	9	#17	–
77	It's My Life No Doubt	456	9	#21	–
78	What You Are Audioslave	446	11	#30	–
79	All Downhill From Here New Found Glory	442	14	#42	–
80	Feelin' Way Too Damn Good Nickelback	433	8	#2	–
81	Word Up Korn	428	11	#36	–
82	Fortune Faded Red Hot Chili Peppers	424	9	#28	–
83	Big Brat Phantom Planet	416	14	#20	–
84	Mad World Michael Andrews	401	6	#6	–
85	Running Blind Godsmack	401	7	#6	–
86	Rollover DJ Jet	392	14	#37	–
87	Faint Linkin Park	390	5	#14	–
88	So Far So Good Thornley	383	6	#4	–
89	Open Your Eyes Alter Bridge	372	6	#16	–
90	Leaving New York R.E.M.	359	7	#26	–
91	Still In Love Song The Stills	353	6	#14	–
92	Weak and Powerless A Perfect Circle	344	7	#25	–
93	The Sound of Settling Death Cab for Cutie	339	7	#20	–
94	I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself The White Stripes	334	9	#26	–
95	My Coco Stellastarr*	330	6	#14	–
96	Same Direction Hoobastank	327	10	#37	–
97	What's Your Number Cypress Hill	322	8	#43	–
98	Coin-Operated Boy The Dresden Dolls	320	6	#12	–
99	Predictable Good Charlotte	303	6	#27	–
100	Mad World Gary Jules	299	6	#20	–

Every station’s number one of 2004

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Float On Modest Mouse	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2004
91X	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	91X Top 91 Songs of 2004
Live 105	Float On Modest Mouse	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2004
Q101	Float On Modest Mouse	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2004
WHFS	American Idiot Green Day	WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2004
K-Rock	Float On Modest Mouse	K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2004
WFNX	American Idiot Green Day	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2004
107.7 The End	Float On Modest Mouse	The End Top 77 Songs of 2004
89X	A Decade Under the Influence Taking Back Sunday	89X Top 89 Songs of 2004
CD101	Dry Your Eyes The Streets	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2004
Y100	American Idiot Green Day	Y100 Top 100 Songs of 2004
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	American Idiot Green Day	CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2004
CHOI Radio X	So Cold Breaking Benjamin	CHOI Top 98 Songs of 2004
The Bear	Somebody Told Me The Killers	The Bear Top 107 Songs of 2004
The Buzz	Megalomaniac Incubus	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2004
WCCC The Rock	Slither Velvet Revolver	WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2004
Channel 104.9	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2004
102.7 WEQX	Float On Modest Mouse	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2004
88.3 The Sting	What's Coming Next Breaking Ground	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2004
99X	Chain The Fire Theft	99X Essential 99 of 2004
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Theme From Sparta FC #2 Fall	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2004
WBER	Float On Modest Mouse	WBER Listener Countdown 2004
WHTG	Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand	G106.3 Top 106 Songs of 2004
X96	Float On Modest Mouse	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2004
Triple J	Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2004
Radio & Records	Megalomaniac Incubus	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2004
WIRS 107.9	The End of Heartache Killswitch Engage	WIRS Top 107 Songs of 2004

All 2004 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2004 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 2004 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 27 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.