What was the top rock song of 2004?

Combining 21 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2004 is "American Idiot" by Green Day, which appeared on 19 of the lists.

Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 21 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2004

21 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, John Peel (BBC Radio 1), Triple J, Radio & Records and WIRS 107.9. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2004 is “American Idiot” by Green Day, which appeared on 19 of the 21 countdowns and was voted number one by four of them. Twelve different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Float On” by Modest Mouse (5 stations), “American Idiot” by Green Day (4 stations), “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day (2 stations), “Megalomaniac” by Incubus (2 stations) and “A Decade Under the Influence” by Taking Back Sunday and others. Linkin Park was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 45 times across the countdowns.

21countdowns

697songs charted

12different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2004

All 697 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	American Idiot Green Day	1,666	19	#1	4
2	Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand	1,664	19	#1	1
3	Somebody Told Me The Killers	1,640	18	#1	1
4	Float On Modest Mouse	1,555	18	#1	5
5	Vertigo U2	1,512	19	#4	–
6	Megalomaniac Incubus	1,433	18	#1	2
7	The Reason Hoobastank	1,404	16	#5	–
8	Cold Hard Bitch Jet	1,382	19	#3	–
9	Breaking the Habit Linkin Park	1,327	15	#4	–
10	Slither Velvet Revolver	1,322	16	#1	1
11	Pain Jimmy Eat World	1,221	17	#11	–
12	I Miss You blink-182	1,209	16	#10	–
13	Ch-Check It Out Beastie Boys	1,185	16	#6	–
14	Love Song 311	1,166	15	#5	–
15	Fall to Pieces Velvet Revolver	1,143	16	#9	–
16	Numb Linkin Park	1,107	13	#2	–
17	Vindicated Dashboard Confessional	1,105	17	#10	–
18	Are You Gonna Be My Girl Jet	1,103	13	#3	–
19	Last Train Home Lostprophets	1,032	14	#2	–
20	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	1,028	16	#1	2
21	Maps Yeah Yeah Yeahs	987	14	#4	–
22	Time Is Running Out Muse	975	14	#6	–
23	Lying From You Linkin Park	973	12	#2	–
24	Meant to Live Switchfoot	953	15	#3	–
25	Just Like You Three Days Grace	902	12	#6	–
26	Mr. Brightside The Killers	846	15	#6	–
27	Ocean Breathes Salty Modest Mouse	838	14	#5	–
28	Duality Slipknot	837	11	#4	–
29	I Believe in a Thing Called Love The Darkness	802	13	#9	–
30	Run Snow Patrol	792	15	#13	–
31	Slow Hands Interpol	769	14	#10	–
32	Silver and Cold AFI	756	13	#16	–
33	So Cold Breaking Benjamin	737	11	#1	1
34	Reptilia The Strokes	733	14	#10	–
35	I Am the Highway Audioslave	700	10	#12	–
36	Broken Seether	676	11	#13	–
37	One Thing Finger Eleven	659	11	#11	–
38	The Outsider A Perfect Circle	655	11	#8	–
39	Hit That The Offspring	653	11	#7	–
40	Look What You've Done Jet	651	15	#23	–
41	A Decade Under the Influence Taking Back Sunday	634	11	#1	1
42	Such Great Heights The Postal Service	627	7	#2	–
43	Getting Away With Murder Papa Roach	622	12	#11	–
44	Talk Show on Mute Incubus	605	10	#15	–
45	This Fire Franz Ferdinand	603	14	#21	–
46	Feeling This blink-182	591	11	#20	–
47	Triple Trouble Beastie Boys	588	14	#22	–
48	I Hate Everything About You Three Days Grace	578	7	#3	–
49	Vitamin R (Leading Us Along) Chevelle	572	9	#4	–
50	Figured You Out Nickelback	572	8	#4	–
51	Down blink-182	571	13	#15	–
52	Somewhere Only We Know Keane	567	12	#17	–
53	Until the Day I Die Story of the Year	563	11	#22	–
54	Darling Nikki Foo Fighters	559	9	#10	–
55	Ocean Avenue Yellowcard	537	10	#6	–
56	(Can't Get My) Head Around You The Offspring	534	12	#25	–
57	Dare You To Move Switchfoot	523	10	#15	–
58	Echo Trapt	518	10	#10	–
59	Hysteria Muse	506	11	#3	–
60	No Phone Cake	496	10	#29	–
61	Personal Jesus Marilyn Manson	481	10	#16	–
62	Reach for the Sky Social Distortion	475	9	#21	–
63	A Favor House Atlantic Coheed and Cambria	468	12	#25	–
64	Irish Blood, English Heart Morrissey	466	11	#26	–
65	Cold Crossfade	461	9	#17	–
66	Anthem of Our Dying Day Story of the Year	454	12	#43	–
67	Walk Idiot Walk The Hives	440	14	#32	–
68	It's My Life No Doubt	438	8	#21	–
69	Ride The Vines	436	13	#43	–
70	What You Are Audioslave	434	10	#30	–
71	C'mon C'mon The Von Bondies	424	9	#27	–
72	The End of the World The Cure	418	11	#17	–
73	Running Blind Godsmack	401	7	#6	–
74	Word Up Korn	400	10	#36	–
75	We're All To Blame Sum 41	397	11	#40	–
76	Feelin' Way Too Damn Good Nickelback	387	7	#2	–
77	So Far So Good Thornley	383	6	#4	–
78	Talk Shows On Mute Incubus	358	6	#21	–
79	Los Angeles Is Burning Bad Religion	353	5	#21	–
80	Wake Up (Make a Move) Lostprophets	343	8	#42	–
81	Rollover DJ Jet	343	12	#37	–
82	All Downhill From Here New Found Glory	340	10	#42	–
83	Fortune Faded Red Hot Chili Peppers	319	7	#28	–
84	I'm Not Okay (I Promise) My Chemical Romance	316	8	#33	–
85	Only One Yellowcard	313	9	#34	–
86	Faint Linkin Park	312	4	#14	–
87	Vitamin R Chevelle	301	4	#18	–
88	Still In Love Song The Stills	301	5	#14	–
89	Open Your Eyes Alter Bridge	300	5	#16	–
90	Weak and Powerless A Perfect Circle	289	6	#25	–
91	Big Brat Phantom Planet	285	12	#20	–
92	45 Shinedown	277	5	#8	–
93	So Far Away Staind	271	5	#20	–
94	I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself The White Stripes	270	8	#26	–
95	Mad World Michael Andrews	262	4	#19	–
96	What's Your Number Cypress Hill	262	6	#43	–
97	Imagine A Perfect Circle	253	8	#24	–
98	Same Direction Hoobastank	253	8	#37	–
99	Scars Papa Roach	249	8	#38	–
100	Predictable Good Charlotte	246	5	#27	–

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
John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	Theme From Sparta FC #2 Fall	John Peel's Festive Fifty 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 21 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.