What was the top rock song of 2005?

Combining 18 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2005 is "Best of You" by Foo Fighters, which appeared on 18 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 2005

18 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2005: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WFNX, 107.7 The End, 89X, CD101, Y100, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, CHOI Radio X, The Buzz, WCCC The Rock, Channel 104.9, Triple J, Radio & Records, CRNC 90.1 and ModernRock.com. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2005 is “Best of You” by Foo Fighters, which appeared on 18 of the 18 countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Ten different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz (6 stations), “The Hand That Feeds” by Nine Inch Nails (3 stations), “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers (2 stations), “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day and “Coin Operated Boy” by The Dresden Dolls and others. Green Day was the year’s most-charted artist, with seven different songs placing 65 times across the countdowns.

18countdowns

727songs charted

10different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2005

All 727 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2005 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Best of You Foo Fighters	1,685	18	#1	1
2	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	1,605	17	#1	3
3	Beverly Hills Weezer	1,537	17	#4	–
4	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	1,515	16	#1	6
5	Holiday Green Day	1,410	15	#2	–
6	Be Yourself Audioslave	1,355	17	#4	–
7	Speed of Sound Coldplay	1,307	15	#2	–
8	Wake Me Up When September Ends Green Day	1,303	16	#2	–
9	Mr. Brightside The Killers	1,277	14	#1	2
10	Little Sister Queens of the Stone Age	1,223	17	#2	–
11	E-Pro Beck	1,219	16	#4	–
12	Only Nine Inch Nails	1,214	17	#5	–
13	Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie	1,164	16	#2	–
14	B.Y.O.B. System of a Down	1,135	14	#1	1
15	DOA Foo Fighters	1,114	17	#11	–
16	Sugar, We're Goin' Down Fall Out Boy	1,097	15	#5	–
17	An Honest Mistake The Bravery	1,088	15	#3	–
18	Blue Orchid The White Stripes	1,086	17	#5	–
19	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	1,045	12	#1	1
20	Doesn't Remind Me Audioslave	1,034	16	#4	–
21	All These Things That I've Done The Killers	1,017	13	#2	–
22	Don't Tread on Me 311	1,006	15	#18	–
23	Do You Want To Franz Ferdinand	1,003	15	#10	–
24	The Widow The Mars Volta	944	15	#7	–
25	My Doorbell The White Stripes	922	14	#7	–
26	Precious Depeche Mode	902	13	#3	–
27	Helena My Chemical Romance	901	11	#4	–
28	Girl Beck	870	14	#21	–
29	Sitting, Waiting, Wishing Jack Johnson	846	13	#7	–
30	Fix You Coldplay	814	15	#13	–
31	Swing Life Away Rise Against	809	14	#12	–
32	We Are All on Drugs Weezer	807	16	#30	–
33	Right Here Staind	805	11	#1	1
34	Juicebox The Strokes	787	14	#14	–
35	I Predict a Riot Kaiser Chiefs	780	14	#19	–
36	Smile Like You Mean It The Killers	743	13	#10	–
37	All Because of You U2	737	13	#6	–
38	Evil Interpol	701	11	#5	–
39	Work Jimmy Eat World	695	14	#6	–
40	Middle of Nowhere Hot Hot Heat	687	12	#6	–
41	Finding Out True Love is Blind Louis XIV	685	15	#9	–
42	Scars Papa Roach	677	10	#10	–
43	Hypnotize System of a Down	665	11	#19	–
44	Goodnight Goodnight Hot Hot Heat	663	12	#15	–
45	Banquet Bloc Party	631	11	#14	–
46	Why Do You Love Me Garbage	628	14	#26	–
47	Remedy Seether	622	8	#3	–
48	Photograph Nickelback	621	9	#9	–
49	Jesus of Suburbia Green Day	619	12	#11	–
50	King Without a Crown Matisyahu	585	10	#5	–
51	Pieces Sum 41	571	9	#1	1
52	Talk Coldplay	566	11	#24	–
53	Walking With A Ghost Tegan and Sara	542	7	#4	–
54	Lyla Oasis	528	12	#31	–
55	Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) The Arcade Fire	515	9	#9	–
56	Good People Jack Johnson	509	9	#20	–
57	Dare Gorillaz	494	9	#5	–
58	Question! System of a Down	486	10	#12	–
59	Bat Country Avenged Sevenfold	485	10	#13	–
60	Happy? Mudvayne	485	6	#6	–
61	Where Are You Our Lady Peace	478	8	#10	–
62	Stricken Disturbed	475	8	#3	–
63	Pain Jimmy Eat World	462	6	#4	–
64	Can't Repeat The Offspring	447	9	#35	–
65	The Clincher Chevelle	441	6	#15	–
66	Club Foot Kasabian	439	9	#22	–
67	Perfect Situation Weezer	437	10	#33	–
68	Save Me Shinedown	429	8	#8	–
69	No Surprise Theory of a Deadman	422	7	#15	–
70	Save Me Unwritten Law	422	10	#23	–
71	Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own U2	406	9	#27	–
72	Dance, Dance Fall Out Boy	403	8	#35	–
73	Rebellion (Lies) The Arcade Fire	398	7	#6	–
74	Stand Up Trapt	395	7	#18	–
75	New Slang The Shins	394	5	#3	–
76	Jerk It Out The Caesars	391	7	#17	–
77	Such Great Heights The Postal Service	388	5	#9	–
78	Stars Switchfoot	388	11	#34	–
79	Reach for the Sky Social Distortion	387	6	#21	–
80	American Idiot Green Day	385	6	#8	–
81	Your Time Has Come Audioslave	371	11	#44	–
82	The Ghost of You My Chemical Romance	368	9	#48	–
83	Hysteria Muse	366	7	#41	–
84	Vertigo U2	344	6	#17	–
85	Somewhere Only We Know Keane	343	6	#14	–
86	Cold Crossfade	341	4	#8	–
87	Home Three Days Grace	341	6	#13	–
88	I Turn My Camera On Spoon	340	5	#20	–
89	Twisted Transistor Korn	334	7	#14	–
90	Dakota Stereophonics	333	5	#17	–
91	Sooner or Later Breaking Benjamin	332	5	#17	–
92	City of Blinding Lights U2	324	7	#38	–
93	Passive A Perfect Circle	298	8	#41	–
94	Colors Crossfade	292	6	#21	–
95	Not Now blink-182	290	7	#32	–
96	So Far Away Crossfade	290	5	#21	–
97	Look What You've Done Jet	287	5	#36	–
98	The Bucket Kings of Leon	275	8	#28	–
99	Let Me Go 3 Doors Down	272	5	#38	–
100	Unconditional The Bravery	272	6	#22	–

Every station’s number one of 2005

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2005
91X	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	91X Top 91 Songs of 2005
Live 105	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2005
Q101	Mr. Brightside The Killers	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2005
WFNX	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2005
107.7 The End	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	The End Top 107 Songs of 2005
89X	Mr. Brightside The Killers	89X Top 89 Songs of 2005
CD101	Coin Operated Boy The Dresden Dolls	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2005
Y100	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	Y100 Top 150 Songs of 2005
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Pieces Sum 41	CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2005
CHOI Radio X	BYOB System of a Down	CHOI Top 98 Songs of 2005
The Buzz	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2005
WCCC The Rock	Right Here Staind	WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2005
Channel 104.9	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2005
Triple J	Wish You Well Bernard Fanning	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005
Radio & Records	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2005
CRNC 90.1	Best of You Foo Fighters	CRNC Top 90.1 Songs of 2005
ModernRock.com	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	ModernRock.com Top 400 Songs of 2005

All 2005 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2005 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 2005 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.