What was the top rock song of 2005?

Combining 22 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2005 is "Best of You" by Foo Fighters, which appeared on 21 of the lists.

Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 22 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2005

22 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, 102.7 WEQX, 88.3 The Sting, WBER, X96, 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 21 of the 22 countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Twelve different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz (7 stations), “The Hand That Feeds” by Nine Inch Nails (4 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 eight different songs placing 75 times across the countdowns.

22countdowns

855songs charted

12different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2005

All 855 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	1,938	21	#1	1
2	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	1,899	20	#1	7
3	Beverly Hills Weezer	1,863	21	#4	–
4	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	1,825	20	#1	4
5	Holiday Green Day	1,735	19	#2	–
6	Speed of Sound Coldplay	1,644	20	#2	–
7	Be Yourself Audioslave	1,528	20	#4	–
8	E-Pro Beck	1,518	20	#2	–
9	Only Nine Inch Nails	1,456	20	#5	–
10	Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie	1,445	20	#2	–
11	Mr. Brightside The Killers	1,441	16	#1	2
12	Little Sister Queens of the Stone Age	1,396	20	#2	–
13	An Honest Mistake The Bravery	1,379	19	#3	–
14	Sugar, We're Goin' Down Fall Out Boy	1,377	18	#4	–
15	Wake Me Up When September Ends Green Day	1,372	17	#2	–
16	B.Y.O.B. System of a Down	1,297	16	#1	1
17	DOA Foo Fighters	1,290	20	#11	–
18	Blue Orchid The White Stripes	1,277	20	#5	–
19	All These Things That I've Done The Killers	1,226	16	#2	–
20	Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day	1,201	14	#1	1
21	Don't Tread on Me 311	1,199	18	#18	–
22	Do You Want To Franz Ferdinand	1,196	18	#10	–
23	Doesn't Remind Me Audioslave	1,185	18	#4	–
24	Precious Depeche Mode	1,156	16	#3	–
25	Girl Beck	1,139	18	#17	–
26	Helena My Chemical Romance	1,134	15	#4	–
27	The Widow The Mars Volta	1,129	18	#7	–
28	My Doorbell The White Stripes	1,113	17	#7	–
29	Sitting, Waiting, Wishing Jack Johnson	1,024	16	#7	–
30	Fix You Coldplay	989	17	#13	–
31	Swing Life Away Rise Against	980	16	#4	–
32	Smile Like You Mean It The Killers	946	16	#10	–
33	We Are All on Drugs Weezer	902	18	#28	–
34	Evil Interpol	880	14	#5	–
35	I Predict a Riot Kaiser Chiefs	880	16	#19	–
36	Work Jimmy Eat World	869	17	#6	–
37	Juicebox The Strokes	842	15	#14	–
38	Right Here Staind	815	12	#1	1
39	All Because of You U2	804	14	#6	–
40	Goodnight Goodnight Hot Hot Heat	796	14	#15	–
41	Jesus of Suburbia Green Day	792	14	#11	–
42	Banquet Bloc Party	786	14	#14	–
43	Middle of Nowhere Hot Hot Heat	784	14	#6	–
44	Scars Papa Roach	766	12	#10	–
45	Finding Out True Love is Blind Louis XIV	743	16	#9	–
46	Why Do You Love Me Garbage	731	17	#26	–
47	King Without a Crown Matisyahu	685	11	#1	1
48	Dare Gorillaz	684	11	#5	–
49	Hypnotize System of a Down	671	12	#19	–
50	Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) The Arcade Fire	650	11	#9	–
51	Walking With A Ghost Tegan and Sara	636	9	#4	–
52	Pieces Sum 41	629	10	#1	1
53	Remedy Seether	622	8	#3	–
54	Photograph Nickelback	621	9	#9	–
55	Lyla Oasis	620	14	#31	–
56	Perfect Situation Weezer	616	13	#17	–
57	Good People Jack Johnson	611	11	#20	–
58	Talk Coldplay	604	12	#24	–
59	The Clincher Chevelle	559	8	#15	–
60	Happy? Mudvayne	549	7	#6	–
61	Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own U2	529	11	#27	–
62	Club Foot Kasabian	519	11	#22	–
63	Save Me Unwritten Law	518	12	#23	–
64	Stricken Disturbed	505	9	#3	–
65	Where Are You Our Lady Peace	500	10	#10	–
66	Can't Repeat The Offspring	489	10	#30	–
67	New Slang The Shins	486	6	#3	–
68	Question! System of a Down	486	10	#12	–
69	Bat Country Avenged Sevenfold	485	10	#13	–
70	Nth Degree Morningwood	463	11	#8	–
71	Pain Jimmy Eat World	462	6	#4	–
72	Jerk It Out The Caesars	458	8	#17	–
73	Your Time Has Come Audioslave	433	12	#44	–
74	I Turn My Camera On Spoon	431	6	#20	–
75	Save Me Shinedown	429	8	#8	–
76	No Surprise Theory of a Deadman	422	7	#15	–
77	Twisted Transistor Korn	408	8	#14	–
78	Dance, Dance Fall Out Boy	403	8	#35	–
79	The Ghost of You My Chemical Romance	402	10	#48	–
80	Rebellion (Lies) The Arcade Fire	398	7	#6	–
81	Hysteria Muse	397	8	#41	–
82	Stand Up Trapt	395	7	#18	–
83	I'm Not Okay (I Promise) My Chemical Romance	393	7	#22	–
84	Such Great Heights The Postal Service	388	5	#9	–
85	Stars Switchfoot	388	11	#34	–
86	Reach for the Sky Social Distortion	387	6	#21	–
87	American Idiot Green Day	385	6	#8	–
88	Gangsters and Thugs Transplants	374	10	#46	–
89	All That I've Got The Used	372	8	#19	–
90	Galvanize The Chemical Brothers	367	9	#8	–
91	City of Blinding Lights U2	367	8	#38	–
92	Catch My Disease Ben Lee	365	7	#2	–
93	Not Now blink-182	359	8	#32	–
94	Chocolate Snow Patrol	355	7	#11	–
95	Coin-Operated Boy The Dresden Dolls	355	6	#1	1
96	The Bucket Kings of Leon	351	10	#28	–
97	Dakota Stereophonics	350	6	#17	–
98	Vertigo U2	344	6	#17	–
99	Somewhere Only We Know Keane	343	6	#14	–
100	Cold Crossfade	341	4	#8	–

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
102.7 WEQX	King Without a Crown Matisyahu	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2005
88.3 The Sting	Janet The Format	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 40 Songs of 2005
WBER	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	WBER Listener Countdown 2005
X96	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	X96 Top 50 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 22 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.