Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 19 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2006

Q: What was the top rock song of 2006?

Combining 19 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2006 is "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which appeared on 19 of the lists.

19 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2006: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WFNX, 107.7 The End, 89X, CD101, Y100, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, The Bear, The Buzz, WCCC The Rock, 102.7 WEQX, 88.3 The Sting, Studio Brussel, WBER, Triple J and Radio & Records. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2006 is “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which appeared on 19 of the 19 countdowns and was voted number one by five of them. 13 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (5 stations), “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance (2 stations), “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley (2 stations), “Dare” by Gorillaz and “The Denial Twist” by The White Stripes and others. Red Hot Chili Peppers was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 50 times across the countdowns.

19countdowns

656songs charted

13different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2006

All 656 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2006 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	1,716	19	#1	5
2	When You Were Young The Killers	1,647	19	#2	–
3	Steady, As She Goes The Raconteurs	1,585	17	#2	–
4	Miss Murder AFI	1,504	18	#1	1
5	Crazy Gnarls Barkley	1,460	16	#1	2
6	Vicarious Tool	1,272	18	#1	1
7	Tell Me Baby Red Hot Chili Peppers	1,245	17	#2	–
8	Chasing Cars Snow Patrol	1,186	15	#3	–
9	World Wide Suicide Pearl Jam	1,168	17	#4	–
10	Welcome to the Black Parade My Chemical Romance	1,157	17	#1	2
11	The Adventure Angels & Airwaves	1,128	15	#6	–
12	Woman Wolfmother	1,124	16	#6	–
13	I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor Arctic Monkeys	1,105	15	#5	–
14	Every Day is Exactly the Same Nine Inch Nails	1,028	16	#12	–
15	Talk Coldplay	1,017	14	#7	–
16	Knights of Cydonia Muse	1,007	13	#6	–
17	Is It Any Wonder? Keane	943	16	#16	–
18	The Kill 30 Seconds to Mars	926	13	#2	–
19	Gold Lion Yeah Yeah Yeahs	924	15	#12	–
20	I Write Sins Not Tragedies Panic! at the Disco	923	13	#9	–
21	Perfect Situation Weezer	899	12	#7	–
22	Hate Me Blue October	884	13	#3	–
23	No Way Back Foo Fighters	882	16	#5	–
24	Crooked Teeth Death Cab for Cutie	870	13	#11	–
25	Tear You Apart She Wants Revenge	843	13	#14	–
26	Nausea Beck	809	16	#8	–
27	MakeDamnSure Taking Back Sunday	802	12	#11	–
28	Here It Goes Again OK Go	802	14	#2	–
29	Call Me When You're Sober Evanescence	801	11	#9	–
30	Original Fire Audioslave	789	17	#14	–
31	I Will Follow You Into the Dark Death Cab for Cutie	773	11	#1	2
32	Anna Molly Incubus	715	13	#11	–
33	Animal I Have Become Three Days Grace	711	9	#1	1
34	Dare Gorillaz	707	10	#1	1
35	The Pot Tool	707	14	#13	–
36	Upside Down Jack Johnson	669	12	#20	–
37	Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Jet	664	15	#14	–
38	DOA Foo Fighters	661	10	#9	–
39	Starlight Muse	658	13	#3	–
40	Lonely Day System of a Down	638	12	#14	–
41	Hypnotize System of a Down	635	9	#10	–
42	Through Glass Stone Sour	626	9	#2	–
43	Dance, Dance Fall Out Boy	619	9	#9	–
44	Hands Open Snow Patrol	591	11	#6	–
45	Love Like Winter AFI	576	13	#17	–
46	King Without a Crown Matisyahu	567	9	#11	–
47	The Diary of Jane Breaking Benjamin	548	8	#6	–
48	Level The Raconteurs	538	12	#20	–
49	Snow (Hey Oh) Red Hot Chili Peppers	530	12	#31	–
50	The Denial Twist The White Stripes	522	10	#1	1
51	Ready to Fall Rise Against	515	9	#9	–
52	How to Save a Life The Fray	506	8	#10	–
53	Lights and Sounds Yellowcard	500	12	#24	–
54	Bones The Killers	473	10	#25	–
55	Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie	464	7	#9	–
56	The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage Panic! at the Disco	463	7	#4	–
57	Only Nine Inch Nails	461	7	#21	–
58	Paralyzed Rock Kills Kid	437	11	#27	–
59	Life Wasted Pearl Jam	433	11	#17	–
60	Infra-Red Placebo	429	7	#8	–
61	These Things She Wants Revenge	425	10	#9	–
62	You Only Live Once The Strokes	425	8	#14	–
63	Precious Depeche Mode	415	7	#5	–
64	Cheated Hearts Yeah Yeah Yeahs	415	7	#10	–
65	Land of Confusion Disturbed	410	6	#3	–
66	Lips of an Angel Hinder	397	7	#4	–
67	Wings of a Butterfly HIM	393	7	#16	–
68	To Be Loved Papa Roach	383	10	#21	–
69	Hole in the Earth Deftones	380	11	#36	–
70	Saying Sorry Hawthorne Heights	380	8	#19	–
71	Juicebox The Strokes	374	6	#12	–
72	Cash Machine Hard-Fi	373	10	#41	–
73	Don't Wait Dashboard Confessional	369	10	#18	–
74	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	359	6	#9	–
75	Youth Matisyahu	349	8	#37	–
76	Black Swan Thom Yorke	348	8	#29	–
77	The Saints Are Coming U2/Green Day	345	9	#39	–
78	Face Down The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus	339	8	#27	–
79	Hate (I Really Don't Like You) Plain White T's	318	8	#34	–
80	When Your Heart Stops Beating +44	309	7	#17	–
81	Le Disko Shiny Toy Guns	302	7	#20	–
82	Gone Daddy Gone Gnarls Barkley	301	8	#13	–
83	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	297	5	#18	–
84	For Us Pete Yorn	295	6	#18	–
85	Jesus of Suburbia Green Day	290	6	#14	–
86	Heart in a Cage The Strokes	281	10	#24	–
87	Savin' Me Nickelback	275	5	#21	–
88	The Grace Neverending White Lights	274	3	#6	–
89	Crazy Bitch Buckcherry	274	5	#5	–
90	Joker and the Thief Wolfmother	273	8	#11	–
91	Rock & Roll Queen The Subways	270	7	#33	–
92	Out Here All Night Damone	264	4	#25	–
93	One Man Wrecking Machine Guster	262	4	#16	–
94	Munich Editors	262	5	#24	–
95	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	258	4	#12	–
96	Bat Country Avenged Sevenfold	258	6	#21	–
97	Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast) Lostprophets	246	6	#20	–
98	Wasteland 10 Years	240	4	#7	–
99	I Dare You Shinedown	240	4	#8	–
100	Animals Nickelback	236	4	#22	–

Every station’s number one of 2006

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2006
91X	Welcome to the Black Parade My Chemical Romance	91X Top 91 Songs of 2006
Live 105	Dare Gorillaz	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2006
Q101	The Denial Twist The White Stripes	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2006
WFNX	Welcome to the Black Parade My Chemical Romance	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2006
107.7 The End	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	The End Top 107 Songs of 2006
89X	Miss Murder AFI	89X Top 89 Songs of 2006
CD101	I Will Follow You Into the Dark Death Cab for Cutie	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2006
Y100	Crazy Gnarls Barkley	Y100 Top 88.5 Songs of 2006
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2006
The Bear	Animal I have Become Three Days Grace	The Bear Top 107 Songs of 2006
The Buzz	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2006
WCCC The Rock	Vicarious Tool	WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2006
102.7 WEQX	Crazy Gnarls Barkley	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2006
88.3 The Sting	The Ghost Of You My Chemical Romance	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2006
Studio Brussel	Hammerhead A Brand	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2006
WBER	Hide And Seek Imogen Heap	WBER Listener Countdown 2006
Triple J	One Crowded Hour Augie March	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2006
Radio & Records	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2006

All 2006 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2006 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 2006 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 19 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.