Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 16 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2006

Q: What was the top rock song of 2006?

Combining 16 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2006 is "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which appeared on 16 of the lists.

16 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, Studio Brussel, 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 16 of the 16 countdowns and was voted number one by five of them. Eleven 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), “Dare” by Gorillaz, “The Denial Twist” by The White Stripes and “Miss Murder” by AFI and others. Red Hot Chili Peppers was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 43 times across the countdowns.

16countdowns

549songs charted

11different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2006

All 549 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	1,460	16	#1	5
2	When You Were Young The Killers	1,385	16	#2	–
3	Steady, As She Goes The Raconteurs	1,304	14	#2	–
4	Miss Murder AFI	1,292	15	#1	1
5	Crazy Gnarls Barkley	1,196	13	#1	1
6	Vicarious Tool	1,169	16	#1	1
7	Tell Me Baby Red Hot Chili Peppers	1,107	15	#8	–
8	Welcome to the Black Parade My Chemical Romance	1,056	15	#1	2
9	World Wide Suicide Pearl Jam	1,046	15	#4	–
10	The Adventure Angels & Airwaves	1,012	13	#6	–
11	Woman Wolfmother	1,012	13	#6	–
12	Chasing Cars Snow Patrol	997	13	#5	–
13	I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor Arctic Monkeys	929	13	#5	–
14	Every Day is Exactly the Same Nine Inch Nails	888	14	#12	–
15	Talk Coldplay	878	12	#7	–
16	Perfect Situation Weezer	822	11	#7	–
17	Knights of Cydonia Muse	821	11	#6	–
18	No Way Back Foo Fighters	810	14	#5	–
19	Hate Me Blue October	798	12	#3	–
20	I Write Sins Not Tragedies Panic! at the Disco	796	11	#9	–
21	Is It Any Wonder? Keane	779	13	#16	–
22	Gold Lion Yeah Yeah Yeahs	770	12	#12	–
23	Tear You Apart She Wants Revenge	715	11	#14	–
24	Call Me When You're Sober Evanescence	713	10	#9	–
25	Animal I Have Become Three Days Grace	711	9	#1	1
26	The Pot Tool	707	14	#13	–
27	Dare Gorillaz	698	9	#1	1
28	Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Jet	664	15	#14	–
29	Nausea Beck	656	13	#8	–
30	DOA Foo Fighters	648	9	#9	–
31	MakeDamnSure Taking Back Sunday	644	10	#11	–
32	Through Glass Stone Sour	626	9	#2	–
33	Anna Molly Incubus	613	11	#11	–
34	Crooked Teeth Death Cab for Cutie	608	10	#13	–
35	The Kill 30 Seconds to Mars	603	8	#3	–
36	Here It Goes Again OK Go	595	11	#14	–
37	Dance, Dance Fall Out Boy	589	8	#9	–
38	Original Fire Audioslave	586	12	#14	–
39	Lonely Day System of a Down	585	11	#14	–
40	Hypnotize System of a Down	583	8	#10	–
41	I Will Follow You Into the Dark Death Cab for Cutie	575	9	#1	1
42	Upside Down Jack Johnson	535	10	#20	–
43	King Without a Crown Matisyahu	522	8	#11	–
44	Starlight Muse	475	10	#3	–
45	Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie	464	7	#9	–
46	The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage Panic! at the Disco	463	7	#4	–
47	Only Nine Inch Nails	461	7	#21	–
48	Level The Raconteurs	456	11	#29	–
49	The Diary of Jane Breaking Benjamin	454	7	#7	–
50	Love Like Winter AFI	447	11	#17	–
51	Paralyzed Rock Kills Kid	437	11	#27	–
52	How to Save a Life The Fray	431	7	#10	–
53	Hands Open Snow Patrol	423	9	#6	–
54	The Denial Twist The White Stripes	420	8	#1	1
55	These Things She Wants Revenge	416	9	#9	–
56	Precious Depeche Mode	415	7	#5	–
57	Land of Confusion Disturbed	410	6	#3	–
58	Lips of an Angel Hinder	397	7	#4	–
59	Ready to Fall Rise Against	385	7	#14	–
60	Juicebox The Strokes	374	6	#12	–
61	Lights and Sounds Yellowcard	369	9	#24	–
62	Life Wasted Pearl Jam	356	8	#17	–
63	Cash Machine Hard-Fi	350	9	#41	–
64	To Be Loved Papa Roach	349	9	#21	–
65	Bones The Killers	342	8	#31	–
66	You Only Live Once The Strokes	316	6	#14	–
67	When Your Heart Stops Beating +44	309	7	#17	–
68	Snow (Hey Oh) Red Hot Chili Peppers	304	8	#34	–
69	Hole in the Earth Deftones	303	9	#36	–
70	Gone Daddy Gone Gnarls Barkley	301	8	#13	–
71	Saying Sorry Hawthorne Heights	300	7	#44	–
72	Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz	297	5	#18	–
73	Infra-Red Placebo	294	5	#8	–
74	Black Swan Thom Yorke	275	7	#29	–
75	Savin' Me Nickelback	275	5	#21	–
76	The Grace Neverending White Lights	274	3	#6	–
77	Crazy Bitch Buckcherry	274	5	#5	–
78	Cheated Hearts Yeah Yeah Yeahs	274	4	#10	–
79	Face Down The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus	271	7	#27	–
80	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	266	5	#18	–
81	The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails	258	4	#12	–
82	Bat Country Avenged Sevenfold	258	6	#21	–
83	Youth Matisyahu	252	6	#37	–
84	Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly HIM	249	4	#16	–
85	Heart in a Cage The Strokes	249	8	#24	–
86	Don't Wait Dashboard Confessional	248	8	#37	–
87	Wasteland 10 Years	240	4	#7	–
88	I Dare You Shinedown	240	4	#8	–
89	Animals Nickelback	236	4	#22	–
90	Coming Undone Korn	229	4	#12	–
91	Where'd You Go Fort Minor	227	4	#24	–
92	Speak Godsmack	223	4	#6	–
93	Le Disko Shiny Toy Guns	217	5	#20	–
94	Hate (I Really Don't Like You) Plain White T's	216	5	#34	–
95	Jesus of Suburbia Green Day	203	5	#17	–
96	Rock & Roll Queen The Subways	199	6	#44	–
97	Munich Editors	195	4	#24	–
98	Best of You Foo Fighters	194	3	#23	–
99	Out Here All Night Damone	189	3	#25	–
100	The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song The Flaming Lips	187	3	#11	–

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
Studio Brussel	Hammerhead A Brand	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 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 16 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.