Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · twelve countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 2007

Q: What was the top alternative rock song of 2007?

Combining 12 year-end radio countdowns, the top alternative rock song of 2007 is "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes, which appeared on 12 of the lists.

Twelve radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2007: KROQ, 91X, Live 105, Q101, WFNX, 107.7 The End, 89X, CD101, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, CHOI Radio X, Studio Brussel and Triple J. Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 2007 is “Icky Thump” by The White Stripes, which appeared on twelve of the twelve countdowns. Seven different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Starlight” by Muse (3 stations), “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups (3 stations), “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters (2 stations), “What I've Done” by Linkin Park and “Surrender” by Billy Talent and others. Muse was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 27 times across the countdowns.

12countdowns

487songs charted

7different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2007

All 487 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2007 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Icky Thump The White Stripes	1,061	12	#2	–
2	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	929	12	#1	3
3	The Pretender Foo Fighters	926	11	#1	2
4	Dashboard Modest Mouse	889	11	#3	–
5	Starlight Muse	869	10	#1	3
6	Snow (Hey Oh) Red Hot Chili Peppers	825	10	#6	–
7	Read My Mind The Killers	797	10	#2	–
8	Hey There Delilah Plain White T's	791	10	#4	–
9	Tarantula The Smashing Pumpkins	766	11	#9	–
10	What I've Done Linkin Park	701	8	#1	1
11	Misery Business Paramore	675	9	#9	–
12	Phantom Limb The Shins	664	10	#3	–
13	Straight Lines Silverchair	641	11	#2	–
14	Bleed It Out Linkin Park	606	7	#8	–
15	Hang Me Up to Dry Cold War Kids	599	9	#2	–
16	Prayer of the Refugee Rise Against	585	7	#5	–
17	Young Folks Peter Bjorn & John	582	9	#6	–
18	Supermassive Black Hole Muse	579	8	#7	–
19	Face Down The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus	561	8	#8	–
20	Dig Incubus	559	7	#3	–
21	The Heinrich Maneuver Interpol	558	10	#18	–
22	Famous Last Words My Chemical Romance	557	10	#5	–
23	Teenagers My Chemical Romance	548	11	#27	–
24	Anna Molly Incubus	539	8	#2	–
25	Big Casino Jimmy Eat World	519	10	#26	–
26	Thrash Unreal Against Me!	516	8	#15	–
27	Ruby Kaiser Chiefs	508	8	#2	–
28	Capital G Nine Inch Nails	507	8	#23	–
29	Time Won't Let Me Go The Bravery	493	8	#13	–
30	This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Fall Out Boy	491	9	#18	–
31	Paralyzer Finger Eleven	491	7	#3	–
32	From Yesterday 30 Seconds to Mars	489	8	#19	–
33	Far Behind Social Distortion	472	8	#17	–
34	Well Thought Out Twinkles Silversun Pickups	470	9	#11	–
35	Empty Walls Serj Tankian	465	8	#16	–
36	Welcome to the Black Parade My Chemical Romance	446	6	#7	–
37	The Pot Tool	432	6	#10	–
38	Knights of Cydonia Muse	421	5	#1	1
39	When You Were Young The Killers	397	5	#6	–
40	Forever Papa Roach	394	6	#3	–
41	Keep the Car Running The Arcade Fire	388	9	#14	–
42	Oil and Water Incubus	366	6	#19	–
43	I Still Remember Bloc Party	360	7	#36	–
44	Shadow of the Day Linkin Park	352	7	#22	–
45	The Underdog Spoon	335	5	#3	–
46	Long Road to Ruin Foo Fighters	329	7	#29	–
47	Everything's Magic Angels & Airwaves	329	7	#35	–
48	You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told) The White Stripes	322	7	#42	–
49	Survivalism Nine Inch Nails	313	8	#23	–
50	Naïve The Kooks	311	8	#5	–
51	On Call Kings of Leon	309	5	#3	–
52	Pain Three Days Grace	306	7	#11	–
53	Missed the Boat Modest Mouse	305	6	#4	–
54	You Are the One Shiny Toy Guns	304	5	#6	–
55	Working Class Hero Green Day	303	8	#27	–
56	Never Too Late Three Days Grace	301	4	#4	–
57	3's and 7's Queens of the Stone Age	300	6	#25	–
58	1234 Feist	295	6	#15	–
59	The Kill 30 Seconds to Mars	295	4	#12	–
60	Flathead The Fratellis	291	5	#9	–
61	Fluorescent Adolescent Arctic Monkeys	287	5	#11	–
62	Fake It Seether	286	5	#17	–
63	Love Like Winter AFI	282	5	#25	–
64	Say This Sooner The Almost	281	6	#29	–
65	Believe The Bravery	277	6	#21	–
66	Breath Breaking Benjamin	276	3	#2	–
67	Hard Sun Eddie Vedder	273	9	#43	–
68	All Around Me Flyleaf	271	5	#31	–
69	All the Same Sick Puppies	259	4	#8	–
70	The Bird and the Worm The Used	253	6	#20	–
71	Tell Me Baby Red Hot Chili Peppers	246	3	#18	–
72	Think I'm in Love Beck	231	3	#7	–
73	Fallen Leaves Billy Talent	228	3	#10	–
74	Stiff Kittens Blaqk Audio	228	7	#39	–
75	Shadowplay The Killers	225	5	#36	–
76	Ready to Fall Rise Against	219	3	#18	–
77	The Good Left Undone Rise Against	218	5	#38	–
78	Underclass Hero Sum 41	211	4	#15	–
79	Rehab Amy Winehouse	206	3	#4	–
80	Sick, Sick, Sick Queens of the Stone Age	205	7	#39	–
81	Back in Your Head Tegan and Sara	199	5	#39	–
82	Let Me In Hot Hot Heat	198	6	#42	–
83	Australia The Shins	198	4	#18	–
84	Typical Mutemath	190	6	#39	–
85	Surrender Billy Talent	187	2	#1	1
86	Jesus Brand New	181	6	#21	–
87	Timebomb Beck	180	4	#36	–
88	The Prayer Bloc Party	173	4	#20	–
89	Fidelity Regina Spektor	172	3	#25	–
90	Bodysnatchers Radiohead	166	4	#27	–
91	Satellite Guster	160	3	#23	–
92	Hospital Beds Cold War Kids	158	3	#19	–
93	Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers	158	3	#41	–
94	Fans Kings of Leon	156	3	#33	–
95	Forever Fades Away Tiger Army	154	3	#40	–
96	The Missing Frame AFI	153	4	#34	–
97	Chasing Cars Snow Patrol	152	3	#30	–
98	Evolution Korn	152	4	#52	–
99	It's Not Over Daughtry	150	2	#24	–
100	Thnks Fr Th Mmrs Fall Out Boy	149	3	#8	–

Every station’s number one of 2007

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	The Pretender Foo Fighters	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2007
91X	The Pretender Foo Fighters	91X Top 91 Songs of 2007
Live 105	Starlight Muse	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2007
Q101	What I've Done Linkin Park	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2007
WFNX	Starlight Muse	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2007
107.7 The End	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	The End Top 107 Songs of 2007
89X	Starlight Muse	89X Top 89 Songs of 2007
CD101	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2007
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups	102.1 The Edge Top 102 Songs of 2007
CHOI Radio X	Surrender Billy Talent	CHOI Top 101 Songs of 2007
Studio Brussel	You Don't Know Milow	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2007
Triple J	Knights of Cydonia Muse	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2007

All 2007 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2007 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 2007 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 twelve qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the alternative results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.

Most-charted artists of 2007

1Muse27 entries · 5 songs
2Linkin Park25 entries · 5 songs
3The Killers27 entries · 6 songs
4My Chemical Romance28 entries · 4 songs
5The White Stripes22 entries · 4 songs
6Incubus21 entries · 3 songs
7Silversun Pickups21 entries · 2 songs
8Modest Mouse20 entries · 4 songs
9Red Hot Chili Peppers21 entries · 4 songs
10Foo Fighters20 entries · 3 songs

The 2000s

Best alternative rock songs of the '00s →

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