Year-end consensus · Indie & Adult Alternative · five countdowns combined

The best indie rock songs of 2008

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2008?

Combining 5 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2008 is "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab for Cutie, which appeared on 5 of the lists.

Five radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2008: 103.1 The River, 107.1 The Peak, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, Lightning 100 and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2008 is “I Will Possess Your Heart” by Death Cab for Cutie, which appeared on five of the five countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Four different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay (2 stations), “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon, “If I Had Eyes” by Jack Johnson and “I Will Possess Your Heart” by Death Cab for Cutie. Coldplay was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 16 times across the countdowns.

5countdowns

304songs charted

4different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2008

All 304 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2008 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	I Will Possess Your Heart Death Cab for Cutie	485	5	#1	1
2	Viva La Vida Coldplay	456	5	#1	2
3	Mercy Duffy	435	5	#2	–
4	I'm Amazed My Morning Jacket	422	5	#10	–
5	Sex On Fire Kings of Leon	404	5	#1	1
6	You are the best thing Ray LaMontagne	362	5	#6	–
7	Supernatural Superserious R.E.M.	354	5	#3	–
8	Lost! Coldplay	311	5	#24	–
9	Say Hey (I Love You) Michael Franti & Spearhead	309	5	#26	–
10	Volet Hill Coldplay	295	5	#16	–
11	If I Had Eyes Jack Johnson	282	4	#1	1
12	I'm Yours Jason Mraz	282	3	#4	–
13	Strange Overtones David Byrne and Brian Eno	277	4	#8	–
14	A-Punk Vampire Weekend	274	4	#15	–
15	Shattered (Turn the Car Around) O.A.R.	274	3	#8	–
16	Long Road to Ruin Foo Fighters	273	3	#7	–
17	Make You Crazy Brett Dennen	272	5	#31	–
18	Take Back The City Snow Patrol	272	4	#17	–
19	Human The Killers	266	4	#12	–
20	Dream Catch Me Newton Faulkner	252	3	#7	–
21	You Can't Count On Me Counting Crows	251	3	#6	–
22	The Way I Am Ingrid Michaelson	243	3	#5	–
23	House Of Cards Radiohead	237	3	#3	–
24	Orphans Beck	232	4	#13	–
25	Come Around Counting Crows	229	3	#13	–
26	Sequestered In Memphis Hold Steady	225	3	#9	–
27	Hope Jack Johnson	224	4	#11	–
28	Peace, Love & Happiness G. Love & Special Sauce	220	4	#34	–
29	Fix It Ryan Adams And The Cardinals	215	5	#29	–
30	Funplex The B-52's	212	5	#42	–
31	Sweet and Low Augustana	211	3	#26	–
32	Rock & Roll Eric Hutchinson	211	3	#4	–
33	Pork And Beans Weezer	208	3	#2	–
34	Sometime Around Midnight The Airborne Toxic Event	206	3	#10	–
35	Cath Death Cab for Cutie	204	4	#20	–
36	Believe The Bravery	198	3	#22	–
37	Love Song Sara Bareilles	187	2	#3	–
38	Something Good This Way Comes Jakob Dylan	184	4	#24	–
39	Old Enough The Raconteurs	176	3	#17	–
40	Come On Get Higher Matt Nathanson	172	2	#14	–
41	Boots of Chinese Plastic The Pretenders	171	4	#45	–
42	Electric Feel MGMT	170	2	#4	–
43	Freeway Aimee Mann	166	3	#32	–
44	Shut Up And Let Me Go The Ting Tings	164	2	#16	–
45	Time To Pretend MGMT	163	2	#6	–
46	Love Remains the Same Gavin Rossdale	159	2	#14	–
47	Dance With Me Old 97's	158	5	#36	–
48	Say John Mayer	154	3	#49	–
49	Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution Black Crowes	153	4	#30	–
50	27 Jennifers Mike Doughty	153	3	#15	–
51	Listen Amos Lee	152	3	#21	–
52	Dirty City Steve Winwood	148	2	#18	–
53	Hollow Man R.E.M.	147	3	#30	–
54	The Shock Of The Lightning Oasis	142	3	#48	–
55	L.E.S. Artistes Santigold	135	2	#30	–
56	Kids MGMT	134	2	#33	–
57	Lights Out Santigold	130	2	#33	–
58	My Sweet Love John Mellencamp	129	2	#24	–
59	You Don'T Know Me Ben Folds	128	2	#4	–
60	Chasing Pavements Adele	128	2	#12	–
61	What's Been Going On Amos Lee	127	3	#45	–
62	100 Yard Dash Raphael Saadiq	127	2	#20	–
63	Life, Love & Laughter Donavon Frankenreiter	127	2	#34	–
64	Nothing Ever Hurt Like You James Morrison	123	2	#36	–
65	Scare Easy Mudcrutch	121	2	#28	–
66	Evil Urges My Morning Jacket	118	2	#35	–
67	Please Read The Letter Robert Plant & Alison Krauss	116	2	#38	–
68	That's Entrainment Van Morrison	116	2	#43	–
69	Bottle It Up Sara Bareilles	115	2	#41	–
70	Jigsaw Falling Into Place Radiohead	115	3	#39	–
71	Trashcan Delta Spirit	114	3	#45	–
72	Falling In Love In a Coffee Shop Landon Pigg	114	2	#19	–
73	Grounds for Divorce Elbow	108	2	#15	–
74	Oxford Comma Vampire Weekend	108	2	#22	–
75	Right As Rain Adele	108	2	#3	–
76	Love Is Free Sheryl Crow	107	3	#33	–
77	Invisible Man Joe Jackson	106	2	#21	–
78	Saving My Face KT Tunstall	102	2	#50	–
79	Paper Planes (DFA Remix) M.I.A.	99	1	#2	–
80	I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance Wi Black Kids	96	1	#5	–
81	Streets on Fire Lupe Fiasco	96	1	#5	–
82	Gamma Ray Beck	96	3	#30	–
83	It's Not My Time 3 Doors Down	95	1	#6	–
84	Ragged Wood Fleet Foxes	95	1	#6	–
85	Frankie's Gun The Felice Brothers	94	1	#7	–
86	Hard Sun Eddie Vedder	93	1	#8	–
87	Realize Colbie Caillat	92	2	#48	–
88	You Atmosphere	92	1	#9	–
89	White Winter Hymnal Fleet Foxes	92	1	#9	–
90	28 Butts Little Jackie	91	1	#10	–
91	Stop and Stare One Republic	90	1	#11	–
92	Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa Vampire Weekend	90	1	#11	–
93	Crying TV on the Radio	90	1	#11	–
94	American Boy Estelle	88	1	#13	–
95	That's Not My Name The Ting Tings	87	1	#14	–
96	Spaceship Jason Spencer	86	1	#15	–
97	Highly Suspicious My Morning Jacket	84	1	#17	–
98	We're Here to Save the Day Constellations	84	1	#17	–
99	Bleeding Love Leona Lewis	84	1	#18	–
100	Foundations Kate Nash	83	1	#18	–

Every station’s number one of 2008

Station	Number one song	Countdown
103.1 The River	Viva La Vida Coldplay	103.1 The River Top 103 of 2008
107.1 The Peak	Viva La Vida Coldplay	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2008
88Nine Radio Milwaukee	Sex on Fire Kings of Leon	88Nine Radio Milwaukee Top 100 Songs of 2008
Lightning 100	If I Had Eyes Jack Johnson	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2008
WXPN	I Will Possess Your Heart Death Cab for Cutie	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008

All 2008 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2008 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 2008 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 five qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the indie & aaa results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.