Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 40 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2009

Q: What was the top rock song of 2009?

Combining 40 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2009 is "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon, which appeared on 32 of the lists.

40 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2009: KROQ, 91X, Q101, WFNX, 89X, CD101, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 103.1 The Buzz, 103.1 The River, 105.7 The Point, 106.1 The Corner, 107.1 The Peak, 88.3 The Sting, 90.5 WERG, 92.3 WTTS, 94.3 KILO, 94.3 WCYY, 94.5 The Buzz, 96X, 99 Rock, ALT 104.5, FM 102/1, Impact 89FM, KFMA, KSLG, Lightning 100, Studio Brussel, The Current, WBER, WRNR 103.1, WRSI 93.9 The River, WTMD, WVBR, WXPN, X103.9, X96, Triple J and WBRU. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2009 is “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, which appeared on 32 of the 40 countdowns and was voted number one by 14 of them. 26 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon (11 stations), “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups (3 stations), “Feel Good Drag” by Anberlin (2 stations), “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (2 stations) and “Savior” by Rise Against and others. Kings of Leon was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 85 times across the countdowns.

40countdowns

1,043songs charted

26different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2009

All 1,043 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2009 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	2,957	32	#1	14
2	Uprising Muse	2,698	33	#1	1
3	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	2,666	34	#1	3
4	Aint no Rest for the Wicked Cage The Elephant	2,489	31	#1	1
5	(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Weezer	2,295	32	#4	–
6	The Fixer Pearl Jam	2,231	34	#4	–
7	21 Guns Green Day	2,062	32	#3	–
8	1901 Phoenix	2,008	29	#2	–
9	New Divide Linkin Park	1,864	23	#4	–
10	Notion Kings of Leon	1,750	28	#7	–
11	Savior Rise Against	1,738	22	#1	2
12	Know Your Enemy Green Day	1,708	28	#3	–
13	Help, Im Alive Metric	1,626	23	#2	–
14	Sometime Around Midnight The Airborne Toxic Event	1,620	22	#1	1
15	Wheels Foo Fighters	1,593	30	#6	–
16	Feel Good Drag Anberlin	1,568	20	#1	2
17	Kids MGMT	1,543	19	#1	1
18	No You Girls Franz Ferdinand	1,520	22	#4	–
19	Meet Me On The Equinox Death Cab for Cutie	1,494	29	#13	–
20	Audience Of One Rise Against	1,441	19	#3	–
21	Wrong Depeche Mode	1,425	27	#5	–
22	Check My Brain Alice In Chains	1,331	22	#10	–
23	Sex On Fire Kings of Leon	1,289	19	#3	–
24	Ignorance Paramore	1,275	23	#10	–
25	Zero Yeah Yeah Yeahs	1,208	21	#10	–
26	Second Chance Shinedown	1,177	14	#2	–
27	Medicate AFI	1,160	20	#10	–
28	I Will Not Bow Breaking Benjamin	1,143	14	#1	1
29	Kings & Queens 30 Seconds to Mars	1,111	21	#11	–
30	Break Three Days Grace	1,097	17	#3	–
31	Jars Chevelle	1,091	16	#2	–
32	Back Against the Wall Cage The Elephant	1,064	23	#17	–
33	Decode Paramore	1,043	15	#3	–
34	Magnificent U2	1,038	17	#2	–
35	Spaceman The Killers	1,023	20	#9	–
36	You're Going Down Sick Puppies	980	12	#4	–
37	Black Heart Inertia Incubus	976	19	#14	–
38	LifeLine Papa Roach	962	15	#4	–
39	I've Got Friends Manchester Orchestra	924	19	#9	–
40	Hey You 311	914	21	#18	–
41	Just Breathe Pearl Jam	891	21	#13	–
42	Life in Technicolor Coldplay	869	14	#6	–
43	Sound of Madness Shinedown	863	13	#5	–
44	Love Hurts Incubus	856	11	#1	1
45	Funny the Way It Is Dave Matthews Band	854	16	#4	–
46	Dirt Room Blue October	847	17	#3	–
47	Careless Whisper Seether	846	14	#5	–
48	I Don't Care Apocalyptica	821	11	#7	–
49	You Never Know Wilco	781	13	#1	1
50	You're Gonna Go Far, Kid The Offspring	757	10	#2	–
51	Substitution Silversun Pickups	754	17	#27	–
52	Sink Into Me Taking Back Sunday	747	17	#8	–
53	She's a Genius Jet	733	17	#21	–
54	FireFlies Owl City	725	13	#1	1
55	Breaking Anberlin	725	13	#2	–
56	Why I Am Dave Matthews Band	724	10	#7	–
57	One Day Matisyahu	708	16	#8	–
58	I and Love and You Avett Brothers	695	9	#1	1
59	Heads Will Roll Yeah Yeah Yeahs	687	10	#9	–
60	Brother Pearl Jam	684	19	#36	–
61	The Night Disturbed	683	9	#6	–
62	Blood On My Hands The Used	674	11	#6	–
63	Two Weeks Grizzly Bear	672	10	#5	–
64	Airstream Driver Gomez	670	9	#11	–
65	Get on Your Boots U2	647	18	#18	–
66	The Great Defector Bell X 1	637	9	#3	–
67	I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight U2	625	13	#7	–
68	Again Flyleaf	612	14	#10	–
69	Say Please Monsters Of Folk	597	11	#4	–
70	The Reeling Passion Pit	579	9	#2	–
71	Daylight Matt And Kim	575	9	#1	1
72	Half Truism The Offspring	566	11	#15	–
73	Fugitive David Gray	559	8	#3	–
74	Kristy, Are You Doing Ok? The Offspring	553	13	#16	–
75	New Fang Them Crooked Vultures	550	15	#19	–
76	If You Only Knew Shinedown	524	11	#1	1
77	The Fear Lily Allen	520	12	#5	–
78	Grapevine Fires Death Cab for Cutie	517	10	#10	–
79	Indestructable Disturbed	515	7	#10	–
80	Backwards Down The Number Line Phish	499	8	#12	–
81	Lovers in Japan Coldplay	496	9	#11	–
82	East Jesus Nowhere Green Day	493	13	#41	–
83	Little Bribes Death Cab for Cutie	486	9	#6	–
84	Champagne Cavo	479	10	#16	–
85	You Found Me The Fray	478	7	#3	–
86	Dreams Brandi Carlile	478	9	#15	–
87	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	475	5	#1	3
88	My Girls Animal Collective	474	6	#2	–
89	Maybe Ingrid Michaelson	472	7	#11	–
90	Say Hey (I Love You) Michael Franti & Spearhead	456	7	#2	–
91	Percussion Gun White Rabbits	444	9	#6	–
92	Nothing Ever Hurt Like You James Morrison	418	5	#2	–
93	Horchata Vampire Weekend	416	7	#10	–
94	Last One to Die Rancid	415	10	#40	–
95	Relator Pete Yorn	404	8	#21	–
96	Ulysses Franz Ferdinand	392	9	#6	–
97	Crack the Shutters Snow Patrol	389	6	#2	–
98	Slow Poison The Bravery	388	12	#44	–
99	Lisztomania Phoenix	384	6	#4	–
100	People Got A Lotta Nerve Neko Case	381	7	#8	–

Every station’s number one of 2009

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	KROQ Top 20 Songs of 2009
91X	Use Somebody Kings Of Leon	91X Top 91 Songs of 2009
Q101	Savior Rise Against	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2009
WFNX	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	WFNX Top 101 Songs of 2009
89X	Feel Good Drag Anberlin	89X Top 89 Songs of 2009
CD101	Like A Vibration Whigs	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2009
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	102.1 The Edge The Top 102 of 2009
The Buzz	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2009
102.7 WEQX	Ain't No Rest for the Wicked Cage The Elephant	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2009
103.1 The Buzz	Love Hurts Incubus	Buzz 103.1 Top 103 Buzz Cuts of 2009
103.1 The River	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	103.1 The River Top 103 of 2009
105.7 The Point	Get On Your Boots U2	105.7 The Point Top 105 Songs of 2009
106.1 The Corner	Sometime Around Midnight Airborne Toxic Event	106.1 The Corner Top 106 Songs of 2009
107.1 The Peak	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2009
88.3 The Sting	1-2-3-4 I Love You Plain White T's	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2009
90.5 WERG	Gives You Hell All American Rejects	WERG Top 90 of 2009
92.3 WTTS	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2009
94.3 KILO	Everywhere I Go Hollywood Undead	KILO Top 50 of 2009
94.3 WCYY	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	WCYY Top 50 of 2009
94.5 The Buzz	Feel Good Drag Anberlin	94.5 The Buzz Top 94 of 2009
96X	Back Against the Wall Cage The Elephant	96X Top 30 of 2009
99 Rock	Ulysses Franz Ferdinand	99Rock WFRD Top 99 of 2009
ALT 104.5	Dirt Room Blue October	Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2009
FM 102/1	Use Somebody Kings Of Leon	FM 102/1 Top 50 of 2009
Impact 89FM	All The Pretty Girls fun.	Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2009
KFMA	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	KFMA Top 50 Songs of 2009
KSLG	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	KSLG Top 94 of 2009
Lightning 100	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2009
Studio Brussel	Rex Customs	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2009
The Current	Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2009
WBER	Kids MGMT	WBER Listener Countdown 2009
WRNR 103.1	You Never Know Wilco	WRNR Top 104 Songs of 2009
WRSI 93.9 The River	Home Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros	WRSI Top 93 Songs of 2009
WTMD	I and Love and You Avett Brothers	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2009
WVBR	If You Only Knew Shinedown	WVBR Top 93 of 2009
WXPN	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2009
X103.9	Dead Memories Slipknot	X103.9 Top Songs of 2009
X96	Uprising Muse	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2009
Triple J	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2009
WBRU	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	WBRU Top 95.5 Songs of 2009

All 2009 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2009 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 2009 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 40 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.