What was the top rock song of 2009?

Combining 7 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2009 is "Uprising" by Muse, which appeared on 7 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 2009

Seven radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2009: 91X, Q101, WFNX, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, Studio Brussel, The Current and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2009 is “Uprising” by Muse, which appeared on seven of the seven countdowns. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Use Somebody” by Kings Of Leon (2 stations), “Savior” by Rise Against, “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups, “Rex” by Customs and “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap and others. Kings of Leon was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 15 times across the countdowns.

7countdowns

389songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2009

All 389 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Uprising Muse	601	7	#3	–
2	Help, Im Alive Metric	462	6	#8	–
3	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	456	5	#1	2
4	1901 Phoenix	438	5	#4	–
5	Aint no Rest for the Wicked Cage The Elephant	434	5	#3	–
6	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	404	6	#1	1
7	The Fixer Pearl Jam	399	6	#5	–
8	New Divide Linkin Park	356	4	#7	–
9	Meet Me On The Equinox Death Cab for Cutie	356	6	#14	–
10	21 Guns Green Day	352	5	#8	–
11	No You Girls Franz Ferdinand	332	5	#6	–
12	Notion Kings of Leon	319	5	#14	–
13	Wrong Depeche Mode	317	5	#5	–
14	Check My Brain Alice In Chains	317	4	#10	–
15	Zero Yeah Yeah Yeahs	304	4	#16	–
16	Kids MGMT	297	3	#2	–
17	Sometime Around Midnight The Airborne Toxic Event	296	5	#22	–
18	(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Weezer	296	4	#10	–
19	Know Your Enemy Green Day	290	4	#20	–
20	You're Gonna Go Far, Kid The Offspring	290	4	#9	–
21	Savior Rise Against	281	3	#1	1
22	Heads Will Roll Yeah Yeah Yeahs	273	4	#11	–
23	Sex On Fire Kings of Leon	270	4	#13	–
24	Audience Of One Rise Against	251	3	#7	–
25	Heavy cross The Gossip	248	3	#2	–
26	Spaceman The Killers	241	4	#9	–
27	Medicate AFI	238	4	#12	–
28	Kings & Queens 30 Seconds to Mars	215	4	#27	–
29	The '59 Sound The Gaslight Anthem	213	4	#28	–
30	Wheels Foo Fighters	209	5	#25	–
31	Brother Pearl Jam	193	4	#36	–
32	Substitution Silversun Pickups	192	4	#34	–
33	Lisztomania Phoenix	188	2	#4	–
34	East Jesus Nowhere Green Day	187	4	#43	–
35	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	186	2	#1	1
36	She's a Genius Jet	182	4	#40	–
37	Second Chance Shinedown	179	2	#10	–
38	Two Weeks Grizzly Bear	171	3	#5	–
39	Sleepyhead Passion Pit	170	2	#12	–
40	Gimme Sympathy Metric	169	2	#4	–
41	Love Hurts Incubus	164	2	#14	–
42	Get on Your Boots U2	162	3	#18	–
43	Little Secrets Passion Pit	162	3	#37	–
44	Just Breathe Pearl Jam	160	5	#29	–
45	Break Three Days Grace	156	3	#22	–
46	Ignorance Paramore	154	3	#23	–
47	Last One to Die Rancid	153	3	#44	–
48	Ulysses Franz Ferdinand	153	3	#6	–
49	Say Hey (I Love You) Michael Franti & Spearhead	150	2	#25	–
50	Back Against the Wall Cage The Elephant	149	4	#26	–
51	I've Got Friends Manchester Orchestra	145	3	#32	–
52	FireFlies Owl City	144	2	#13	–
53	Black Heart Inertia Incubus	142	2	#14	–
54	The Reeling Passion Pit	142	2	#27	–
55	Troublemaker Weezer	140	3	#31	–
56	Decode Paramore	140	2	#23	–
57	Sink Into Me Taking Back Sunday	134	3	#41	–
58	Feel Good Drag Anberlin	133	2	#8	–
59	New Fang Them Crooked Vultures	132	4	#30	–
60	Hey You 311	132	3	#47	–
61	My Girls Animal Collective	130	2	#2	–
62	Horchata Vampire Weekend	129	2	#19	–
63	Magnificent U2	128	2	#29	–
64	Breaking Anberlin	127	2	#34	–
65	Crying lightning Arctic Monkeys	126	3	#17	–
66	For What It's Worth Placebo	122	2	#11	–
67	One Day Matisyahu	120	3	#41	–
68	Undead Hollywood Undead	118	2	#21	–
69	Not Fair Lily Allen	113	2	#8	–
70	Pork And Beans Weezer	113	4	#45	–
71	Drumming Song Florence And The Machine	112	2	#40	–
72	Kristy, Are You Doing Ok? The Offspring	111	3	#53	–
73	Crawl Back In Dead By Sunrise	107	3	#49	–
74	LifeLine Papa Roach	106	2	#44	–
75	Electric Feel MGMT	106	2	#33	–
76	Re-Education (Through Labor) Rise Against	105	2	#21	–
77	Slow Poison The Bravery	104	3	#46	–
78	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	100	1	#1	1
79	Rex Customs	100	1	#1	1
80	Jars Chevelle	99	2	#6	–
81	The Feel Good Drag Anberlin	99	1	#2	–
82	Parlez Vous Francais? Art vs. Science	99	1	#2	–
83	Dirt Room Blue October	98	1	#3	–
84	Chase That Feeling Hilltop Hoods	98	1	#3	–
85	I and Love and You Avett Brothers	98	1	#3	–
86	You're Going Down Sick Puppies	97	1	#4	–
87	Broken Leg Bluejuice	96	1	#5	–
88	Bulletproof La Roux	95	1	#6	–
89	Pony Far	95	1	#6	–
90	The Field Mason Jennings	94	1	#6	–
91	Rusted from the Rain Billy Talent	94	1	#7	–
92	Coin Laundry Lisa Mitchell	94	1	#7	–
93	Lost! Coldplay	94	2	#18	–
94	I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight U2	94	2	#39	–
95	Daylight Matt And Kim	93	3	#41	–
96	Dominos Big Pink	93	1	#7	–
97	Viva La Vida Coldplay	93	3	#50	–
98	The Rake's Song The Decemberists	92	1	#8	–
99	The Night Disturbed	92	1	#9	–
100	Dog Days Are Over Florence And The Machine	91	1	#10	–

Every station’s number one of 2009

Station	Number one song	Countdown
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
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	102.1 The Edge The Top 102 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
Triple J	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	Triple J Hottest 100 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 seven qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.