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

The best indie rock songs of 2009

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2009?

Combining 10 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2009 is "I and Love and You" by Avett Brothers, which appeared on 8 of the lists.

Ten radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2009: 103.1 The River, 106.1 The Corner, 107.1 The Peak, 92.3 WTTS, Lightning 100, The Current, WRNR 103.1, WRSI 93.9 The River, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2009 is “I and Love and You” by Avett Brothers, which appeared on eight of the ten countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon (4 stations), “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (2 stations), “Sometime Around Midnight” by Airborne Toxic Event, “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap and “You Never Know” by Wilco and others. U2 was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 22 times across the countdowns.

10countdowns

439songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2009

All 439 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	I and Love and You Avett Brothers	689	8	#1	1
2	You Never Know Wilco	655	9	#1	1
3	Magnificent U2	652	8	#2	–
4	1901 Phoenix	645	8	#3	–
5	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	595	6	#1	4
6	The Fixer Pearl Jam	587	9	#5	–
7	Fugitive David Gray	559	8	#3	–
8	Why I Am Dave Matthews Band	549	7	#11	–
9	The Great Defector Bell X 1	539	8	#3	–
10	Airstream Driver Gomez	532	7	#11	–
11	Two Weeks Grizzly Bear	524	6	#5	–
12	21 Guns Green Day	519	6	#5	–
13	Funny the Way It Is Dave Matthews Band	504	8	#4	–
14	Backwards Down The Number Line Phish	499	8	#12	–
15	Aint no Rest for the Wicked Cage The Elephant	496	7	#2	–
16	Say Please Monsters Of Folk	479	8	#4	–
17	Dreams Brandi Carlile	478	9	#15	–
18	Maybe Ingrid Michaelson	472	7	#11	–
19	Life in Technicolor Coldplay	427	5	#6	–
20	Nothing Ever Hurt Like You James Morrison	418	5	#2	–
21	Meet Me On The Equinox Death Cab for Cutie	415	7	#13	–
22	Panic Switch Silversun Pickups	408	7	#3	–
23	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	389	4	#1	3
24	I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight U2	383	6	#7	–
25	People Got A Lotta Nerve Neko Case	381	7	#8	–
26	Uprising Muse	375	5	#2	–
27	Crack the Shutters Snow Patrol	370	4	#2	–
28	You Found Me The Fray	364	4	#3	–
29	Wheels Foo Fighters	361	6	#6	–
30	Sometime Around Midnight The Airborne Toxic Event	357	4	#1	1
31	Little Bribes Death Cab for Cutie	355	7	#6	–
32	My Girls Animal Collective	352	4	#2	–
33	Never Had Nobody Like You M. Ward	346	8	#23	–
34	(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Weezer	340	5	#4	–
35	Who Says John Mayer	339	6	#9	–
36	Lovers in Japan Coldplay	329	5	#11	–
37	Chasing Pirates Norah Jones	324	6	#9	–
38	Just Breathe Pearl Jam	323	6	#15	–
39	Horchata Vampire Weekend	311	5	#10	–
40	The Rake's Song The Decemberists	298	4	#7	–
41	Closer to Love Mat Kearney	295	4	#15	–
42	You and I Wilco	295	6	#8	–
43	The Fear Lily Allen	290	7	#16	–
44	Fitz and the Dizzy Spells Andrew Bird	290	8	#28	–
45	Little Bit of Red Serena Ryder	286	6	#26	–
46	The Tornado Loves You Neko Case	277	4	#5	–
47	Notion Kings of Leon	277	4	#19	–
48	Relator Pete Yorn	271	5	#21	–
49	You are the best thing Ray LaMontagne	269	3	#6	–
50	Help, Im Alive Metric	265	4	#10	–
51	Buster Voodoo Rodrigo & Gabriela	258	6	#34	–
52	Mykonos Fleet Foxes	254	4	#9	–
53	Know Your Enemy Green Day	250	5	#42	–
54	Staring Down Collective Soul	246	4	#8	–
55	Wrong Depeche Mode	245	4	#30	–
56	Working On A Dream Bruce Springsteen	245	5	#16	–
57	Get on Your Boots U2	241	5	#24	–
58	No Sunlight Death Cab for Cutie	238	3	#9	–
59	Rock & Roll Eric Hutchinson	226	3	#6	–
60	French Navy Camera Obscura	224	4	#24	–
61	Kandi One Eskimo	220	3	#2	–
62	Born Again Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons	220	5	#40	–
63	Even If It Breaks Your Heart Will Hoge	218	5	#15	–
64	First Train Home Imogen Heap	214	6	#40	–
65	Welcome to England Tori Amos	206	5	#36	–
66	Her Diamonds Rob Thomas	205	3	#14	–
67	When I Go Away Levon Helm	205	3	#4	–
68	Down In the Flood Derek Trucks Band	203	5	#34	–
69	Wilco (The Song) Wilco	199	5	#9	–
70	The Reeling Passion Pit	198	3	#23	–
71	Sugarfoot Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears	198	5	#20	–
72	Say Hey (I Love You) Michael Franti & Spearhead	192	2	#2	–
73	Lisztomania Phoenix	192	3	#8	–
74	What Are You Like? The Indigo Girls	192	5	#27	–
75	A Whole Lot Better Brendan Benson	191	4	#43	–
76	40 Day Dream Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	190	3	#21	–
77	OK It's Alright With Me Eric Hutchinson	190	4	#18	–
78	Low Rising The Swell Season	185	4	#24	–
79	No You Girls Franz Ferdinand	183	3	#30	–
80	Just Say Yes Snow Patrol	183	5	#26	–
81	When I Dream of Michelangelo Counting Crows	178	2	#7	–
82	Heaven Brett Dennen	178	4	#30	–
83	We Let Her Down Chris Isaak	176	4	#29	–
84	Say Yes Langhorne Slim	176	2	#9	–
85	Sex On Fire Kings of Leon	171	3	#15	–
86	Sea Of Heartbreak Rosanne Cash	171	2	#10	–
87	Make You Crazy Brett Dennen	170	2	#11	–
88	Percussion Gun White Rabbits	169	4	#43	–
89	Santa Cruz Erin Mckeown	167	3	#7	–
90	Beyond Here Lies Nothin' Bob Dylan	167	5	#47	–
91	Kick Drum Heart Avett Brothers	166	3	#22	–
92	Eet Regina Spektor	165	2	#14	–
93	Zero Yeah Yeah Yeahs	165	3	#25	–
94	Falling for You Colbie Caillat	164	2	#19	–
95	Dominos Big Pink	163	3	#7	–
96	Magick Ryan Adams And The Cardinals	163	2	#13	–
97	Don't Wanna Cry Pete Yorn	162	4	#42	–
98	My Lucky Day Bruce Springsteen	158	3	#25	–
99	Complicated Shadows Elvis Costello	157	4	#52	–
100	Listen To The Darkside Charlie Mars	154	2	#21	–

Every station’s number one of 2009

Station	Number one song	Countdown
103.1 The River	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	103.1 The River Top 103 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
92.3 WTTS	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2009
Lightning 100	Use Somebody Kings of Leon	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2009
The Current	Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap	The Current Top 89 Songs of 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
WXPN	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 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 ten 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.