Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 47 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2010

Q: What was the top rock song of 2010?

Combining 47 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2010 is "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons, which appeared on 40 of the lists.

47 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2010: 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, 89.7 The River, 89.9 WLCA, 90.5 WERG, 92.3 WTTS, 93XRT, 94.1 The Zone, 94.3 WCYY, 94.5 The Buzz, 96X, 99 Rock, ALT 104.5, Channel 92.3, Exit 97.7, FM 102/1, Impact 89FM, KFMA, KJEE 92.9, KSLG, Lightning 100, Studio Brussel, The Current, WBER, WFIV 105.3, WFPK, WLOY, WRNR 103.1, WRSI 93.9 The River, WTMD, WXPN, X96, Triple J and WBRU. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2010 is “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons, which appeared on 40 of the 47 countdowns and was voted number one by eight of them. 28 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Little Lion Man” by Mumford and Sons (8 stations), “Lay Me Down” by The Dirty Heads Featuring Rome (6 stations), “Kandi” by One eskimO (3 stations), “Lisztomania” by Phoenix (2 stations) and “Nightmare” by Avenged Sevenfold (2 stations) and others. Mumford & Sons was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 66 times across the countdowns.

47countdowns

1,235songs charted

28different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2010

All 1,235 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2010 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	3,291	40	#1	8
2	Tighten Up The Black Keys	3,217	39	#1	2
3	Radioactive Kings of Leon	2,560	42	#2	–
4	The High Road Broken Bells	2,389	34	#1	1
5	Animal Neon Trees	2,357	30	#1	2
6	Lay Me Down Dirty Heads	2,142	29	#1	7
7	Ready to Start The Arcade Fire	2,100	33	#3	–
8	Lisztomania Phoenix	2,063	28	#1	2
9	Dog Days Are Over Florence And The Machine	1,753	25	#1	1
10	My Best Theory Jimmy Eat World	1,751	29	#9	–
11	Resistance Muse	1,733	23	#1	1
12	In One Ear Cage The Elephant	1,730	22	#1	1
13	Impossible Anberlin	1,727	24	#8	–
14	Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap	1,692	26	#2	–
15	This is War 30 Seconds to Mars	1,630	21	#2	–
16	Crossfire Brandon Flowers	1,588	31	#6	–
17	You And Your Heart Jack Johnson	1,534	26	#4	–
18	1901 Phoenix	1,475	21	#1	1
19	Cousins Vampire Weekend	1,429	26	#5	–
20	Undisclosed Desires Muse	1,420	26	#2	–
21	The Catalyst Linkin Park	1,403	23	#3	–
22	The Royal We Silversun Pickups	1,356	20	#5	–
23	The Cave Mumford & Sons	1,317	21	#3	–
24	Sick Of You Cake	1,273	28	#14	–
25	Just Breathe Pearl Jam	1,256	21	#2	–
26	Waiting For The End Linkin Park	1,248	23	#5	–
27	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	1,183	19	#1	1
28	Laredo Band of Horses	1,166	19	#7	–
29	Bloodbuzz Ohio The National	1,161	16	#2	–
30	Between The Lines Stone Temple Pilots	1,154	24	#5	–
31	Uprising Muse	1,126	13	#1	1
32	Letters From The Sky Civil Twilight	1,100	20	#3	–
33	Your Decision Alice In Chains	1,094	15	#4	–
34	Beg, Steal Or Borrow Ray LaMontagne	1,089	12	#1	1
35	Mountain Man Crash Kings	1,084	19	#2	–
36	Closer To The Edge 30 Seconds to Mars	1,074	21	#8	–
37	Kings & Queens 30 Seconds to Mars	1,066	17	#9	–
38	Stylo Gorillaz	1,061	22	#11	–
39	The Good Life Three Days Grace	1,044	14	#3	–
40	I Was A Teenage Anarchist Against Me!	1,043	20	#15	–
41	Giving Up The Gun Vampire Weekend	1,017	19	#15	–
42	Say You'll Haunt Me Stone Sour	1,006	13	#8	–
43	Maybe Sick Puppies	958	16	#10	–
44	Nightmare Avenged Sevenfold	931	12	#1	2
45	Diamond Eyes Deftones	931	16	#2	–
46	At Or With Me Jack Johnson	924	15	#2	–
47	The Sound Switchfoot	892	14	#4	–
48	Brick By Boring Brick Paramore	857	15	#4	–
49	Back Against the Wall Cage The Elephant	853	14	#2	–
50	Fuck You Cee-Lo Green	852	12	#2	–
51	Gold, Guns, Girls Metric	845	14	#6	–
52	Another Way to Die Disturbed	793	12	#4	–
53	Memories Weezer	763	18	#16	–
54	The Ghost Inside Broken Bells	761	16	#10	–
55	Fader The Temper Trap	758	14	#15	–
56	Letter From a Thief Chevelle	742	12	#6	–
57	Living in a Dream Finger Eleven	716	11	#11	–
58	Written In Reverse Spoon	714	16	#18	–
59	The Suburbs The Arcade Fire	704	10	#1	2
60	Do You Love Me Guster	702	13	#8	–
61	Angel Dance Robert Plant	700	11	#13	–
62	Kandi One Eskimo	700	10	#1	3
63	You Got Me Crash Kings	694	16	#17	–
64	Odd One Sick Puppies	681	9	#1	1
65	Again Flyleaf	660	9	#3	–
66	Kick in the Teeth Papa Roach	643	12	#8	–
67	Savior Rise Against	621	7	#2	–
68	Rhinestone Eyes Gorillaz	616	10	#2	–
69	Amongst The Waves Pearl Jam	611	14	#23	–
70	Holiday Vampire Weekend	601	10	#12	–
71	Sound of Sunshine Michael Franti & Spearhead	601	9	#7	–
72	End of Me Apocalyptica	587	12	#9	–
73	I'm Your Daddy Weezer	581	16	#22	–
74	World So Cold Three Days Grace	581	10	#21	–
75	The Crow & the Butterfly Shinedown	578	9	#6	–
76	Yeah Yeah Yeah New Politics	568	16	#14	–
77	Sing My Chemical Romance	552	15	#12	–
78	Shake Me Down Cage The Elephant	542	17	#33	–
79	Hey Soul Sister Train	532	6	#1	1
80	Die By The Drop The Dead Weather	527	15	#10	–
81	Cameras Matt And Kim	526	11	#21	–
82	Shameful Metaphors Chevelle	523	11	#7	–
83	Break Three Days Grace	502	7	#3	–
84	(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Weezer	469	7	#7	–
85	New Morning Alpha Rev	468	8	#7	–
86	This Too Shall Pass OK Go	467	11	#11	–
87	New Low Middle Class Rut	464	12	#15	–
88	Stand Tall Dirty Heads	462	11	#17	–
89	I Should Have Known It Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	461	7	#14	–
90	Horchata Vampire Weekend	451	8	#9	–
91	Wheels Foo Fighters	449	7	#12	–
92	Audience Cold War Kids	439	11	#12	–
93	Give Me a Sign Breaking Benjamin	437	8	#2	–
94	Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) My Chemical Romance	429	13	#14	–
95	I Will Not Bow Breaking Benjamin	426	6	#4	–
96	A Moment Changes Everything David Gray	425	8	#15	–
97	New Fang Them Crooked Vultures	425	10	#20	–
98	The Fixer Pearl Jam	422	8	#2	–
99	Rise Up Cypress Hill	422	12	#46	–
100	Freak The Smashing Pumpkins	420	12	#26	–

Every station’s number one of 2010

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Lisztomania Phoenix	KROQ Top 30 Songs of 2010
91X	Lay Me Down The Dirty Heads Featuring Rome	91X Top 91 Songs of 2010
Q101	Odd One Sick Puppies	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2010
WFNX	Little Lion Man Mumford and Sons	WFNX Top 101 Songs of 2010
89X	Nightmare Avenged Sevenfold	89X Top 89 Songs of 2010
CD101	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2010
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Lay Me Down The Dirty Heads	102.1 The Edge Top 102 Songs of 2010
The Buzz	Resistance Muse	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2010
102.7 WEQX	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2010
103.1 The Buzz	Lay Me Down The Dirty Heads	Buzz 103.1 The 103 Most Played Buzz Cuts of 2010
103.1 The River	Hey Soul Sister Train	103.1 The River Top 103 of 2010
105.7 The Point	In One Ear Cage The Elephant	105.7 The Point Top 105 Songs of 2010
106.1 The Corner	Kandi One eskimO	106.1 The Corner Top 106 of 2010
107.1 The Peak	Kandi One Eskimo	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2010
88.3 The Sting	Revolution Terrible Things	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2010
89.7 The River	Nightmare Avenged Sevenfold	89.7 The River Top 89 of 2010
89.9 WLCA	Little Lion Man Mumford and Sons	WLCA Top 89 of 2010
90.5 WERG	Little Lion Man Mumford and Sons	WERG Top 90 of 2010
92.3 WTTS	I & Love & You Avett Brothers	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2010
93XRT	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	WXRT Listener Poll: Top 25 Songs of 2010
94.1 The Zone	Lay Me Down The Dirtyheads	94.1 The Zone Most Played Songs of 2010
94.3 WCYY	Lay Me Down Dirty Heads	WCYY Top 50 of 2010
94.5 The Buzz	You're Going Down Sick Puppies	94.5 The Buzz Top 94 of 2010
96X	Animal Neon Trees	96X Top 20 of 2010
99 Rock	Hesitate Stone Sour	99Rock WFRD Top 99 of 2010
ALT 104.5	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2010
Channel 92.3	Lisztomania Phoenix	Channel 92.3 Top 92 Songs of 2010
Exit 97.7	Tighten Up The Black Keys	WEXT Top 97 of 2010
FM 102/1	Uprising Muse	FM 102/1 Top 50 of 2010
Impact 89FM	Silverfishes Frontier Ruckus	Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2010
KFMA	Your Betrayal Bullet for My Valentine	KFMA Top 50 Songs of 2010
KJEE 92.9	Lay Me Down The Dirty Heads feat. Rome	KJEE Top 92 Songs of 2010
KSLG	1901 Phoenix	KSLG Top 94 Slugtunez of 2010
Lightning 100	Kandi One Eskimo	Lightning 100 Best of 2010
Studio Brussel	The future The Van Jets	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2010
The Current	Terrible Love The National	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2010
WBER	Comin' Thru Chali 2na	WBER Listener Countdown 2010
WFIV 105.3	Beg Steal or Borrow Ray Lamontagne	WFIV Top 105 of 2010
WFPK	Old Fang Black Mountain	WFPK Top 100 Songs of 2010
WLOY	The Suburbs Arcade Fire	WLOY Top 50 of 2010
WRNR 103.1	The High Road Broken Bells	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2010
WRSI 93.9 The River	The Suburbs Arcade Fire	WRSI Top 94 Songs of 2010
WTMD	Tighten Up The Black Keys	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2010
WXPN	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2010
X96	Animal Neon Trees	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2010
Triple J	Big Jet Plane Angus & Julia Stone	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010
WBRU	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	WBRU Top 95 Songs of 2010

All 2010 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2010 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 2010 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 47 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.