Year-end consensus · Indie & Adult Alternative · 14 countdowns combined

The best indie rock songs of 2010

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2010?

Combining 14 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2010 is "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons, which appeared on 14 of the lists.

14 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2010: 103.1 The River, 106.1 The Corner, 107.1 The Peak, 92.3 WTTS, 93XRT, Exit 97.7, Lightning 100, The Current, WFIV 105.3, WFPK, WRNR 103.1, WRSI 93.9 The River, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2010 is “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons, which appeared on 14 of the 14 countdowns and was voted number one by two of them. Ten different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Kandi” by One eskimO (3 stations), “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons (2 stations), “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys (2 stations), “Hey Soul Sister” by Train and “I & Love & You” by Avett Brothers and others. Mumford & Sons was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 25 times across the countdowns.

14countdowns

566songs charted

10different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2010

All 566 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	1,316	14	#1	2
2	The High Road Broken Bells	1,108	14	#1	1
3	Tighten Up The Black Keys	1,094	13	#1	2
4	Beg, Steal Or Borrow Ray LaMontagne	1,089	12	#1	1
5	Laredo Band of Horses	751	11	#7	–
6	Ready to Start The Arcade Fire	749	9	#3	–
7	Angel Dance Robert Plant	700	11	#13	–
8	Kandi One Eskimo	692	9	#1	3
9	Dog Days Are Over Florence And The Machine	686	9	#1	1
10	Radioactive Kings of Leon	647	12	#5	–
11	You And Your Heart Jack Johnson	623	8	#4	–
12	Bloodbuzz Ohio The National	574	7	#6	–
13	Fuck You Cee-Lo Green	556	8	#2	–
14	Sound of Sunshine Michael Franti & Spearhead	541	8	#7	–
15	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	537	7	#2	–
16	The Suburbs The Arcade Fire	499	7	#1	1
17	The Cave Mumford & Sons	496	7	#5	–
18	At Or With Me Jack Johnson	482	7	#2	–
19	Do You Love Me Guster	461	9	#16	–
20	New Morning Alpha Rev	440	7	#7	–
21	Hey Soul Sister Train	435	5	#1	1
22	A Moment Changes Everything David Gray	425	8	#15	–
23	I Should Have Known It Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	416	6	#14	–
24	Heartbreak Warfare John Mayer	412	6	#6	–
25	Written In Reverse Spoon	398	9	#23	–
26	When My Time Comes Dawes	391	7	#9	–
27	Bushwick Blues Delta Spirit	383	6	#10	–
28	Cousins Vampire Weekend	382	8	#20	–
29	Fade Like A Shadow KT Tunstall	379	7	#22	–
30	Just Breathe Pearl Jam	373	5	#2	–
31	I and Love and You Avett Brothers	365	4	#1	1
32	1901 Phoenix	360	6	#6	–
33	Down By The Water The Decemberists	357	8	#11	–
34	Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise Avett Brothers	352	5	#2	–
35	Giving Up The Gun Vampire Weekend	347	7	#15	–
36	Light You Up Shawn Mullins	346	6	#12	–
37	Paris (Oh La La) Grace Potter & The Nocturnals	345	5	#4	–
38	Norway Beach House	334	6	#8	–
39	Lisztomania Phoenix	332	5	#9	–
40	Anchor Alejandro Escovedo	323	7	#11	–
41	Half of My Heart John Mayer	323	5	#12	–
42	Shadow People Dr. Dog	321	6	#3	–
43	You and Me Dave Matthews Band	319	4	#3	–
44	Tightrope Janelle Monae	309	4	#10	–
45	Crossfire Brandon Flowers	309	8	#30	–
46	Take Everything Greg Laswell	304	6	#19	–
47	Stylo Gorillaz	301	5	#17	–
48	Crash Years The New Pornographers	296	6	#23	–
49	Next Girl The Black Keys	289	5	#7	–
50	King of Anything Sara Bareilles	287	5	#23	–
51	Chasing Pirates Norah Jones	284	6	#20	–
52	It's Gonna Be Norah Jones	279	6	#13	–
53	If It's Love Train	276	4	#9	–
54	The Ghost Inside Broken Bells	275	5	#27	–
55	Sick Of You Cake	269	6	#14	–
56	The Sound Of Sunshine Michael Franti & Spearhead	261	3	#7	–
57	Change Of Time Josh Ritter	260	6	#6	–
58	Hey Hey Hey Michael Franti & Spearhead	258	5	#19	–
59	Father's Son Fistful of Mercy	257	4	#16	–
60	Lay Me Down Dirty Heads	252	5	#10	–
61	Zebra Beach House	250	4	#19	–
62	Loving You Is Easy Sarah McLachlan	249	5	#25	–
63	We Used to Wait The Arcade Fire	243	4	#11	–
64	In the Sun She & Him	237	5	#5	–
65	Rolling in the Deep Adele	235	4	#12	–
66	Wheels Jamie Cullum	235	5	#16	–
67	Moneygrabber Fitz and the Tantrums	233	4	#5	–
68	Healing Hands Citizen Cope	229	3	#19	–
69	Airplanes Local Natives	227	5	#14	–
70	The Outsiders Needtobreathe	226	5	#25	–
71	Horchata Vampire Weekend	224	4	#9	–
72	Dead American Writers Tired Pony	224	4	#23	–
73	Wait So Long Trampled by Turtles	223	3	#4	–
74	In Sleep Lissie	223	7	#13	–
75	Ambling Alp Yeasayer	215	5	#28	–
76	Halfway Gone Lifehouse	212	3	#18	–
77	Every Night (Is Friday Night Without You) Old 97's	211	4	#31	–
78	Just Say Yes Snow Patrol	198	3	#4	–
79	The Curse Josh Ritter	197	3	#2	–
80	Breakeven The Script	195	2	#3	–
81	American Slang The Gaslight Anthem	192	6	#39	–
82	Wheels Foo Fighters	191	3	#15	–
83	Howlin' for You The Black Keys	191	4	#26	–
84	Dance Yrself Clean LCD Soundsystem	190	3	#3	–
85	Sun Hands Local Natives	190	3	#23	–
86	Nothing But the Whole Wide World Jakob Dylan	187	3	#9	–
87	Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap	185	5	#33	–
88	For the Summer Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs	181	4	#26	–
89	Tiny Light Grace Potter & The Nocturnals	181	4	#30	–
90	Save My Love Bruce Springsteen	181	3	#10	–
91	Summer Day Sheryl Crow	178	5	#32	–
92	Modern Man The Arcade Fire	176	3	#36	–
93	Animal Neon Trees	176	3	#14	–
94	Stella the Artist David Gray	176	4	#39	–
95	Holiday Vampire Weekend	176	3	#12	–
96	Hannah Freelance Whales	175	4	#15	–
97	Hurricane J Hold Steady	173	3	#15	–
98	From Above Ben Folds and Nick Hornby	173	4	#43	–
99	Hit 'Em Up Style Carolina Chocolate Drops	173	5	#51	–
100	Always Junip	172	5	#39	–

Every station’s number one of 2010

Station	Number one song	Countdown
103.1 The River	Hey Soul Sister Train	103.1 The River Top 103 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
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
Exit 97.7	Tighten Up The Black Keys	WEXT Top 97 of 2010
Lightning 100	Kandi One Eskimo	Lightning 100 Best of 2010
The Current	Terrible Love The National	The Current Top 89 Songs of 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
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

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 14 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.