Decade consensus · Indie & Adult Alternative · 96 year-end countdowns

The best indie rock songs of the 2010s

This ranking of the 2010s combines 96 year-end countdowns from 2010 through 2019. The top song of the '10s is “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons, which charted on 17 countdowns and reached number one two times. The decade’s most-charted artists are The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Adele, Dawes and Beck.

4,156songs charted

96year-end countdowns

0decade countdowns

Top 100 songs of the '10s

Top 1000 →

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Year
1	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	1,584	17	#1	2	2010
2	Rolling in the Deep Adele	1,419	16	#1	7	2011
3	Pumped up Kicks Foster The People	1,214	13	#1	2	2011
4	Dog Days Are Over Florence And The Machine	1,195	15	#1	1	2010
5	Beg, Steal Or Borrow Ray LaMontagne	1,179	13	#1	1	2010
6	Down By The Water The Decemberists	1,178	19	#8	–	2011
7	Tighten Up The Black Keys	1,168	16	#1	2	2010
8	The High Road Broken Bells	1,120	15	#1	1	2010
9	The Cave Mumford & Sons	981	13	#2	–	2011
10	Rumor Has It Adele	976	12	#3	–	2011
11	Windows Are Rolled Down Amos Lee	952	15	#1	2	2011
12	Someone like You Adele	950	12	#2	–	2011
13	Take Me To Church Hozier	948	10	#1	7	2014
14	Moneygrabber Fitz and the Tantrums	944	13	#3	–	2011
15	Lonely Boy The Black Keys	915	14	#1	1	2011
16	Ready to Start The Arcade Fire	893	11	#3	–	2010
17	Feel It Still Portugal. The Man	891	9	#1	5	2017
18	Lost In My Mind The Head and the Heart	887	12	#4	–	2011
19	Harmony Hall Vampire Weekend	848	9	#1	2	2019
20	Stay High Brittany Howard	806	10	#4	–	2019
21	Ex's & Oh's Elle King	806	10	#1	1	2015
22	The Walk Mayer Hawthorne	788	12	#4	–	2011
23	Angel Dance Robert Plant	780	12	#11	–	2010
24	Lucky Now Ryan Adams	775	12	#6	–	2011
25	Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye	767	9	#1	1	2012
26	Laredo Band of Horses	765	12	#7	–	2010
27	Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Coldplay	764	11	#5	–	2011
28	Gimme Something Good Ryan Adams	724	9	#7	–	2014
29	Bad Bad News Leon Bridges	720	8	#1	1	2018
30	Fuck You Cee-Lo Green	717	10	#2	–	2010
31	You are a Tourist Death Cab for Cutie	715	9	#5	–	2011
32	Ophelia Lumineers	709	8	#1	3	2016
33	Kandi One Eskimo	706	10	#1	3	2010
34	Little Talks Of Monsters And Men	702	8	#3	–	2012
35	Beyond Leon Bridges	701	8	#2	–	2018
36	Lo/Hi The Black Keys	697	10	#2	–	2019
37	Howlin' for You The Black Keys	696	11	#3	–	2011
38	Sedona Houndmouth	693	8	#1	1	2015
39	Lazarus David Bowie	691	8	#1	1	2016
40	Paradise Coldplay	687	12	#9	–	2011
41	I Might Wilco	686	12	#8	–	2011
42	Blue Moon Beck	684	9	#6	–	2014
43	Up All Night Beck	680	9	#2	–	2017
44	Hold On Alabama Shakes	674	8	#1	1	2012
45	Dreams Beck	668	8	#1	1	2015
46	Barton Hollow The Civil Wars	665	11	#6	–	2011
47	Royals Lorde	663	7	#2	–	2013
48	Ho Hey Lumineers	662	7	#1	3	2012
49	Do I Wanna Know Arctic Monkeys	659	8	#7	–	2013
50	Good Kisser Lake Street Dive	659	8	#7	–	2018
51	Hot Thoughts Spoon	659	9	#3	–	2017
52	Do You Spoon	655	8	#4	–	2014
53	Peach Fuzz CAAMP	649	10	#5	–	2019
54	Stay with Me Sam Smith	648	8	#3	–	2014
55	Radioactive Kings of Leon	647	12	#5	–	2010
56	Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes	637	10	#5	–	2011
57	You Worry Me Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	633	8	#1	1	2018
58	Holdin' on to Black Metal My Morning Jacket	629	10	#5	–	2011
59	I Will Wait Mumford & Sons	628	7	#2	–	2012
60	Make You Better The Decemberists	626	9	#4	–	2014
61	Bloodbuzz Ohio The National	626	8	#6	–	2010
62	You And Your Heart Jack Johnson	623	8	#4	–	2010
63	Light On Maggie Rogers	621	11	#9	–	2018
64	Saying Goodbye J.S. Ondara	620	8	#3	–	2019
65	Shake It Out Florence And The Machine	618	8	#3	–	2011
66	Seventeen Sharon Van Etten	617	9	#5	–	2019
67	White Flag Joseph	616	9	#7	–	2016
68	Nina Cried Power Hozier	615	9	#1	1	2018
69	The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness The National	613	8	#4	–	2017
70	Ship To Wreck Florence And The Machine	613	8	#4	–	2015
71	Dont Wanna Fight Alabama Shakes	612	8	#1	2	2015
72	Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	611	8	#2	–	2010
73	Casual Party Band of Horses	609	9	#5	–	2016
74	Calamity Song The Decemberists	606	11	#6	–	2011
75	Saw Lightning Beck	605	9	#6	–	2019
76	Ain't No Man Avett Brothers	603	8	#4	–	2016
77	Sisyphus Andrew Bird	602	10	#5	–	2019
78	Everything Now The Arcade Fire	602	8	#4	–	2017
79	This Is Why We Fight The Decemberists	596	10	#14	–	2011
80	Left Hand Free Alt J	595	7	#3	–	2014
81	From Eden Hozier	594	9	#9	–	2014
82	All We Ever Knew The Head and the Heart	589	9	#4	–	2016
83	Redbull and Hennessy Jenny Lewis	588	9	#11	–	2019
84	This Life Vampire Weekend	579	7	#3	–	2019
85	Real Love Baby Father John Misty	578	9	#7	–	2016
86	Sing Along Sturgill Simpson	577	10	#4	–	2019
87	The Suburbs The Arcade Fire	575	8	#1	1	2010
88	Tree by the River Iron and Wine	574	10	#9	–	2011
89	Madness Muse	570	8	#2	–	2012
90	The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie Red Hot Chili Peppers	568	8	#6	–	2011
91	Los Ageless St. Vincent	567	8	#2	–	2017
92	Unbelievers Vampire Weekend	565	7	#3	–	2013
93	Pain The War On Drugs	564	7	#4	–	2017
94	Reflektor The Arcade Fire	562	7	#3	–	2013
95	Gold On The Ceiling The Black Keys	560	6	#1	1	2012
96	I Get No Joy Jade Bird	559	8	#9	–	2019
97	Missed Connection The Head and the Heart	558	9	#2	–	2019
98	Wish I knew You The Revivalists	558	7	#1	1	2016
99	Roll Away Your Stone Mumford & Sons	555	8	#4	–	2011
100	Loading Zones Kurt Vile	552	9	#2	–	2018

About this ranking

The 2010s ranking adds together two kinds of evidence: the year-end countdowns from each year of the decade, and the retrospective “songs of the decade” countdowns that stations aired afterwards. Year-end lists capture what listeners loved at the time; decade countdowns capture what lasted. Every appearance earns percentile-based points, and the totals are ranked. See the methodology for details.