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

The best rock songs of 2011

Q: What was the top rock song of 2011?

Combining 8 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2011 is "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster The People, which appeared on 5 of the lists.

Eight radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2011: KROQ, Live 105, WFNX, CD101, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, Studio Brussel, WFUV and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2011 is “Pumped up Kicks” by Foster The People, which appeared on five of the eight countdowns and was voted number one by three of them. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People (3 stations), “Get Some” by Lykke Li, “Howlin' for You” by Black Keys, “Walk” by Foo Fighters and “Rolling In The Deep” by Adele and others. Foster The People was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 14 times across the countdowns.

8countdowns

397songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2011

All 397 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2011 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Pumped up Kicks Foster The People	496	5	#1	3
2	Rolling in the Deep Adele	465	6	#1	1
3	Rope Foo Fighters	457	6	#3	–
4	Walk Foo Fighters	426	5	#1	1
5	Lonely Boy The Black Keys	385	5	#2	–
6	Shake Me Down Cage The Elephant	348	4	#4	–
7	Howlin' for You The Black Keys	342	4	#1	1
8	Helena Beat Foster The People	325	4	#6	–
9	Cough Syrup Young the Giant	314	4	#10	–
10	Midnight City M83	301	5	#5	–
11	Paradise Coldplay	296	5	#8	–
12	You are a Tourist Death Cab for Cutie	293	4	#7	–
13	Sail AWOLNATION	292	4	#2	–
14	Young Blood Naked and Famous	269	3	#2	–
15	The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie Red Hot Chili Peppers	260	4	#3	–
16	We Used to Wait The Arcade Fire	258	3	#7	–
17	Whirring Joy Formidable	254	3	#4	–
18	My Body Young the Giant	252	3	#12	–
19	Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye	241	4	#1	1
20	Under Cover of Darkness The Strokes	235	3	#11	–
21	Holdin' on to Black Metal My Morning Jacket	227	3	#19	–
22	Changing The Airborne Toxic Event	225	3	#7	–
23	Lotus Flower Radiohead	218	5	#44	–
24	Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Coldplay	214	4	#13	–
25	Junk of the Heart (Happy) The Kooks	212	3	#14	–
26	Shake It Out Florence And The Machine	209	3	#13	–
27	Roll Away Your Stone Mumford & Sons	206	4	#16	–
28	What You Know Two Door Cinema Club	191	3	#3	–
29	The Sound Of Winter Bush	184	3	#2	–
30	Not In Love Crystal Castles	184	3	#26	–
31	Help Is On The Way Rise Against	182	2	#4	–
32	Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair Arctic Monkeys	181	4	#11	–
33	Make Some Noise Beastie Boys	172	5	#21	–
34	Punching in a Dream Naked and Famous	170	3	#19	–
35	Moneygrabber Fitz and the Tantrums	167	2	#12	–
36	Machine Gun Blues Social Distortion	165	4	#16	–
37	The Cave Mumford & Sons	162	2	#12	–
38	Irresistable Force Jane's Addiction	160	3	#39	–
39	This Is Why We Fight The Decemberists	160	3	#20	–
40	Long Time Cake	145	4	#9	–
41	Colours Grouplove	142	2	#26	–
42	Panic Sublime with Rome	142	2	#7	–
43	Techno Fan Wombats	135	2	#26	–
44	Video Games Lana Del Rey	135	3	#6	–
45	Holocene Bon Iver	135	2	#13	–
46	Waiting For The End Linkin Park	135	2	#10	–
47	Taken for a Fool The Strokes	134	3	#36	–
48	Don't Stop (Color On The Walls Foster The People	134	3	#20	–
49	Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now) Portugal. The Man	130	2	#25	–
50	Adolescents Incubus	126	2	#11	–
51	Calgary Bon Iver	124	3	#37	–
52	After Midnight blink-182	121	3	#14	–
53	Up All Night blink-182	120	2	#8	–
54	L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. Noah & The Whale	120	2	#32	–
55	Go Outside The Cults	118	2	#39	–
56	Skip the Charades Cold War Kids	118	2	#39	–
57	The Suburbs The Arcade Fire	118	2	#33	–
58	People Say Portugal. The Man	118	2	#18	–
59	Sick Of You Cake	117	2	#27	–
60	Around My Head Cage The Elephant	114	3	#40	–
61	These Days Foo Fighters	113	4	#30	–
62	If I Had a Gun... Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds	109	2	#35	–
63	Tree by the River Iron and Wine	109	2	#41	–
64	Will Do TV on the Radio	107	2	#5	–
65	Money Drums	106	2	#45	–
66	The Roller Beady Eye	103	3	#46	–
67	Future Starts Slow Kills	102	2	#17	–
68	Tongue Tied Grouplove	102	2	#16	–
69	A Little Bit of Everything Dawes	99	1	#2	–
70	Brother Matt Corby	98	1	#3	–
71	Time Spent in Los Angeles Dawes	98	1	#3	–
72	All I Ever Wanted The Airborne Toxic Event	98	2	#38	–
73	All this dancin around Triggerfinger	98	1	#2	–
74	Monarchy of Roses Red Hot Chili Peppers	97	2	#37	–
75	Feeding Line Boy & Bear	97	1	#4	–
76	Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes	96	1	#5	–
77	Lucky Now Ryan Adams	94	1	#6	–
78	Awkward San Cisco	94	1	#7	–
79	Mayhem Imelda May	93	1	#7	–
80	Boys like You 360	93	1	#8	–
81	Constant now dEUS	93	1	#4	–
82	Down By The Water The Decemberists	92	1	#8	–
83	Endless Summer The Jezabels	92	1	#9	–
84	Beautiful Now James Maddock	91	1	#9	–
85	I Love It Hilltop Hoods	91	1	#10	–
86	Listen to Your Love Mona	91	2	#49	–
87	Love lost in love Triggerfinger	90	1	#5	–
88	Feel So Close Calvin Harris	90	1	#11	–
89	Post Break-up Sex Vaccines	90	2	#43	–
90	Fragile Bird City And Colour	89	2	#22	–
91	Contact High Architecture in Helsinki	89	1	#12	–
92	Someone like You Adele	89	1	#11	–
93	Aberdeen Cage The Elephant	89	3	#61	–
94	Second Chance Bjorn Peter and John	88	1	#13	–
95	Sydney Brett Dennen	88	1	#12	–
96	In want of something School is Cool	88	1	#6	–
97	Calamity Song The Decemberists	87	2	#45	–
98	Get it Daddy Sleeper Agent	87	1	#14	–
99	Call It What You Want Foster The People	87	1	#14	–
100	Take the World She Wants Revenge	86	2	#32	–

Every station’s number one of 2011

Station	Number one song	Countdown
KROQ	Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People	KROQ Top 30 Songs of 2011
Live 105	Get Some Lykke Li	Live 105 Top 50 Songs That Didn't Suck in 2011
WFNX	Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People	WFNX Top 101 Songs of 2011
CD101	Howlin' for You Black Keys	CD101 Top 102 Songs of 2011
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People	102.1 The Edge Top 102 Songs of 2011
Studio Brussel	Walk Foo Fighters	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2011
WFUV	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011
Triple J	Somebody That I Used to Know Gotye featuring Kimbra	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2011

All 2011 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2011 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 2011 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 eight qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.