Year-end consensus · Indie & Adult Alternative · 13 countdowns combined

The best indie rock songs of 2011

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2011?

Combining 13 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2011 is "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster The People, which appeared on 13 of the lists.

13 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2011: 103.1 The River, 106.1 The Corner, 107.1 The Peak, 92.3 WTTS, 93XRT, Exit 97.7, KFOG, Lightning 100, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WRSI 93.9 The River, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2011 is “Pumped up Kicks” by Foster The People, which appeared on 13 of the 13 countdowns and was voted number one by two of them. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele (7 stations), “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People (2 stations), “Pyro” by Kings of Leon, “Windows are Rolled Down” by Amos Lee and “Lonely Boy” by The Black Keys and others. Adele was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 43 times across the countdowns.

13countdowns

441songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2011

All 441 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	1,214	13	#1	2
2	Rolling in the Deep Adele	1,184	12	#1	7
3	Rumor Has It Adele	976	12	#3	–
4	Someone like You Adele	950	12	#2	–
5	Lost In My Mind The Head and the Heart	887	12	#4	–
6	Lonely Boy The Black Keys	833	13	#1	1
7	Windows Are Rolled Down Amos Lee	825	13	#1	2
8	Down By The Water The Decemberists	821	11	#8	–
9	Lucky Now Ryan Adams	775	12	#6	–
10	Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Coldplay	764	11	#5	–
11	You are a Tourist Death Cab for Cutie	715	9	#5	–
12	Moneygrabber Fitz and the Tantrums	712	9	#3	–
13	I Might Wilco	686	12	#8	–
14	Paradise Coldplay	652	11	#9	–
15	Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes	637	10	#5	–
16	Holdin' on to Black Metal My Morning Jacket	629	10	#5	–
17	The Walk Mayer Hawthorne	608	10	#12	–
18	Calamity Song The Decemberists	606	11	#6	–
19	This Is Why We Fight The Decemberists	596	10	#14	–
20	Barton Hollow The Civil Wars	575	10	#11	–
21	Tree by the River Iron and Wine	574	10	#9	–
22	The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie Red Hot Chili Peppers	568	8	#6	–
23	Shake It Out Florence And The Machine	536	7	#3	–
24	Dog Days Are Over Florence And The Machine	510	6	#3	–
25	Howlin' for You The Black Keys	505	7	#3	–
26	Faster Matt Nathanson	504	7	#6	–
27	Roll Away Your Stone Mumford & Sons	494	7	#4	–
28	She Walks in So Many Ways The Jayhawks	492	10	#16	–
29	The Cave Mumford & Sons	485	6	#2	–
30	The Afterlife Paul Simon	467	8	#8	–
31	Give Me Something Scars on 45	451	8	#4	–
32	How Come You Never Go There Feist	417	9	#12	–
33	Time Spent in Los Angeles Dawes	413	7	#3	–
34	From The Clouds Jack Johnson	412	6	#8	–
35	Stone Rollin' Raphael Saadiq	398	6	#7	–
36	You Were Never There Diego Garcia	393	7	#2	–
37	Hey Mama Mat Kearney	380	6	#14	–
38	Called Out In The Dark Snow Patrol	375	9	#24	–
39	Will Do TV on the Radio	364	7	#20	–
40	Sydney Brett Dennen	343	6	#12	–
41	Options Gomez	334	6	#17	–
42	So Beautiful or So What Paul Simon	321	6	#20	–
43	Mayhem Imelda May	304	6	#7	–
44	Sad Song The Cars	294	6	#16	–
45	Calgary Bon Iver	294	7	#26	–
46	Lotus Flower Radiohead	290	6	#13	–
47	Santa Fe Beirut	289	5	#24	–
48	Longing to Belong Eddie Vedder	285	8	#30	–
49	Little Lion Man Mumford & Sons	268	3	#2	–
50	Dawned on Me Wilco	264	6	#10	–
51	The Way it Goes Gillian Welch	245	4	#19	–
52	Mine Smell Like Honey R.E.M.	245	5	#22	–
53	Go Outside The Cults	239	4	#13	–
54	Video Games Lana Del Rey	233	4	#18	–
55	Flower Amos Lee	230	5	#19	–
56	A Little Bit of Everything Dawes	229	3	#2	–
57	Change The Sheets Kathleen Edwards	221	6	#19	–
58	Sophia Laura Marling	215	4	#6	–
59	Stay Young, Go Dancing Death Cab for Cutie	214	8	#34	–
60	Our Hearts Are Wrong Jessica Lea Mayfield	211	4	#33	–
61	He Don't Live Here No More Robbie Robertson	203	4	#19	–
62	For the Summer Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs	203	3	#13	–
63	Don't Stop (Color On The Walls Foster The People	202	6	#20	–
64	Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now) Portugal. The Man	202	5	#27	–
65	Poison & Wine The Civil Wars	198	3	#15	–
66	Junk of the Heart (Happy) The Kooks	195	5	#21	–
67	Cruel St. Vincent	192	5	#17	–
68	Under Cover of Darkness The Strokes	190	4	#35	–
69	Walk Foo Fighters	189	4	#4	–
70	Set Fire To The Rain Adele	187	4	#37	–
71	Discoverer R.E.M.	185	4	#27	–
72	Repo Man Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs	182	4	#31	–
73	Grown Ocean Fleet Foxes	179	5	#49	–
74	Modern Man The Arcade Fire	177	4	#28	–
75	If I Wanted Someone Dawes	177	3	#10	–
76	June Hymn The Decemberists	175	3	#12	–
77	Holocene Bon Iver	175	2	#13	–
78	Miracle Worker Superheavy	174	5	#39	–
79	Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye	172	2	#5	–
80	Changing The Airborne Toxic Event	171	4	#29	–
81	For The First Time The Script	170	2	#15	–
82	Rope Foo Fighters	169	3	#19	–
83	Fragile Bird City And Colour	168	5	#34	–
84	Comeback Kid (That's My Dog) Brett Dennen	167	4	#19	–
85	Second Chance Peter Bjorn & John	167	3	#5	–
86	Back In the Crowd Tom Waits	165	3	#21	–
87	You've Got the Love Florence And The Machine	161	4	#23	–
88	Fuck You Cee-Lo Green	160	2	#12	–
89	Wonderful (The Way I Feel) My Morning Jacket	158	3	#41	–
90	Bright Lights Gary Clark Jr.	157	2	#9	–
91	Nothing The Script	153	2	#11	–
92	Rewrite Paul Simon	151	3	#17	–
93	Paris (Oh La La) Grace Potter & The Nocturnals	148	2	#21	–
94	Cough Syrup Young the Giant	148	2	#22	–
95	Second Song TV on the Radio	146	2	#15	–
96	Shell Games Bright Eyes	145	4	#11	–
97	Heart on Fire Scars on 45	143	3	#45	–
98	Ready to Start The Arcade Fire	143	2	#10	–
99	Don't Owe You A Thang Gary Clark Jr.	143	3	#27	–
100	Long Time Cake	139	3	#19	–

Every station’s number one of 2011

Station	Number one song	Countdown
103.1 The River	Pumped Up Kicks Foster The People	103.1 The River Top 103 of 2011
106.1 The Corner	Rolling in the Deep Adele	106.1 The Corner Top 107 of 2011
107.1 The Peak	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2011
92.3 WTTS	Pyro Kings of Leon	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2011
93XRT	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WXRT Listener Poll: Top 25 Songs of 2011
Exit 97.7	Rolling in the Deep Adele	WEXT Top 97 of 2011
KFOG	Rolling in the Deep Adele	KFOG Foghead Favorites of 2011
Lightning 100	Windows are Rolled Down Amos Lee	Lightning 100 Best of 2011
WFUV	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011
WRNR 103.1	Lonely Boy The Black Keys	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2011
WRSI 93.9 The River	Need You By My Side Sun Parade	WRSI Top 93 Songs of 2011
WTMD	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2011
WXPN	Pumped Up Kicks Foster The People	WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs 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 13 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.