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

The best indie rock songs of 2011

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

Combining 1 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2011 is "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, which appeared on 1 of the lists.

One radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2011: WFUV. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2011 is “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, which appeared on one of the one countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Dawes was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 3 times across the countdowns.

1countdowns

90songs charted

1different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2011

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Rolling in the Deep Adele	100	1	#1	1
2	A Little Bit of Everything Dawes	99	1	#2	–
3	Time Spent in Los Angeles Dawes	98	1	#3	–
4	Pumped up Kicks Foster The People	97	1	#4	–
5	Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes	96	1	#5	–
6	Lucky Now Ryan Adams	94	1	#6	–
7	Mayhem Imelda May	93	1	#7	–
8	Down By The Water The Decemberists	92	1	#8	–
9	Beautiful Now James Maddock	91	1	#9	–
10	Lonely Boy The Black Keys	90	1	#10	–
11	Someone like You Adele	89	1	#11	–
12	Sydney Brett Dennen	88	1	#12	–
13	Holocene Bon Iver	87	1	#13	–
14	Midnight City M83	86	1	#14	–
15	Poison & Wine The Civil Wars	84	1	#15	–
16	She Walks in So Many Ways The Jayhawks	83	1	#16	–
17	Lost In My Mind The Head and the Heart	82	1	#17	–
18	Windows Are Rolled Down Amos Lee	81	1	#18	–
19	Lippy Kids Elbow	80	1	#19	–
20	Love the Way You Walk Away Blitzen Trapper	79	1	#20	–
21	I Might Wilco	78	1	#21	–
22	Born With A Broken Heart David Wax Museum	77	1	#22	–
23	Blessed Lucinda Williams	76	1	#23	–
24	Holdin' on to Black Metal My Morning Jacket	74	1	#24	–
25	Roller Coaster Town Garland Jeffreys	73	1	#25	–
26	Down In The Valley The Head and the Heart	72	1	#26	–
27	Fire Away Dawes	71	1	#27	–
28	The Way it Goes Gillian Welch	70	1	#28	–
29	June Hymn The Decemberists	69	1	#29	–
30	Dawned on Me Wilco	68	1	#30	–
31	The Walk Mayer Hawthorne	67	1	#31	–
32	Stella's Driving James Maddock	66	1	#32	–
33	Bad As Me Tom Waits	64	1	#33	–
34	Someone's Gonna Break… Fountains of Wayne	63	1	#34	–
35	Buttercup Lucinda Williams	62	1	#35	–
36	So Beautiful or So What Paul Simon	61	1	#36	–
37	Dirty Rain Ryan Adams	60	1	#37	–
38	Danger Sallie Ford/Sound Outside	59	1	#38	–
39	Paper Airplane Alison Krauss/U.S.	58	1	#39	–
40	Santa Fe Beirut	57	1	#40	–
41	Tree by the River Iron and Wine	56	1	#41	–
42	Wonderful (The Way I Feel) My Morning Jacket	54	1	#42	–
43	Dazzling Blue Paul Simon	53	1	#43	–
44	Waitin' on the Sky Steve Earle	52	1	#44	–
45	Calamity Song The Decemberists	51	1	#45	–
46	One Guitar Willie Nile	50	1	#46	–
47	Over The Sun Joseph Arthur	49	1	#47	–
48	Back In the Crowd Tom Waits	48	1	#48	–
49	Standing O Wilco	47	1	#49	–
50	Gangsta TuneYards	46	1	#50	–
51	Rumor Has It Adele	44	1	#51	–
52	Miss K Deer Tick	43	1	#52	–
53	Shake It Out Florence And The Machine	42	1	#53	–
54	Damn This Town John Hiatt	41	1	#54	–
55	Grown Ocean Fleet Foxes	40	1	#55	–
56	Cry, Cry, Cry Nicole Atkins	39	1	#56	–
57	Stone Rollin' Raphael Saadiq	38	1	#57	–
58	Bound for Glory Tedeschi Trucks Band	37	1	#58	–
59	He Don't Live Here No More Robbie Robertson	36	1	#59	–
60	What a Little Bit of Love Can Do Jeff Bridges	34	1	#60	–
61	Lotus Flower Radiohead	33	1	#61	–
62	Barton Hollow The Civil Wars	32	1	#62	–
63	This Is Why We Fight The Decemberists	31	1	#63	–
64	Sorry The Smithereens	30	1	#64	–
65	Do to Me Trombone Shorty	29	1	#65	–
66	Calgary Bon Iver	28	1	#66	–
67	How Come You Never Go There Feist	27	1	#67	–
68	You Were Never There Diego Garcia	26	1	#68	–
69	Flower Amos Lee	24	1	#69	–
70	Beauty Queen Sister The Indigo Girls	23	1	#70	–
71	Limit To Your Love James Blake	22	1	#71	–
72	Sugar Buzz KD Lang	21	1	#72	–
73	Towers Bon Iver	20	1	#73	–
74	Let the Light In Bob Schneider	19	1	#74	–
75	Shell Games Bright Eyes	18	1	#75	–
76	The Afterlife Paul Simon	17	1	#76	–
77	Long Time Cake	16	1	#77	–
78	The Circle Married The Line Feist	14	1	#78	–
79	The Water's Edge KD Lang	13	1	#79	–
80	Sophia Laura Marling	12	1	#80	–
81	Will Do TV on the Radio	11	1	#81	–
82	Got it All Portugal. The Man	10	1	#82	–
83	Oh My Heart R.E.M.	9	1	#83	–
84	Love Shines Ron Sexsmith	8	1	#84	–
85	Cruel St. Vincent	7	1	#85	–
86	Werewolves The Damnwells	6	1	#86	–
87	King of Diamonds Motopony	4	1	#87	–
88	Junk Of The Heart The Kooks	3	1	#88	–
89	Me Me Me Middle Brother	2	1	#89	–
90	Everybody Needs Love Drive-By Truckers	1	1	#90	–

Every station’s number one of 2011

Station	Number one song	Countdown
WFUV	Rolling In The Deep Adele	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011

All 2011 countdowns in this ranking

WFUV WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011 90 songs

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 one 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.