RockLists.com

Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · 15 countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 2012

15 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2012: KROQ, 91X, CD101, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 88.3 The Sting, 96.5 The Buzz, 97X, 99 Rock, ALT 104.5, Studio Brussel, WBER, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 2012 is “I Will Wait” by Mumford & Sons, which appeared on 15 of the 15 countdowns and was voted number one by two of them. Twelve different songs were voted number one somewhere: “We Are Young” by Fun. (2 stations), “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye (2 stations), “I Will Wait” by Mumford & Sons (2 stations), “Little Talks” by Of Monsters And Men and “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore with Ryan Lewis and others. The Black Keys was the year’s most-charted artist, with seven different songs placing 36 times across the countdowns.

15countdowns
544songs charted
12different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2012

All 544 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2012 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

# Song Strength Lists Best #1s
1 I Will Wait Mumford & Sons
1,276		 15 #1 2
2 Madness Muse
1,193		 15 #3 –
3 Little Talks Of Monsters And Men
1,102		 12 #1 1
4 Gold On The Ceiling The Black Keys
1,064		 13 #1 1
5 Take A Walk Passion Pit
1,046		 14 #3 –
6 Ho Hey Lumineers
981		 12 #2 –
7 Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye
978		 10 #1 3
8 Some Nights fun.
961		 12 #2 –
9 It's Time Imagine Dragons
903		 12 #1 2
10 We Are Young fun.
846		 9 #1 2
11 Little Black Submarines The Black Keys
812		 11 #5 –
12 Too Close Alex Clare
801		 10 #3 –
13 Runaways The Killers
793		 13 #5 –
14 45 The Gaslight Anthem
779		 12 #9 –
15 Tongue Tied Grouplove
773		 9 #4 –
16 Simple Song The Shins
757		 13 #3 –
17 Midnight City M83
737		 10 #4 –
18 Burn It Down Linkin Park
688		 9 #3 –
19 Oh Love Green Day
671		 12 #8 –
20 Kill Your Heroes AWOLNATION
659		 10 #9 –
21 Trojans Atlas Genius
647		 10 #5 –
22 Days Go By The Offspring
601		 9 #11 –
23 Youth Without Youth Metric
592		 9 #7 –
24 Lonely Boy The Black Keys
583		 8 #6 –
25 Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings) Silversun Pickups
579		 9 #7 –
26 Anna Sun Walk the Moon
564		 9 #2 –
27 Everybody Talks Neon Trees
541		 9 #3 –
28 Mountain Sound Of Monsters And Men
540		 12 #7 –
29 Spread Too Thin Dirty Heads
526		 10 #6 –
30 Shake It Out Florence And The Machine
515		 8 #9 –
31 We Come Running Youngblood Hawke
479		 10 #18 –
32 Sixteen Saltines Jack White
476		 9 #13 –
33 Sleep Alone Two Door Cinema Club
471		 12 #22 –
34 Radioactive Imagine Dragons
463		 9 #11 –
35 Itchin' On A Photograph Grouplove
463		 9 #21 –
36 Hold On Alabama Shakes
436		 7 #9 –
37 Jump Into The Fog Wombats
421		 8 #10 –
38 Freedom At 21 Jack White
414		 9 #12 –
39 Paradise Coldplay
406		 6 #16 –
40 The Pit Silversun Pickups
405		 9 #32 –
41 Let's Go Matt And Kim
403		 8 #11 –
42 Headlights Morning Parade
396		 8 #17 –
43 Love Interruption Jack White
369		 8 #2 –
44 Carry On fun.
360		 9 #14 –
45 These Days Foo Fighters
350		 5 #3 –
46 Not Your Fault AWOLNATION
347		 7 #18 –
47 Blood For Poppies Garbage
326		 8 #30 –
48 This Head I Hold Electric Guest
320		 5 #1 1
49 Look Around Red Hot Chili Peppers
316		 6 #15 –
50 Satellite Rise Against
306		 4 #8 –
51 Wait For Me Rise Against
304		 5 #23 –
52 Don't Stop (Color On The Walls Foster The People
303		 5 #15 –
53 Fire Escape Civil Twilight
301		 6 #21 –
54 Live To Rise Soundgarden
295		 4 #14 –
55 Breathing Underwater Metric
279		 7 #29 –
56 The House That Heaven Built Japandroids
273		 5 #4 –
57 Strange Attractor Animal Kingdom
266		 5 #12 –
58 Afterlife Switchfoot
265		 5 #27 –
59 Let Yourself Go Green Day
264		 7 #26 –
60 Disparate Youth Santigold
263		 6 #12 –
61 No Light, No Light Florence And The Machine
261		 5 #16 –
62 Charlie Brown Coldplay
251		 6 #32 –
63 Been Away Too Long Soundgarden
242		 7 #24 –
64 R U Mine? Arctic Monkeys
235		 4 #1 1
65 Go Right Ahead The Hives
235		 5 #22 –
66 Chained The xx
230		 5 #23 –
67 Chalk Outline Three Days Grace
226		 5 #24 –
68 I Come Alive The Used
224		 4 #6 –
69 Lost In The Echo Linkin Park
223		 5 #37 –
70 Hats Off To The Bull Chevelle
216		 3 #18 –
71 Sail AWOLNATION
210		 3 #12 –
72 Houdini Foster The People
209		 4 #31 –
73 Reunion M83
209		 4 #33 –
74 Top Of The World Slightly Stoopid
201		 4 #10 –
75 The Celestials The Smashing Pumpkins
198		 6 #39 –
76 Victoria Eve 6
196		 4 #10 –
77 Bridge Burning Foo Fighters
195		 5 #50 –
78 Get Free Major Lazer
193		 2 #2 –
79 Closer Tegan and Sara
189		 5 #39 –
80 Default Django Django
187		 5 #19 –
81 Breezeblocks Alt J
186		 3 #3 –
82 We Are Young f/Janelle Monae fun.
183		 2 #5 –
83 Bully Shinedown
183		 2 #9 –
84 Always Something Cage The Elephant
179		 4 #41 –
85 Stubborn Love Lumineers
177		 3 #17 –
86 Settle Down No Doubt
176		 4 #42 –
87 After Midnight blink-182
171		 3 #31 –
88 Eyes Wide Open Gotye
168		 6 #25 –
89 Apartment Young the Giant
168		 5 #45 –
90 Baby Come Home Bush
165		 3 #24 –
91 Miss Atomic Bomb The Killers
164		 4 #25 –
92 Tightrope Walk the Moon
163		 4 #36 –
93 Stay Useless Cloud Nothings
162		 3 #32 –
94 Thrift Shop Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
160		 4 #1 1
95 Bloody Mary Silversun Pickups
155		 3 #20 –
96 Dark Horses Switchfoot
155		 3 #19 –
97 Sunshine Matisyahu
154		 4 #33 –
98 Lost In Forever P.O.D.
152		 3 #11 –
99 So American Portugal. The Man
149		 2 #21 –
100 Fitzpleasure Alt J
147		 4 #23 –

Every station’s number one of 2012

StationNumber one songCountdown
KROQ We Are Young Fun. KROQ Top 50 Songs of 2012
91X Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye 91X Top 91 Songs of 2012
CD101 Little Talks Of Monsters And Men CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2012
CFNY 102.1 The Edge I Will Wait Mumford & Sons 102.1 The Edge Top 50 New Rock Songs of 2012
The Buzz Thrift Shop Macklemore with Ryan Lewis The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2012
102.7 WEQX I Will Wait Mumford & Sons WEQX Top 102.7 of 2012
88.3 The Sting The Grand Optimist City and Colour 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2012
96.5 The Buzz This Head I Hold Electric Guest 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2012
97X We Are Young fun. feat. Janelle Monae 97X Top 97 Songs of 2012
99 Rock Dance All Night Dirty Heads/Matisyahu 99Rock WFRD Top 99 of 2012
ALT 104.5 Fitzpleasure Alt-J Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2012
Studio Brussel R U Mine ? Arctic Monkeys Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2012
WBER Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye WBER Listener Countdown 2012
X96 It's Time Imagine Dragons X96 Top 50 Songs of 2012
Triple J Thrift Shop Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012

All 2012 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2012 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 2012 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 15 qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the alternative results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.