What was the top indie rock song of 2013?

Combining 8 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2013 is "Royals" by Lorde, which appeared on 7 of the lists.

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

The best indie rock songs of 2013

Eight radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2013: 107.1 The Peak, 92.3 WTTS, Lightning 100, The Current, WFPK, WFUV, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2013 is “Royals” by Lorde, which appeared on seven of the eight countdowns. Eight different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Out Of My League” by Fitz & The Tantrums, “Spotlight” by Leagues, “The One That Got Away” by Civil Wars, “Sirens” by Pearl Jam and “Sleep” by Allen Stone and others. Vampire Weekend was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 20 times across the countdowns.

8countdowns

452songs charted

8different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2013

All 452 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2013 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Royals Lorde	663	7	#2	–
2	Unbelievers Vampire Weekend	565	7	#3	–
3	Reflektor The Arcade Fire	562	7	#3	–
4	Diane Young Vampire Weekend	522	7	#9	–
5	From a Window Seat Dawes	513	7	#5	–
6	Shake The Head and the Heart	501	7	#8	–
7	Song for Zula Phosphorescent	496	6	#1	1
8	Most People Dawes	444	7	#4	–
9	Out of my League Fitz and the Tantrums	439	6	#1	1
10	Sirens Pearl Jam	434	7	#7	–
11	Another is Waiting Avett Brothers	404	7	#5	–
12	Get Lucky Daft Punk	386	4	#1	2
13	The Wire Haim	372	5	#6	–
14	The Ceiling Wild Feathers	371	7	#4	–
15	Head On Man Man	368	5	#5	–
16	The Man Who Wants You Amos Lee	349	7	#10	–
17	Man Neko Case	344	5	#17	–
18	Heartbeat Kopecky Family Band	334	5	#13	–
19	Do I Wanna Know Arctic Monkeys	320	4	#8	–
20	Don't Swallow The Cap The National	315	5	#16	–
21	Broken Heart Dr. Dog	314	4	#3	–
22	Recovery Frank Turner	310	5	#4	–
23	Super Soaker Kings of Leon	309	6	#14	–
24	You Never Need Nobody Lone Bellow	305	5	#3	–
25	Lightning Bolt Jake Bugg	304	6	#2	–
26	Grace For Saints and Ramblers Iron and Wine	292	4	#27	–
27	Wild Child Brett Dennen	286	6	#19	–
28	The One That Got Away The Civil Wars	282	5	#1	1
29	Harper Lee Little Green Cars	282	5	#22	–
30	Come A Little Closer Cage The Elephant	280	6	#24	–
31	San Francisco Mowgli's	279	3	#4	–
32	Right Action Franz Ferdinand	276	5	#36	–
33	Better Days Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	276	5	#28	–
34	Pompeii Bastille	259	4	#6	–
35	Demons Imagine Dragons	257	3	#1	1
36	Bleeding Out Lone Bellow	255	5	#28	–
37	Two Fingers Jake Bugg	254	5	#8	–
38	Hero Family Of The Year	252	3	#3	–
39	Stockholm Jason Isbell	252	5	#2	–
40	Safe and Sound Capital Cities	251	4	#6	–
41	Stompa Serena Ryder	245	3	#5	–
42	Ya Hey Vampire Weekend	244	3	#10	–
43	Made Up Mind Tedeschi Trucks Band	242	3	#9	–
44	Joy To You Baby Josh Ritter	240	3	#20	–
45	The Mother we Share CHVRCHES	233	3	#5	–
46	Ride On / Right On Phosphorescent	229	4	#9	–
47	Graceless The National	222	4	#21	–
48	Saints of Impossible Causes Joseph Arthur	221	4	#17	–
49	Temple Kings of Leon	220	4	#42	–
50	The Woodpile Frightened Rabbit	214	5	#13	–
51	I Got You Jack Johnson	204	4	#17	–
52	If I Loved You Delta Rae	200	3	#25	–
53	A New Life Jim James	196	2	#1	1
54	Are You Listening Kopecky Family Band	196	4	#25	–
55	Sweater Weather Neighbourhood	194	3	#7	–
56	Byegone Volcano Choir	187	3	#23	–
57	The Stars Are Ours Mayer Hawthorne	185	2	#4	–
58	Your Life Your Call Junip	184	4	#33	–
59	Retrograde James Blake	174	3	#27	–
60	Let Her Go Passenger	171	3	#16	–
61	Chill In The Air Amos Lee	171	2	#11	–
62	Open Rhye	170	3	#36	–
63	King and Lionheart Of Monsters And Men	168	3	#25	–
64	Madness Muse	167	2	#2	–
65	Holding On For Life Broken Bells	165	5	#56	–
66	Afterlife The Arcade Fire	164	4	#38	–
67	Walk Us Uptown Elvis Costello and The Roots	164	5	#43	–
68	Things Will Change Treetop Flyers	157	3	#25	–
69	Gone Gone Gone Phillip Phillips	156	2	#7	–
70	Trying to be Cool Phoenix	156	5	#43	–
71	Elephant Tame Impala	153	2	#21	–
72	New Paul McCartney	152	6	#45	–
73	Her Favorite Song Mayer Hawthorne	151	2	#25	–
74	Night Still Comes Neko Case	151	2	#16	–
75	The Perfect Life Moby	150	2	#28	–
76	Heavy Bells J. Roddy Walston and the Business	144	2	#1	1
77	The Dream's in the Ditch Deer Tick	142	3	#37	–
78	Red Hands Walk Off the Earth	141	2	#12	–
79	Down Down The Deep River Okkervil River	140	2	#7	–
80	On The Road Houndmouth	137	2	#30	–
81	This Disorder The Features	136	2	#17	–
82	Part Of Me Tedeschi Trucks Band	132	2	#45	–
83	I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like) Michael Franti & Spearhead	131	3	#32	–
84	Sacrilege Yeah Yeah Yeahs	131	3	#30	–
85	Come Unto Me The Mavericks	129	2	#12	–
86	The Truth Dr. Dog	129	2	#31	–
87	High School Lover Cayucas	129	3	#52	–
88	Radioactive Imagine Dragons	127	2	#8	–
89	Green Garden Laura Mvula	127	2	#19	–
90	Queenie Eye Paul McCartney	126	3	#47	–
91	Come to My Party Black Joe Lewis	123	3	#26	–
92	Little Numbers Boy	119	4	#40	–
93	Lose Yourself To Dance Daft Punk	118	2	#16	–
94	Breezeblocks Alt J	117	2	#10	–
95	High Hopes Bruce Springsteen	116	3	#26	–
96	Sunnier Days Diego Garcia	116	2	#15	–
97	Entertainment Phoenix	116	3	#71	–
98	The Way I Tend to Be Frank Turner	116	2	#33	–
99	Heavy Feet Local Natives	115	3	#65	–
100	Nothing Arrived Villagers	114	2	#36	–

Every station’s number one of 2013

Station	Number one song	Countdown
107.1 The Peak	Out Of My League Fitz & The Tantrums	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013
92.3 WTTS	Spotlight Leagues	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2013
Lightning 100	The One That Got Away Civil Wars	Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2013
The Current	Sirens Pearl Jam	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2013
WFPK	Sleep Allen Stone	WFPK Top 100 Songs of 2013
WFUV	Song For Zula Phosphorescent	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2013
WTMD	Heavy Bells J. Roddy Walston & The Business	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2013
WXPN	Get Lucky Daft Punk	WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2013

All 2013 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2013 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 2013 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. 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.