What was the top indie rock song of 2013?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2013 is "Royals" by Lorde, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

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

The best indie rock songs of 2013

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2013: The Current and WFUV. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2013 is “Royals” by Lorde, which appeared on two of the two countdowns. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Sirens” by Pearl Jam and “Song For Zula” by Phosphorescent. Vampire Weekend was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 7 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

148songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2013

All 148 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	198	2	#2	–
2	Reflektor The Arcade Fire	191	2	#4	–
3	Get Lucky Daft Punk	190	2	#1	1
4	The Wire Haim	187	2	#6	–
5	Song for Zula Phosphorescent	181	2	#1	1
6	Diane Young Vampire Weekend	171	2	#9	–
7	Do I Wanna Know Arctic Monkeys	170	2	#8	–
8	The Mother we Share CHVRCHES	164	2	#5	–
9	Most People Dawes	161	2	#13	–
10	Ya Hey Vampire Weekend	149	2	#17	–
11	Graceless The National	143	2	#21	–
12	Shake The Head and the Heart	142	2	#15	–
13	Unbelievers Vampire Weekend	141	2	#26	–
14	From a Window Seat Dawes	129	2	#5	–
15	Byegone Volcano Choir	123	2	#23	–
16	Better Days Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	111	2	#28	–
17	Man Neko Case	111	2	#35	–
18	Right Action Franz Ferdinand	109	2	#36	–
19	Don't Swallow The Cap The National	109	2	#20	–
20	Sacrilege Yeah Yeah Yeahs	107	2	#30	–
21	You Never Need Nobody Lone Bellow	98	1	#3	–
22	Lady, You Shot Me Har Mar Superstar	98	1	#3	–
23	The Stars Are Ours Mayer Hawthorne	97	1	#4	–
24	Lightning Bolt Jake Bugg	95	2	#19	–
25	The Desert Babbler Iron and Wine	93	1	#7	–
26	Thrift Shop Macklemore & Ryan Lewis	93	1	#7	–
27	Head On Man Man	91	1	#9	–
28	Magazine Caroline Smith	90	1	#10	–
29	My Love Took Me Down To The River To Silence Me Little Green Cars	89	1	#11	–
30	Clouds Zach Sobiech	89	1	#11	–
31	Another is Waiting Avett Brothers	88	2	#25	–
32	Come Unto Me The Mavericks	88	1	#12	–
33	Recover CHVRCHES	88	1	#12	–
34	Sirens Pearl Jam	87	2	#14	–
35	Nancy From Now On Father John Misty	87	1	#13	–
36	Skeleton Key Dessa	85	1	#14	–
37	Ride On / Right On Phosphorescent	85	2	#41	–
38	Can't Hold Us Macklemore & Ryan Lewis	84	1	#15	–
39	Night Still Comes Neko Case	83	1	#16	–
40	Lose Yourself To Dance Daft Punk	83	1	#16	–
41	Tourniquet Jeremy Messersmith	82	1	#17	–
42	Afterlife The Arcade Fire	81	2	#38	–
43	Life Is Better With You Michael Franti & Spearhead	81	1	#18	–
44	GMF John Grant	79	1	#20	–
45	Harper Lee Little Green Cars	77	1	#22	–
46	Givin' 'Em What They Love Janelle Monae	76	1	#22	–
47	Chill In The Air Amos Lee	76	1	#23	–
48	Wake Me Up Aloe Blacc	74	1	#24	–
49	1x1x1 Cloud Cult	73	1	#25	–
50	Out of my League Fitz and the Tantrums	72	1	#26	–
51	Joy To You Baby Josh Ritter	71	1	#27	–
52	Retrograde James Blake	71	1	#27	–
53	The Perfect Life Moby	70	1	#28	–
54	Grace For Saints and Ramblers Iron and Wine	68	1	#30	–
55	Made Up Mind Tedeschi Trucks Band	67	1	#31	–
56	Doin' It Right Daft Punk	65	1	#32	–
57	Green Eyes and A Heart Of Gold Lone Bellow	64	1	#33	–
58	Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? Arctic Monkeys	64	1	#33	–
59	I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands Minor Alps	63	1	#34	–
60	Warsaw Dessa	63	1	#34	–
61	Hopeful Josh Ritter	62	1	#35	–
62	Chain My Name Polica	61	1	#36	–
63	The Dream's in the Ditch Deer Tick	60	1	#37	–
64	Call Off Your Ghost Dessa	60	1	#37	–
65	Hopeless Wanderer Mumford & Sons	58	1	#38	–
66	Hey Lover Dawes	58	1	#39	–
67	The Man Who Wants You Amos Lee	57	1	#40	–
68	Pumpin Blood NONONO	56	1	#40	–
69	Shameless Lissie	55	1	#41	–
70	Come A Little Closer Cage The Elephant	55	2	#49	–
71	Stay Young Okkervil River	54	1	#42	–
72	Turn the Radio On The Suburbs	54	1	#42	–
73	The Fall Rhye	53	1	#43	–
74	Black Out Days Phantogram	53	1	#43	–
75	Million Miles TV on the Radio	52	1	#44	–
76	Two Fingers Jake Bugg	52	1	#44	–
77	KV Crimes Kurt Vile	51	1	#45	–
78	Broken Heart Dr. Dog	51	1	#45	–
79	She Laura Mvula	50	1	#46	–
80	Good Friend Cloud Cult	49	1	#46	–
81	Q.U.E.E.N. Janelle Monae	47	1	#48	–
82	Lovers' Revolution Iron and Wine	47	2	#51	–
83	Things Will Change Treetop Flyers	47	1	#49	–
84	Open Rhye	46	1	#50	–
85	Long Time Gone Billie Joe and Norah	45	1	#50	–
86	Heavy Bells J. Roddy Walston and the Business	44	1	#51	–
87	Down Down The Deep River Okkervil River	43	1	#52	–
88	We the Common (For Valerie Bolden) Thao and the Get Down Stay Down	43	1	#52	–
89	Let's Be Still The Head and the Heart	42	1	#53	–
90	Black Skinhead Kanye West	42	1	#53	–
91	Miracle Mile Cold War Kids	40	1	#54	–
92	Plastic Cup Low	39	1	#55	–
93	Drive All Night Glen Hansard	39	1	#56	–
94	Holding On For Life Broken Bells	38	1	#56	–
95	Long Time Gone Billie Joe + Norah	38	1	#57	–
96	Shuggie Foxygen	37	1	#57	–
97	Where Are We Now? David Bowie	37	1	#58	–
98	Tennis Court Lorde	36	1	#58	–
99	Green Garden Laura Mvula	36	1	#59	–
100	If So Atlas Genius	35	1	#59	–

Every station’s number one of 2013

Station	Number one song	Countdown
The Current	Sirens Pearl Jam	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2013
WFUV	Song For Zula Phosphorescent	WFUV Top 90 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 two 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.