What was the top rock song of 2014?

Combining 23 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2014 is "Take Me To Church" by Hozier, which appeared on 18 of the lists.

Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 23 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2014

23 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2014: 91X, CD101, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 107.1 The Peak, 88.3 The Sting, 92.3 WTTS, 94.3 KILO, 94.3 WCYY, 96.5 The Buzz, ALT 104.5, Exit 97.7, Lightning 100, SiriusXM Octane, Studio Brussel, The Current, WBER, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD, WXPN, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2014 is “Take Me To Church” by Hozier, which appeared on 18 of the 23 countdowns and was voted number one by nine of them. 18 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Take Me to Church” by Hozier (6 stations), “Riptide” by Vance Joy, “Take It Or Leave It” by Cage The Elephant, “City of Sin” by Linus Young and “Thunder Clatter” by Wild Cub and others. Hozier was the year’s most-charted artist, with six different songs placing 33 times across the countdowns.

23countdowns

898songs charted

18different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2014

All 898 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2014 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Take Me To Church Hozier	1,632	18	#1	9
2	Left Hand Free Alt J	1,397	17	#2	–
3	Fever The Black Keys	1,391	18	#3	–
4	Stolen Dance Milky Chance	1,218	14	#4	–
5	Riptide Vance Joy	1,118	13	#1	2
6	Blue Moon Beck	1,083	16	#6	–
7	Come With Me Now Kongos	1,079	12	#2	–
8	Do You Spoon	1,004	14	#4	–
9	Lazaretto Jack White	974	15	#1	1
10	Gotta Get Away The Black Keys	899	16	#15	–
11	Fall In Love Phantogram	838	13	#8	–
12	Something From Nothing Foo Fighters	821	14	#4	–
13	A Sky Full Of Stars Coldplay	769	13	#6	–
14	Gimme Something Good Ryan Adams	756	10	#7	–
15	Stay with Me Sam Smith	738	9	#3	–
16	Bad Blood Bastille	726	10	#10	–
17	West Coast Lana Del Rey	722	12	#7	–
18	Dangerous Big Data	707	11	#1	1
19	Do I Wanna Know Arctic Monkeys	706	8	#1	2
20	Cigarette Daydreams Cage The Elephant	698	13	#4	–
21	Seasons (Waiting On You) Future Islands	694	10	#2	–
22	I Wanna Get Better Bleachers	667	9	#3	–
23	Happy Idiot TV on the Radio	667	12	#13	–
24	Budapest George Ezra	663	12	#3	–
25	The Walker Fitz and the Tantrums	653	9	#3	–
26	Back To The Shack Weezer	649	10	#4	–
27	Red Eyes The War On Drugs	649	10	#11	–
28	Coming Of Age Foster The People	614	14	#8	–
29	Yellow Flicker Beat Lorde	600	11	#9	–
30	Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? Arctic Monkeys	583	8	#10	–
31	Beware The Dog Griswolds	530	8	#1	1
32	Magic Coldplay	521	10	#25	–
33	Digital Witness St. Vincent	517	7	#5	–
34	My Sweet Summer Dirty Heads	517	8	#9	–
35	Call Me St. Paul & The Broken Bones	511	8	#4	–
36	Supernova Ray LaMontagne	509	8	#3	–
37	My Silver Lining First Aid Kit	503	6	#5	–
38	Coffee Sylvan Esso	489	6	#5	–
39	From Eden Hozier	487	7	#10	–
40	Thunder Clatter Wild Cub	480	11	#2	–
41	Gooey Glass Animals	479	8	#2	–
42	Just One of the Guys Jenny Lewis	462	7	#9	–
43	Rainbow Robert Plant	460	9	#31	–
44	Southern Sun Boy & Bear	454	6	#2	–
45	Back In The World David Gray	449	8	#17	–
46	Flaws Bastille	448	8	#16	–
47	Giants Bear Hands	444	7	#3	–
48	Violen Shiver Benjamin Booker	440	9	#15	–
49	Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating In The Future Mike Doughty	436	7	#5	–
50	Under the Pressure The War On Drugs	423	5	#2	–
51	Make You Better The Decemberists	421	6	#4	–
52	King and Cross Asgeir	420	6	#9	–
53	Beggin For Thread Banks	415	9	#7	–
54	Bad Self Portraits Lake Street Dive	411	5	#6	–
55	Take It Or Leave It Cage The Elephant	404	8	#1	1
56	I'm Not The Only One Sam Smith	395	6	#8	–
57	Girls Chase Boys Ingrid Michaelson	395	5	#6	–
58	The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) U2	394	7	#16	–
59	Kansas City The New Basement Tapes	393	7	#19	–
60	All The Rage Back Home Interpol	386	7	#13	–
61	I Don't Want To Change You Damien Rice	359	6	#21	–
62	Shelter Song Temples	356	7	#32	–
63	Cecilia and the Satellite Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness	348	7	#9	–
64	Every Other Freckle Alt J	341	6	#11	–
65	Team Lorde	338	6	#9	–
66	Let Me Down Easy Paolo Nutini	334	6	#6	–
67	Avant Gardener Courtney Barnett	332	4	#3	–
68	R U Mine? Arctic Monkeys	327	5	#3	–
69	Holding On For Life Broken Bells	325	7	#21	–
70	You Go Down Smooth Lake Street Dive	323	4	#2	–
71	Weekend Priory	322	6	#15	–
72	Come A Little Closer Cage The Elephant	321	4	#4	–
73	Words as Weapons Seether	316	5	#2	–
74	U Get Me High Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	314	5	#5	–
75	Dearly Departed Shakey Graves	312	5	#4	–
76	Hunger Of The Pine Alt J	311	6	#19	–
77	Mind Over Matter Young the Giant	311	5	#18	–
78	Scarecrow Counting Crows	309	7	#23	–
79	It's About Time Young the Giant	308	5	#10	–
80	Rollercoaster Bleachers	307	6	#15	–
81	I Bet My Life Imagine Dragons	306	7	#23	–
82	Centuries Fall Out Boy	304	6	#10	–
83	Cardiac Arrest Bad Suns	301	8	#17	–
84	Rise Up Singing Trigger Hippy	299	4	#7	–
85	Destination Nickel Creek	297	4	#2	–
86	Another Story The Head and the Heart	294	4	#5	–
87	Take It As It Comes J. Roddy Walston and the Business	290	5	#5	–
88	Sleeping With A Friend Neon Trees	288	8	#17	–
89	Inside Out Spoon	287	5	#26	–
90	Reverse Somekindawonderful	286	4	#11	–
91	Best Friend Foster The People	286	5	#17	–
92	On Top of the World Imagine Dragons	285	5	#25	–
93	Mother & Father Broods	284	5	#19	–
94	I Don't Want to Be Here Anymore Rise Against	283	5	#11	–
95	Drive-In Movies Ray LaMontagne	279	5	#25	–
96	Just One Drink Jack White	273	7	#20	–
97	Water Fountain TuneYards	270	5	#10	–
98	Bad Habit The Kooks	269	6	#9	–
99	Brill Bruisers The New Pornographers	269	5	#31	–
100	Rude Magic!	267	5	#1	1

Every station’s number one of 2014

Station	Number one song	Countdown
91X	Riptide Vance Joy	91X Top 91 Songs of 2014
CD101	Take It Or Leave It Cage The Elephant	CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2014
The Buzz	City of Sin Linus Young	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2014
102.7 WEQX	Take Me to Church Hozier	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2014
107.1 The Peak	Take Me To Church Hozier	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2014
88.3 The Sting	Thunder Clatter Wild Cub	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2014
92.3 WTTS	Flaws Bastille	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2014
94.3 KILO	Romantic Dreams Deftones	KILO 2014 Top 40 Rock Countdown
94.3 WCYY	Cigarette Daydreams Cage The Elephant	WCYY Top 50 CYY Songs of 2014
96.5 The Buzz	Lazaretto Jack White	96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2014
ALT 104.5	Reflections Misterwives	Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2014
Exit 97.7	Take Me To Church Hozier	WEXT Top 97 of 2014
Lightning 100	Alone in My Home Jack White	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2014
SiriusXM Octane	This Is the Time (Ballast) Nothing More	SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs of 2014
Studio Brussel	Strange Entity Oscar and the Wolf	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2014
The Current	Salad Days Mac DeMarco	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2014
WBER	Beware The Dog The Griswolds	WBER Listener Countdown 2014
WFUV	Take Me to Church Hozier	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2014
WRNR 103.1	Take me to Church Hozier	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2014
WTMD	The Avant Gardener Courtney Barnett	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2014
WXPN	Take Me To Church Hozier	WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2014
X96	Dangerous Big Data feat. Joywave	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2014
Triple J	Talk Is Cheap Chet Faker	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2014

All 2014 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2014 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 2014 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 23 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.