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

The best indie rock songs of 2015

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2015?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2015 is "S.O.B." by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2015: The Current and WFUV. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2015 is “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which appeared on two of the two countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Teeth White” by The Staves and “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Courtney Barnett was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 8 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

144songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2015

All 144 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2015 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	S.O.B. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	197	2	#1	1
2	Dont Wanna Fight Alabama Shakes	193	2	#1	1
3	Pretty Pimpin' Kurt Vile	184	2	#2	–
4	Let It Happen Tame Impala	180	2	#9	–
5	Dreams Beck	174	2	#5	–
6	Pedestrian At Best Courtney Barnett	173	2	#8	–
7	Sedona Houndmouth	171	2	#4	–
8	All Your Favorite Bands Dawes	169	2	#3	–
9	Hello Adele	168	2	#3	–
10	Wherever Is Your Heart Brandi Carlile	168	2	#12	–
11	The Eye Brandi Carlile	162	2	#6	–
12	Uptown Funk Mark Ronson	159	2	#13	–
13	Make You Better The Decemberists	158	2	#19	–
14	Ex's & Oh's Elle King	154	2	#18	–
15	Return To The Moon El Vy	152	2	#17	–
16	Depreston Courtney Barnett	150	2	#17	–
17	24 Frames Jason Isbell	148	2	#11	–
18	Coming Home Leon Bridges	146	2	#10	–
19	Loud Places Jamie xx	143	2	#14	–
20	Bad Blood Ryan Adams	128	2	#24	–
21	Electric Love Borns	125	2	#21	–
22	Should Have Known Better Sufjan Stevens	123	2	#16	–
23	The Party Line Belle & Sebastian	120	2	#25	–
24	Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party Courtney Barnett	110	2	#32	–
25	King Kunta Kendrick Lamar	108	2	#7	–
26	Things Happen Dawes	101	2	#16	–
27	Suicide Saturday Hippo Campus	99	1	#2	–
28	Getting Ready to Get Down Josh Ritter	96	1	#5	–
29	Smooth Sailin' Leon Bridges	95	2	#26	–
30	Midway Bad Bad Hats	94	1	#6	–
31	Here Alessia Cara	93	2	#46	–
32	Chateau Lobby #4 Father John Misty	92	1	#8	–
33	South Hippo Campus	91	1	#9	–
34	Gimme All Your Love Alabama Shakes	90	1	#10	–
35	Ship to Wreck Florence + The Machine	88	1	#12	–
36	No No No Beirut	87	2	#50	–
37	Bored in the USA Father John Misty	87	1	#13	–
38	Then Came the Morning Lone Bellow	84	1	#15	–
39	Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) Father John Misty	84	1	#15	–
40	Moaning Lisa Smile Wolf Alice	80	2	#53	–
41	Leave a Trace CHVRCHES	79	1	#20	–
42	The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala	77	1	#22	–
43	Ship To Wreck Florence And The Machine	76	1	#22	–
44	Driving Around James Maddock	76	1	#23	–
45	No Hell Cloud Cult	75	1	#23	–
46	When I Was A Boy Jeff Lynne's ELO	71	1	#27	–
47	Falling From The Sky Calexico	69	1	#29	–
48	Lampshades On Fire Modest Mouse	69	1	#29	–
49	Black & White The Staves	67	1	#31	–
50	The Ideal Husband Father John Misty	66	1	#31	–
51	Random Name Generator Wilco	66	2	#40	–
52	Trouble Keith Richards	66	1	#32	–
53	Hard Time Seinabo Sey	64	1	#33	–
54	10,000 Emerald Pools Borns	64	1	#33	–
55	Rock 'n' Roll Is Cold Matthew E. White	63	1	#34	–
56	Finer Things Atmosphere	63	1	#34	–
57	Nightlight Silversun Pickups	62	1	#35	–
58	No Comprende Low	62	1	#35	–
59	Phone in a Pool Ben Folds	62	2	#49	–
60	Dead Fox Courtney Barnett	61	1	#36	–
61	i Kendrick Lamar	61	1	#36	–
62	Don't Send Me Away Dawes	60	1	#37	–
63	Big Decisions My Morning Jacket	59	1	#38	–
64	Over the Red Cedar Charlie Parr	58	1	#38	–
65	Bury Our Friends Sleater-Kinney	58	2	#64	–
66	False Hope Laura Marling	58	1	#39	–
67	Head Over Heels JD McPherson	56	1	#41	–
68	Gray Duck Doomtree	55	1	#41	–
69	Disappointing John Grant	54	1	#42	–
70	Everyday Diane Coffee	53	1	#43	–
71	Go The Chemical Brothers	53	1	#43	–
72	Daffodils Mark Ronson	52	1	#44	–
73	First Cold War Kids	52	1	#44	–
74	No Other Heart Mac DeMarco	51	1	#45	–
75	Souls Hippo Campus	51	1	#45	–
76	Northern Highway Martin Courtney	50	1	#46	–
77	Do It Tuxedo	49	1	#47	–
78	They Want My Soul Spoon	48	1	#47	–
79	Wide Open The Chemical Brothers	48	2	#57	–
80	The Ground Walks With Time In A Box Modest Mouse	47	1	#48	–
81	Put a Flower in Your Pocket The Arcs	46	1	#50	–
82	Eventually Tame Impala	44	1	#51	–
83	Teenage Talk St. Vincent	43	1	#52	–
84	Ghost Town Sam Outlaw	41	1	#54	–
85	Better Man Leon Bridges	40	1	#54	–
86	Trying Bully	39	1	#55	–
87	What Part of Me Low	38	1	#56	–
88	Cream on Chrome Ratatat	38	1	#57	–
89	Feeling OK Best Coast	37	1	#58	–
90	'Cause I'm a Man Tame Impala	36	1	#58	–
91	A Little Smile Joe Jackson	36	1	#59	–
92	Happy Idiot TV on the Radio	35	1	#59	–
93	Silent Movies Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear	34	1	#60	–
94	Black Sun Death Cab for Cutie	34	1	#60	–
95	All Across This Land Blitzen Trapper	33	1	#61	–
96	Magnets Disclosure	33	1	#61	–
97	Fool For Love Lord Huron	32	1	#62	–
98	Work Song Hozier	31	1	#62	–
99	What You Don't Do Lianne La Havas	31	1	#63	–
100	Black Mambo Glass Animals	30	1	#63	–

Every station’s number one of 2015

Station	Number one song	Countdown
The Current	Teeth White The Staves	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015
WFUV	S.O.B. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2015

All 2015 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2015 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 2015 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.