What was the top indie rock song of 2015?

Combining 8 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2015 is "Sedona" by Houndmouth, which appeared on 8 of the lists.

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

The best indie rock songs of 2015

Eight radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2015: 107.1 The Peak, 92.3 WTTS, Lightning 100, The Current, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1 and WTMD. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2015 is “Sedona” by Houndmouth, which appeared on eight of the eight countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Eight different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Dreams” by Beck, “Return To The Moon” by El Vy, “Budapest” by George Ezra, “Teeth White” by The Staves and “Ex's and Oh's” by Elle King and others. Florence And The Machine was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 17 times across the countdowns.

8countdowns

337songs charted

8different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2015

All 337 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Sedona Houndmouth	693	8	#1	1
2	Dreams Beck	668	8	#1	1
3	Ex's & Oh's Elle King	637	7	#1	1
4	Ship To Wreck Florence And The Machine	613	8	#4	–
5	Dont Wanna Fight Alabama Shakes	612	8	#1	2
6	S.O.B. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	541	6	#1	1
7	Electric Love Borns	529	8	#2	–
8	24 Frames Jason Isbell	518	8	#11	–
9	Coming Home Leon Bridges	500	6	#4	–
10	Fool For Love Lord Huron	498	7	#3	–
11	Lampshades On Fire Modest Mouse	495	7	#2	–
12	Hello Adele	464	6	#3	–
13	Black Sun Death Cab for Cutie	454	7	#12	–
14	Things Happen Dawes	437	7	#6	–
15	Blame It On Me George Ezra	433	5	#2	–
16	All Your Favorite Bands Dawes	419	6	#3	–
17	Let It Happen Tame Impala	415	7	#9	–
18	Wherever Is Your Heart Brandi Carlile	412	5	#11	–
19	What Kind Of Man Florence And The Machine	404	7	#4	–
20	Mess Is Mine Vance Joy	402	5	#6	–
21	Big Decisions My Morning Jacket	393	6	#12	–
22	Believe Mumford & Sons	393	6	#1	1
23	Return To The Moon El Vy	382	8	#17	–
24	Smooth Sailin' Leon Bridges	375	6	#10	–
25	My Type Saint Motel	373	6	#12	–
26	The Wolf Mumford & Sons	360	7	#6	–
27	Renegades X Ambassadors	326	4	#5	–
28	Crystals Of Monsters And Men	321	5	#9	–
29	Bad Blood Ryan Adams	312	7	#24	–
30	Compound Fracture My Morning Jacket	311	5	#15	–
31	Pedestrian At Best Courtney Barnett	310	4	#4	–
32	Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) Father John Misty	303	4	#8	–
33	Hold Back the River James Bay	302	4	#16	–
34	Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart Chris Cornell	298	5	#8	–
35	Gimme All Your Love Alabama Shakes	294	5	#1	1
36	First Cold War Kids	292	5	#14	–
37	Make You Better The Decemberists	278	4	#15	–
38	Random Name Generator Wilco	275	6	#25	–
39	Outta My Mind The Arcs	271	6	#10	–
40	Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party Courtney Barnett	266	4	#16	–
41	Pretty Pimpin' Kurt Vile	262	4	#2	–
42	Someone New Hozier	259	5	#13	–
43	The Eye Brandi Carlile	248	4	#6	–
44	Dead Fox Courtney Barnett	230	4	#36	–
45	Getting Ready to Get Down Josh Ritter	230	4	#5	–
46	Cecilia and the Satellite Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness	227	3	#7	–
47	All The Pretty Girls Kaleo	225	5	#29	–
48	Falling From The Sky Calexico	221	4	#25	–
49	The Wrong Year The Decemberists	216	5	#25	–
50	Loud Places Jamie xx	209	3	#14	–
51	Song For Someone U2	197	4	#20	–
52	Work Song Hozier	197	4	#28	–
53	The Party Line Belle & Sebastian	195	3	#25	–
54	Head Over Heels JD McPherson	186	3	#22	–
55	Under the Pressure The War On Drugs	183	3	#3	–
56	The Ghosts Of Beverly Drive Death Cab for Cutie	182	3	#30	–
57	Fire and the Flood Vance Joy	175	3	#11	–
58	Shut Up & Dance Walk the Moon	172	2	#6	–
59	False Hope Laura Marling	170	3	#10	–
60	Lover Come Back City And Colour	166	4	#29	–
61	Nightlight Silversun Pickups	164	3	#35	–
62	Should Have Known Better Sufjan Stevens	160	3	#16	–
63	What You Don't Do Lianne La Havas	159	3	#34	–
64	Uptown Funk Mark Ronson	159	2	#13	–
65	Mess Around Cage The Elephant	158	3	#12	–
66	Let the Good Times Roll JD McPherson	155	3	#20	–
67	Say It Houndmouth	150	3	#41	–
68	Depreston Courtney Barnett	150	2	#17	–
69	Next Storm Frank Turner	149	5	#33	–
70	When I Was A Boy Jeff Lynne's ELO	145	2	#27	–
71	Trouble Keith Richards	138	3	#32	–
72	10,000 Emerald Pools Borns	138	3	#33	–
73	Feeling OK Best Coast	136	3	#39	–
74	Adventure of a Lifetime Coldplay	134	3	#27	–
75	Yellow Eyes Rayland Baxter	133	3	#41	–
76	Dead Inside Muse	132	4	#35	–
77	They Want My Soul Spoon	132	2	#15	–
78	Phone in a Pool Ben Folds	131	4	#37	–
79	No No No Beirut	129	3	#50	–
80	A Little Smile Joe Jackson	127	2	#10	–
81	Weight Of Love The Black Keys	127	2	#22	–
82	Spots Of Time Warren Haynes	125	2	#14	–
83	Dearly Departed Shakey Graves	121	4	#37	–
84	Driving Around James Maddock	121	2	#23	–
85	Hard Time Seinabo Sey	119	2	#33	–
86	Satisfy Me Anderson East	118	3	#8	–
87	Restless New Order	115	3	#46	–
88	Future People Alabama Shakes	113	3	#25	–
89	Shots Imagine Dragons	110	3	#14	–
90	Keep Going The Revivalists	109	2	#32	–
91	King Kunta Kendrick Lamar	108	2	#7	–
92	Tell Me What You Want From Me Good Old War	108	4	#56	–
93	Bros Wolf Alice	107	5	#60	–
94	From Eden Hozier	107	2	#9	–
95	Hold On Tight Greg Holden	106	3	#7	–
96	True Affection Father John Misty	105	2	#24	–
97	All Across This Land Blitzen Trapper	101	3	#47	–
98	Endlessly Guster	99	2	#28	–
99	Suicide Saturday Hippo Campus	99	1	#2	–
100	Nothing But The Radio Maia Sharp	98	2	#14	–

Every station’s number one of 2015

Station	Number one song	Countdown
107.1 The Peak	Dreams Beck	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2015
92.3 WTTS	Return To The Moon El Vy	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2015
Lightning 100	Budapest George Ezra	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2015
The Current	Teeth White The Staves	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015
WERS 88.9	Ex's and Oh's Elle King	WERS Top 88 Songs of 2015
WFUV	S.O.B. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2015
WRNR 103.1	Don't Wanna Fight Alabama Shakes	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2015
WTMD	Gimme All Your Love Alabama Shakes	WTMD Top 89 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 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.