Year-end consensus · Alternative & Modern Rock · eleven countdowns combined

The best alternative rock songs of 2016

Q: What was the top alternative rock song of 2016?

Combining 11 year-end radio countdowns, the top alternative rock song of 2016 is "Ophelia" by Lumineers, which appeared on 9 of the lists.

Eleven radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2016: 91X, Live 105, CD101, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 88.3 The Sting, 96.5 The Buzz, SiriusXM Alt Nation, WBER, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top alternative rock song of 2016 is “Ophelia” by Lumineers, which appeared on nine of the eleven countdowns. Ten different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Life Itself” by Glass Animals (2 stations), “Bang, Bang” by Green Day, “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots, “WOW” by Beck and “Sound of Silence” by Disturbed and others. Twenty One Pilots was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 18 times across the countdowns.

11countdowns

478songs charted

10different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2016

All 478 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2016 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Ophelia Lumineers	790	9	#2	–
2	Dark Necessities Red Hot Chili Peppers	764	10	#5	–
3	Bored To Death blink-182	710	10	#4	–
4	HandClap Fitz and the Tantrums	685	9	#4	–
5	Bang, Bang Green Day	655	9	#1	1
6	Good Grief Bastille	639	9	#6	–
7	Heathens Twenty One Pilots	634	7	#1	3
8	All We Ever Knew The Head and the Heart	623	9	#6	–
9	Wow Beck	601	7	#1	1
10	Something to Believe In Young the Giant	583	8	#2	–
11	Ghenghis Khan Miike Snow	564	9	#1	2
12	Life Itself Glass Animals	561	9	#1	1
13	River Bishop Briggs	556	8	#2	–
14	Waste a Moment Kings of Leon	530	9	#13	–
15	Way Down We Go Kaleo	516	7	#5	–
16	Trouble Cage The Elephant	501	6	#7	–
17	You Dont Get Me High Anymore Phantogram	499	7	#4	–
18	Spirits The Strumbellas	495	7	#7	–
19	Welcome to Your Life Grouplove	414	7	#14	–
20	Blood In The Cut K. Flay	400	6	#3	–
21	Ride Twenty One Pilots	394	5	#1	1
22	King of the World Weezer	394	7	#16	–
23	2AM Bear Hands	371	6	#11	–
24	Sure and Certain Jimmy Eat World	365	9	#24	–
25	Burn The Witch Radiohead	353	6	#14	–
26	Soundcheck Catfish and the Bottlemen	350	6	#4	–
27	7 Catfish and the Bottlemen	333	5	#16	–
28	Still Breathing Green Day	329	6	#10	–
29	Casual Party Band of Horses	324	4	#9	–
30	Trip Switch Nothing But Thieves	312	4	#2	–
31	Take It All Back JUDAH & THE LION	311	5	#5	–
32	Brazil Declan McKenna	305	7	#2	–
33	Unsteady X Ambassadors	304	4	#2	–
34	The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala	300	4	#13	–
35	Kiss This The Struts	299	4	#6	–
36	Cleopatra Lumineers	298	5	#18	–
37	Mess Around Cage The Elephant	296	4	#11	–
38	High and Low Empire of the Sun	272	8	#19	–
39	Somebody Else 1975	271	5	#8	–
40	She's Out Of Her Mind blink-182	270	4	#2	–
41	Circadian Rhythm Silversun Pickups	253	4	#10	–
42	Woman Woman AWOLNATION	252	4	#11	–
43	I Need Never Get Old Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	246	3	#12	–
44	Fire Escape Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness	243	4	#4	–
45	Rebel Heart The Shelters	236	3	#6	–
46	Mountain At My Gates Foals	233	3	#14	–
47	Free Broods	228	6	#7	–
48	Put Your Money On Me The Struts	227	4	#19	–
49	Gone Jr Jr	226	5	#12	–
50	What Went Down Foals	226	4	#22	–
51	Take It from Me Kongos	225	6	#31	–
52	Walking On A Dream Empire of the Sun	219	3	#22	–
53	Wake Up Call Nothing But Thieves	218	4	#22	–
54	You & Me The Hunna	213	4	#12	–
55	The Sound 1975	204	6	#26	–
56	Frankie Sinatra The Avalanches	202	3	#14	–
57	Stressed Out Twenty One Pilots	201	3	#13	–
58	Oblivious The Strokes	199	5	#35	–
59	Ain't No Man Avett Brothers	199	4	#13	–
60	Fountain of Youth Local Natives	191	3	#30	–
61	Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time Panic! at the Disco	188	4	#10	–
62	Adventure of a Lifetime Coldplay	188	3	#17	–
63	I Want You Marian Hill	187	2	#4	–
64	Move Saint Motel	178	3	#10	–
65	Happy Pills Weathers	178	5	#14	–
66	Go Robot Red Hot Chili Peppers	177	6	#47	–
67	Circles Pierce The Veil	176	4	#3	–
68	Lazarus David Bowie	176	2	#1	1
69	That's All I Need Dirty Heads	174	4	#11	–
70	Delilah Florence And The Machine	172	3	#12	–
71	On Hold The xx	170	4	#20	–
72	Talk to Much Coin	169	2	#6	–
73	Heavy Dirty Soul Twenty One Pilots	169	3	#13	–
74	New Song Warpaint	169	3	#31	–
75	Wild Horses Bishop Briggs	163	4	#24	–
76	She Got Arrested The Interrupters	160	2	#6	–
77	Go! M83	158	3	#11	–
78	Painting (Masterpiece) Lewis Del Mar	154	3	#26	–
79	Giant Banks & Steelz	151	2	#15	–
80	Destruction Joywave	148	4	#52	–
81	Low Life X Ambassadors	146	2	#8	–
82	Good Help (Is So Hard to Find) Death Cab for Cutie	144	4	#46	–
83	Next Storm Frank Turner	139	2	#17	–
84	Pretty Pimpin' Kurt Vile	138	3	#3	–
85	Doing It To Death Kills	138	2	#21	–
86	Wednesday Night Melody Bleached	137	2	#20	–
87	Empty Garbage	136	3	#25	–
88	In a World Possessed by the Human Mind The Tragically Hip	135	2	#4	–
89	American Money Borns	132	2	#5	–
90	Clearest Blue CHVRCHES	129	4	#32	–
91	Hands Down The Greeting Committee	128	2	#8	–
92	Throw Down Your Guns Wild Belle	128	2	#34	–
93	My Name Is Human Highly Suspect	127	4	#34	–
94	Roll Up Fitz and the Tantrums	126	3	#16	–
95	Ditmas Mumford & Sons	120	2	#33	–
96	Run Or Hide Run River North	120	2	#12	–
97	Rita Mae Young The Record Company	119	2	#38	–
98	Tearing Me Up Bob Moses	117	3	#48	–
99	Wish I knew You The Revivalists	116	4	#50	–
100	Ways To Fake It Crx	114	3	#46	–

Every station’s number one of 2016

Station	Number one song	Countdown
91X	Bang, Bang Green Day	91X Top 91 Songs of 2016
Live 105	Heathens Twenty One Pilots	Live 105 Top 25 Songs of 2016
CD101	WOW Beck	CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2016
The Buzz	Sound of Silence Disturbed	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2016
102.7 WEQX	Genghis Khan Miike Snow	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2016
88.3 The Sting	The Duke Lamb of God	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2016
96.5 The Buzz	Life Itself Glass Animals	96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2016
SiriusXM Alt Nation	2 AM Bear Hands	SiriusXM Alt Nation's 36 Biggest Alternative Songs of 2016
WBER	Lazarus David Bowie	WBER Listener Countdown 2016
X96	Life Itself Glass Animals	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2016
Triple J	Never Be like You Flume featuring Kai	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016

All 2016 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2016 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 2016 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 eleven qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the alternative results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.

Most-charted artists of 2016

1Twenty One Pilots18 entries · 4 songs
2blink-18218 entries · 6 songs
3Lumineers14 entries · 2 songs
4Green Day15 entries · 2 songs
5Red Hot Chili Peppers17 entries · 3 songs
6Fitz and the Tantrums12 entries · 2 songs
7Cage The Elephant10 entries · 2 songs
8Catfish and the Bottlemen12 entries · 3 songs
9Bishop Briggs12 entries · 2 songs
10Bastille10 entries · 2 songs

The 2010s

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