What was the top rock song of 2016?

Combining 21 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2016 is "Ophelia" by Lumineers, which appeared on 17 of the lists.

Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 21 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2016

21 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2016: 91X, Live 105, CD101, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 107.1 The Peak, 88.3 The Sting, 90.9 The Bridge, 92.3 WTTS, 96.5 The Buzz, Lightning 100, SiriusXM Alt Nation, SiriusXM Octane, The Current, WBER, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2016 is “Ophelia” by Lumineers, which appeared on 17 of the 21 countdowns and was voted number one by three of them. 18 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “WOW” by Beck (2 stations), “Life Itself” by Glass Animals (2 stations), “Lazarus” by David Bowie (2 stations), “Bang, Bang” by Green Day and “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots and others. Lumineers was the year’s most-charted artist, with two different songs placing 28 times across the countdowns.

21countdowns

796songs charted

18different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2016

All 796 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	1,499	17	#1	3
2	All We Ever Knew The Head and the Heart	1,212	18	#4	–
3	Dark Necessities Red Hot Chili Peppers	1,135	15	#5	–
4	Wow Beck	1,122	14	#1	2
5	Good Grief Bastille	934	13	#6	–
6	Casual Party Band of Horses	933	13	#5	–
7	Waste a Moment Kings of Leon	927	14	#8	–
8	Trouble Cage The Elephant	909	11	#2	–
9	Way Down We Go Kaleo	905	12	#3	–
10	Burn The Witch Radiohead	894	13	#5	–
11	Lazarus David Bowie	866	10	#1	2
12	HandClap Fitz and the Tantrums	845	12	#4	–
13	Ain't No Man Avett Brothers	801	12	#4	–
14	Ghenghis Khan Miike Snow	792	13	#1	3
15	Cleopatra Lumineers	767	11	#2	–
16	Life Itself Glass Animals	760	13	#1	1
17	You Dont Get Me High Anymore Phantogram	743	13	#4	–
18	Bored To Death blink-182	710	10	#4	–
19	Something to Believe In Young the Giant	706	12	#2	–
20	Heathens Twenty One Pilots	702	8	#1	3
21	Bang, Bang Green Day	682	10	#1	1
22	Wish I knew You The Revivalists	674	11	#1	1
23	Spirits The Strumbellas	672	10	#7	–
24	White Flag Joseph	616	9	#7	–
25	Mess Around Cage The Elephant	607	8	#11	–
26	Welcome to Your Life Grouplove	592	10	#14	–
27	Brazil Declan McKenna	579	13	#2	–
28	River Bishop Briggs	561	9	#2	–
29	Off the Ground The Record Company	531	8	#3	–
30	Kiss This The Struts	514	7	#5	–
31	I Need Never Get Old Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	495	6	#4	–
32	Real Love Baby Father John Misty	489	9	#7	–
33	When the Tequila Runs Out Dawes	478	6	#8	–
34	Unsteady X Ambassadors	475	6	#2	–
35	New Song Warpaint	438	7	#16	–
36	Soundcheck Catfish and the Bottlemen	419	8	#4	–
37	Shut Up Kiss Me Angel Olsen	416	7	#7	–
38	7 Catfish and the Bottlemen	414	8	#16	–
39	You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen	406	5	#5	–
40	Radio Sylvan Esso	405	6	#12	–
41	Move Saint Motel	402	8	#7	–
42	Sure and Certain Jimmy Eat World	401	11	#24	–
43	Blood In The Cut K. Flay	400	6	#3	–
44	Ride Twenty One Pilots	394	5	#1	1
45	King of the World Weezer	394	7	#16	–
46	Rita Mae Young The Record Company	392	6	#8	–
47	The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala	378	5	#13	–
48	In a Drawer Band of Horses	371	8	#19	–
49	2AM Bear Hands	371	6	#11	–
50	Gardenia Iggy Pop	369	7	#11	–
51	One More Night Michael Kiwanuka	364	7	#26	–
52	Adventure of a Lifetime Coldplay	363	5	#5	–
53	33 God Bon Iver	363	7	#13	–
54	Capsized Andrew Bird	359	8	#26	–
55	American Money Borns	357	8	#5	–
56	Fountain of Youth Local Natives	356	8	#30	–
57	I Don't Care About You Lake Street Dive	347	5	#14	–
58	Still Breathing Green Day	340	7	#10	–
59	Send My Love (To Your New Lover) Adele	339	4	#3	–
60	Mountain At My Gates Foals	330	6	#14	–
61	On Hold The xx	326	7	#20	–
62	Trip Switch Nothing But Thieves	312	4	#2	–
63	Take It All Back JUDAH & THE LION	311	5	#5	–
64	Pretty Pimpin' Kurt Vile	311	5	#3	–
65	Fire Barns Courtney	310	7	#19	–
66	Better Man Leon Bridges	301	5	#9	–
67	Go Robot Red Hot Chili Peppers	296	8	#25	–
68	High and Low Empire of the Sun	292	9	#19	–
69	Oblivious The Strokes	287	6	#12	–
70	You And I Margaret Glaspy	281	5	#6	–
71	Get Out Frightened Rabbit	277	7	#28	–
72	Rhythm & Blues The Head and the Heart	277	4	#16	–
73	Sound & Color Alabama Shakes	271	4	#20	–
74	Somebody Else 1975	271	5	#8	–
75	Rebel Heart The Shelters	270	5	#6	–
76	She's Out Of Her Mind blink-182	270	4	#2	–
77	Call Off Your Dogs Lake Street Dive	270	5	#8	–
78	If I Ever Was a Child Wilco	265	6	#15	–
79	Alaska Maggie Rogers	264	6	#3	–
80	Gone Jr Jr	261	7	#12	–
81	Take It from Me Kongos	259	7	#31	–
82	Under the Influence Elle King	255	7	#20	–
83	True Sadness Avett Brothers	255	4	#13	–
84	Circadian Rhythm Silversun Pickups	253	4	#10	–
85	Woman Woman AWOLNATION	252	4	#11	–
86	Love and Hate Michael Kiwanuka	250	4	#3	–
87	The Sound 1975	247	7	#26	–
88	I Can't Stop Thinking About You Sting	246	5	#26	–
89	Redbone Childish Gambino	246	3	#5	–
90	Fire Escape Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness	243	4	#4	–
91	Anyhow Tedeschi Trucks Band	243	3	#4	–
92	The Sound of Silence Disturbed	242	3	#2	–
93	Lost On You LP	242	5	#26	–
94	Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces The Jayhawks	237	5	#16	–
95	Carry On Norah Jones	236	4	#16	–
96	Wristband Paul Simon	235	4	#10	–
97	Frankie Sinatra The Avalanches	233	4	#14	–
98	Turning Into Water Maybird	233	6	#36	–
99	No Good Kaleo	231	4	#24	–
100	Free Broods	228	6	#7	–

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
107.1 The Peak	Wish I Knew You Revivalists	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2016
88.3 The Sting	The Duke Lamb of God	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2016
90.9 The Bridge	Ophelia Lumineers	90.9 The Bridge Top 100 Songs of 2016
92.3 WTTS	American Money Borns	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2016
96.5 The Buzz	Life Itself Glass Animals	96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2016
Lightning 100	Numb Ojr	Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2016
SiriusXM Alt Nation	2 AM Bear Hands	SiriusXM Alt Nation's 36 Biggest Alternative Songs of 2016
SiriusXM Octane	My Name Is Human Highly Suspect	SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs of 2016
The Current	7 Catfish and the Bottlemen	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2016
WBER	Lazarus David Bowie	WBER Listener Countdown 2016
WERS 88.9	Ablaze School of Seven Bells	WERS Top 88 Songs of 2016
WFUV	Wow Beck	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2016
WRNR 103.1	Million Dollar Loan Death Cab For Cutie	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2016
WTMD	Lazarus David Bowie	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 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 21 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.