What was the top indie rock song of 2016?

Combining 9 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2016 is "Ophelia" by Lumineers, which appeared on 8 of the lists.

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

The best indie rock songs of 2016

Nine radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2016: 107.1 The Peak, 90.9 The Bridge, 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 2016 is “Ophelia” by Lumineers, which appeared on eight of the nine countdowns and was voted number one by three of them. Nine different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Wish I Knew You” by Revivalists, “Ophelia” by Lumineers, “American Money” by Borns, “Numb” by Ojr and “7” by Catfish and the Bottlemen and others. Lumineers was the year’s most-charted artist, with two different songs placing 14 times across the countdowns.

9countdowns

406songs charted

9different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2016

All 406 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	709	8	#1	3
2	Lazarus David Bowie	691	8	#1	1
3	White Flag Joseph	616	9	#7	–
4	Casual Party Band of Horses	609	9	#5	–
5	Ain't No Man Avett Brothers	603	8	#4	–
6	All We Ever Knew The Head and the Heart	589	9	#4	–
7	Wish I knew You The Revivalists	558	7	#1	1
8	Burn The Witch Radiohead	541	7	#5	–
9	Wow Beck	521	7	#1	1
10	Off the Ground The Record Company	490	6	#3	–
11	When the Tequila Runs Out Dawes	478	6	#8	–
12	Cleopatra Lumineers	468	6	#2	–
13	Real Love Baby Father John Misty	450	7	#7	–
14	Shut Up Kiss Me Angel Olsen	413	6	#7	–
15	Trouble Cage The Elephant	408	5	#2	–
16	You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen	406	5	#5	–
17	Waste a Moment Kings of Leon	397	5	#8	–
18	Way Down We Go Kaleo	389	5	#3	–
19	Dark Necessities Red Hot Chili Peppers	371	5	#9	–
20	One More Night Michael Kiwanuka	364	7	#26	–
21	I Don't Care About You Lake Street Dive	347	5	#14	–
22	Gardenia Iggy Pop	344	6	#11	–
23	Send My Love (To Your New Lover) Adele	339	4	#3	–
24	Capsized Andrew Bird	333	7	#26	–
25	In a Drawer Band of Horses	326	6	#19	–
26	33 God Bon Iver	317	5	#13	–
27	Radio Sylvan Esso	317	5	#12	–
28	Mess Around Cage The Elephant	311	4	#12	–
29	Fire Barns Courtney	298	6	#19	–
30	Good Grief Bastille	295	4	#11	–
31	You And I Margaret Glaspy	281	5	#6	–
32	Rhythm & Blues The Head and the Heart	277	4	#16	–
33	Rita Mae Young The Record Company	274	4	#8	–
34	Brazil Declan McKenna	273	6	#28	–
35	Call Off Your Dogs Lake Street Dive	270	5	#8	–
36	New Song Warpaint	270	4	#16	–
37	If I Ever Was a Child Wilco	265	6	#15	–
38	True Sadness Avett Brothers	255	4	#13	–
39	Better Man Leon Bridges	252	4	#9	–
40	Love and Hate Michael Kiwanuka	250	4	#3	–
41	I Need Never Get Old Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	249	3	#4	–
42	You Dont Get Me High Anymore Phantogram	244	6	#12	–
43	Anyhow Tedeschi Trucks Band	243	3	#4	–
44	Lost On You LP	242	5	#26	–
45	Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces The Jayhawks	237	5	#16	–
46	Carry On Norah Jones	236	4	#16	–
47	Wristband Paul Simon	235	4	#10	–
48	Ghenghis Khan Miike Snow	228	4	#1	1
49	Alaska Maggie Rogers	227	5	#3	–
50	Katchi Nick Waterhouse	225	3	#6	–
51	American Money Borns	224	6	#34	–
52	Move Saint Motel	223	5	#7	–
53	Get Out Frightened Rabbit	223	5	#28	–
54	I'm Still Here Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings	222	3	#1	1
55	Kiss This The Struts	215	3	#5	–
56	Life Itself Glass Animals	199	4	#31	–
57	Bring My Baby Back Dr. Dog	196	4	#24	–
58	Here In Spirit Jim James	193	5	#7	–
59	Hey, No Pressure Ray LaMontagne	191	4	#21	–
60	Sound & Color Alabama Shakes	190	3	#20	–
61	Brace for Impact (Live a Little) Sturgill Simpson	190	5	#19	–
62	Shine Mondo Cozmo	187	4	#34	–
63	Ain't It a Sin Charles Bradley	180	4	#36	–
64	Welcome to Your Life Grouplove	178	3	#19	–
65	Holy Commotion The Pretenders	177	5	#54	–
66	Emotions and Math Margaret Glaspy	177	4	#37	–
67	Spirits The Strumbellas	177	3	#24	–
68	Adventure of a Lifetime Coldplay	175	2	#5	–
69	Pretty Pimpin' Kurt Vile	173	2	#6	–
70	Bleeding Heart Regina Spektor	173	4	#37	–
71	Turning Into Water Maybird	173	4	#36	–
72	I Can't Stop Thinking About You Sting	171	4	#26	–
73	Unsteady X Ambassadors	171	2	#2	–
74	Under the Influence Elle King	168	4	#20	–
75	Little Movies Aaron Lee Tasjan	165	2	#9	–
76	Fountain of Youth Local Natives	165	5	#43	–
77	Help Me Out Wild Feathers	162	2	#4	–
78	Atomic Number case/lang/veirs	161	2	#17	–
79	Don't You Give Up on Me Lissie	160	5	#41	–
80	Fill in The Blank Car Seat Headrest	159	2	#17	–
81	HandClap Fitz and the Tantrums	159	3	#22	–
82	Don't Hurt Yourself Beyoncé	159	2	#19	–
83	No Good Kaleo	157	3	#27	–
84	On Hold The xx	156	3	#32	–
85	Smooth Sailin' Leon Bridges	155	2	#13	–
86	Redbone Childish Gambino	150	2	#18	–
87	Born Again Teen Lucius	145	3	#32	–
88	Ain't Nothin' Wrong With That Marcus King Band	143	2	#14	–
89	Wasting Time Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	142	3	#14	–
90	Catch & Release Matt Simons	133	3	#16	–
91	Overnight Wild Feathers	131	2	#19	–
92	Surrender Under Protest Drive-By Truckers	131	2	#22	–
93	Best Kept Secret case/lang/veirs	128	4	#8	–
94	Vaporize Amos Lee	127	3	#56	–
95	Classic Masher The Pixies	127	5	#57	–
96	A 1000 Times Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam	124	2	#29	–
97	Something to Believe In Young the Giant	123	4	#41	–
98	Go Robot Red Hot Chili Peppers	119	2	#25	–
99	Up & Up Coldplay	118	2	#27	–
100	Hurtin' (On the Bottle) Margo Price	118	3	#40	–

Every station’s number one of 2016

Station	Number one song	Countdown
107.1 The Peak	Wish I Knew You Revivalists	WXPK Top 107 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
Lightning 100	Numb Ojr	Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2016
The Current	7 Catfish and the Bottlemen	The Current Top 89 Songs of 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

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 nine 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.