What was the top indie rock song of 2016?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2016 is "Wow" by Beck, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

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

The best indie rock songs of 2016

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2016: The Current and WFUV. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2016 is “Wow” by Beck, 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: “7” by Catfish and the Bottlemen and “Wow” by Beck. David Bowie was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 5 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

150songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2016

All 150 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Wow Beck	199	2	#1	1
2	Lazarus David Bowie	197	2	#2	–
3	You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen	180	2	#5	–
4	Burn The Witch Radiohead	174	2	#11	–
5	Shut Up Kiss Me Angel Olsen	171	2	#7	–
6	Ain't No Man Avett Brothers	166	2	#4	–
7	Ophelia Lumineers	160	2	#8	–
8	Radio Sylvan Esso	152	2	#12	–
9	Gardenia Iggy Pop	151	2	#11	–
10	Real Love Baby Father John Misty	143	2	#25	–
11	White Flag Joseph	142	2	#10	–
12	Surrender Under Protest Drive-By Truckers	131	2	#22	–
13	33 God Bon Iver	127	2	#31	–
14	I'm Still Here Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings	122	2	#35	–
15	When the Tequila Runs Out Dawes	121	2	#24	–
16	Blackstar David Bowie	111	2	#30	–
17	Best Kept Secret case/lang/veirs	108	2	#8	–
18	Good as Hell Lizzo	100	1	#1	1
19	Love and Hate Michael Kiwanuka	98	1	#3	–
20	Casual Party Band of Horses	97	2	#26	–
21	Worship Lizzo	97	1	#4	–
22	Drunk Drivers Car Seat Headrest	96	1	#5	–
23	Older And Taller Regina Spektor	94	1	#6	–
24	Kismet Kill Haley Bonar	94	1	#6	–
25	Off the Ground The Record Company	93	1	#7	–
26	Call Off Your Dogs Lake Street Dive	91	1	#9	–
27	We the People A Tribe Called Quest	91	1	#9	–
28	Wristband Paul Simon	90	1	#10	–
29	You Dont Get Me High Anymore Phantogram	88	1	#12	–
30	True Sadness Avett Brothers	87	1	#13	–
31	Angels Chance The Rapper	87	1	#13	–
32	Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces The Jayhawks	86	2	#16	–
33	Wasting Time Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	85	1	#14	–
34	Rita Mae Young The Record Company	84	1	#15	–
35	"22 (Over Soon)" Bob Moses Extended Version Bon Iver	83	1	#16	–
36	All We Ever Knew The Head and the Heart	82	2	#37	–
37	Atomic Number case/lang/veirs	82	1	#17	–
38	Fill in The Blank Car Seat Headrest	82	1	#17	–
39	New Song Warpaint	81	1	#18	–
40	Redbone Childish Gambino	81	1	#18	–
41	Red Earth & Pouring Rain Bear's Den	80	1	#19	–
42	Don't Hurt Yourself Beyoncé	80	1	#19	–
43	Rhythm & Blues The Head and the Heart	79	1	#20	–
44	The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala	79	1	#20	–
45	8 (circle) Bon Iver	78	1	#21	–
46	Life Itself Glass Animals	77	2	#52	–
47	HandClap Fitz and the Tantrums	76	1	#22	–
48	Mess Around Cage The Elephant	76	1	#23	–
49	Youth Without Love Har Mar Superstar	75	1	#23	–
50	Blessings Chance The Rapper	74	1	#24	–
51	You And I Margaret Glaspy	73	1	#25	–
52	Voices in My Head Bob Mould	72	2	#36	–
53	Pink and White Frank Ocean	72	1	#26	–
54	Don't Need It Seratones	71	1	#27	–
55	Sound & Color Alabama Shakes	71	1	#27	–
56	Only a River Bob Weir	69	1	#29	–
57	Three Packs A Day Courtney Barnett	69	1	#29	–
58	Black Man in a White World Michael Kiwanuka	68	2	#48	–
59	True Love Waits Radiohead	66	1	#31	–
60	A Wonderful Life Brian Fallon	66	1	#32	–
61	Born Again Teen Lucius	65	1	#32	–
62	Easier Said Sunflower Bean	64	1	#33	–
63	Get Out Frightened Rabbit	63	1	#34	–
64	All We Got Chance The Rapper	63	1	#34	–
65	Bring My Baby Back Dr. Dog	59	1	#38	–
66	Emotions and Math Margaret Glaspy	58	1	#38	–
67	Cold To See Clear Nada Surf	58	1	#39	–
68	I Can't Give Everything Away David Bowie	57	1	#39	–
69	Bleeding Heart Regina Spektor	57	2	#41	–
70	Every Songbird Says Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop	57	1	#40	–
71	Moonbeam Levels Prince	56	1	#40	–
72	Hurtin' (On the Bottle) Margo Price	56	2	#44	–
73	I Wish I Was Sober Frightened Rabbit	56	1	#41	–
74	Ain't It a Sin Charles Bradley	55	2	#61	–
75	I'm In Love Teenage Fanclub	54	1	#42	–
76	Mistakes Lake Street Dive	53	1	#43	–
77	Cleopatra Lumineers	53	1	#43	–
78	Cranes in the Sky Solange	53	2	#50	–
79	A 1000 Times Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam	51	1	#45	–
80	Changes Charles Bradley	51	1	#45	–
81	A Litte Crazy Nicole Atkins	50	1	#46	–
82	Boyish Hippo Campus	49	1	#46	–
83	Anyhow Tedeschi Trucks Band	49	1	#47	–
84	In a Drawer Band of Horses	48	1	#47	–
85	To the Great Unknown Cloud Cult	47	1	#48	–
86	Madness Lucius	47	1	#49	–
87	Tiny Dinosaur Jr.	46	1	#50	–
88	Hey, No Pressure Ray LaMontagne	44	1	#51	–
89	Stoplight Kisses The Cactus Blossoms	44	1	#51	–
90	Let Me Get By Tedeschi Trucks Band	42	1	#53	–
91	Hometown Haley Bonar	42	1	#53	–
92	Tachycardia Conor Oberst	41	1	#54	–
93	On Hold The xx	40	1	#54	–
94	Dis Generation A Tribe Called Quest	40	1	#55	–
95	Through the Ages Cloud Cult	39	1	#55	–
96	Vaporize Amos Lee	39	1	#56	–
97	If I Ever Was a Child Wilco	38	1	#56	–
98	Classic Masher The Pixies	38	1	#57	–
99	Violet Hippo Campus	37	1	#57	–
100	Can't Get Enough Of Myself Santigold	37	1	#58	–

Every station’s number one of 2016

Station	Number one song	Countdown
The Current	7 Catfish and the Bottlemen	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2016
WFUV	Wow Beck	WFUV Top 90 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 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.