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

The best indie rock songs of 2017

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2017?

Combining 9 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2017 is "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man, which appeared on 9 of the lists.

Nine radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2017: 90.9 The Bridge, 92.3 WTTS, Lightning 100, The Current, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2017 is “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man, which appeared on nine of the nine countdowns and was voted number one by five of them. Five different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man (4 stations), “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell (2 stations), “Automatic” by Mondo Cozmo, “Love” by Lana Del Rey and “Over Everything” by Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett. The War On Drugs was the year’s most-charted artist, with four different songs placing 20 times across the countdowns.

9countdowns

441songs charted

5different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2017

All 441 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2017 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Feel It Still Portugal. The Man	891	9	#1	5
2	Up All Night Beck	680	9	#2	–
3	Hot Thoughts Spoon	659	9	#3	–
4	The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness The National	613	8	#4	–
5	Everything Now The Arcade Fire	602	8	#4	–
6	Pain The War On Drugs	564	7	#4	–
7	Los Ageless St. Vincent	545	7	#2	–
8	Holding On The War On Drugs	534	8	#3	–
9	Day I Die The National	527	7	#2	–
10	If We Were Vampires Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	496	5	#1	3
11	The Gold Manchester Orchestra	466	7	#6	–
12	Shine On Me Dan Auerbach	457	8	#14	–
13	No Roots Alice Merton	440	7	#3	–
14	Angela Lumineers	421	5	#2	–
15	Can I Sit Next To You Spoon	406	9	#6	–
16	Ballad of the Dying Man Father John Misty	380	6	#5	–
17	High Ticket Attractions The New Pornographers	380	7	#17	–
18	Die Young Sylvan Esso	374	6	#8	–
19	Dear Life Beck	367	7	#14	–
20	Human Rag'N'Bone Man	349	6	#5	–
21	Find Yourself Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real	343	4	#7	–
22	New York St. Vincent	336	5	#2	–
23	The Man The Killers	333	5	#13	–
24	Cold Little Heart Michael Kiwanuka	331	4	#2	–
25	Don't Delete The Kisses Wolf Alice	322	5	#9	–
26	Whole Wide World Cage The Elephant	318	5	#19	–
27	Matter of Time Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings	305	5	#15	–
28	Hope the High Road Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	289	5	#12	–
29	Total Entertainment Forever Father John Misty	287	5	#16	–
30	Mourning Sound Grizzly Bear	286	6	#14	–
31	My Mind is For Sale Jack Johnson	282	5	#19	–
32	Call The Police LCD Soundsystem	276	5	#12	–
33	Creature Comfort The Arcade Fire	274	3	#6	–
34	Whiteout Conditions The New Pornographers	273	5	#16	–
35	Redbone Childish Gambino	272	3	#3	–
36	Good with God Old 97's	269	5	#21	–
37	Love and Hate Michael Kiwanuka	266	4	#20	–
38	Do You Still Love Me? Ryan Adams	265	5	#4	–
39	On Hold The xx	256	4	#13	–
40	Lost On You LP	253	4	#11	–
41	It's a Shame First Aid Kit	253	4	#16	–
42	City Of Angels The Head and the Heart	252	4	#25	–
43	You're the Best Thing About Me U2	251	5	#17	–
44	Young Lady, You're Scaring Me Ron Gallo	248	4	#17	–
45	Lay it On Me Vance Joy	238	4	#13	–
46	In Cold Blood Alt J	234	5	#26	–
47	Two High Moon Taxi	233	4	#7	–
48	Motion Sickness Phoebe Bridgers	229	4	#8	–
49	The Way You Used To Do Queens of the Stone Age	228	4	#19	–
50	Jumpstarting Deer Tick	228	3	#18	–
51	Over Everything Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile	226	3	#5	–
52	Showboat Josh Ritter	219	4	#11	–
53	Sign of the Times Harry Styles	219	4	#15	–
54	To Be Without You Ryan Adams	214	3	#16	–
55	Call It Dreaming Iron and Wine	213	5	#27	–
56	Name For You The Shins	212	5	#9	–
57	Spent the Day in Bed Morrissey	210	4	#16	–
58	Highway Tune Greta Van Fleet	207	3	#11	–
59	Green Light Lorde	206	3	#18	–
60	Rhythm & Blues The Head and the Heart	199	3	#8	–
61	Only The Wild Ones Dispatch	187	3	#8	–
62	The Joke Brandi Carlile	186	3	#12	–
63	Shine Mondo Cozmo	185	4	#11	–
64	Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm) Chicano Batman	181	2	#5	–
65	Adore Amy Shark	180	4	#32	–
66	Live in the Moment Portugal. The Man	180	4	#31	–
67	A Little Pain Margo Price	177	4	#31	–
68	Bones of Saints Robert Plant	177	5	#35	–
69	Over Everything Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett	177	2	#1	1
70	Thinking of a place The War On Drugs	175	3	#10	–
71	He's Fine Secret Sisters	173	2	#14	–
72	Hope The High Road Jason Isbell	172	3	#7	–
73	Reverend Kings of Leon	171	4	#18	–
74	This Is It Lo Moon	170	4	#32	–
75	Do I Have To Talk You Into It Spoon	167	3	#10	–
76	Love Is Mystical Cold War Kids	163	3	#10	–
77	Lucky Penny JD McPherson	163	3	#13	–
78	Jackpot Nikki Lane	158	3	#32	–
79	Cold Cold Cold Cage The Elephant	156	2	#9	–
80	I Dare You The xx	151	6	#41	–
81	May I Have This Dance (remix) Francis and the Lights	150	2	#11	–
82	Waste a Moment Kings of Leon	149	2	#2	–
83	Love Lana Del Rey	146	4	#22	–
84	All On My Mind Anderson East	144	4	#44	–
85	Darling Real Estate	144	4	#35	–
86	Fool's Errand Fleet Foxes	143	3	#27	–
87	Silver Waxahatchee	142	2	#19	–
88	Radio Sylvan Esso	139	2	#25	–
89	Tearing Me Up Bob Moses	139	2	#15	–
90	They Put A Body In The Bayou Orwells	134	3	#43	–
91	Real Love Baby Father John Misty	128	2	#27	–
92	Shark Smile Big Thief	128	2	#13	–
93	Holy Mountain Noel Gallagher	120	2	#24	–
94	Stained Glass Real Estate	120	2	#41	–
95	Tonite LCD Soundsystem	120	3	#38	–
96	In a Drawer Band of Horses	117	2	#10	–
97	Witness Benjamin Booker	115	2	#33	–
98	Continental Breakfast Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile	112	2	#5	–
99	Stand By My Girl Dan Auerbach	110	2	#53	–
100	Revolution Van William	107	4	#36	–

Every station’s number one of 2017

Station	Number one song	Countdown
90.9 The Bridge	If We Were Vampires Jason Isbell	90.9 The Bridge Top 100 Songs of 2017
92.3 WTTS	Feel It Still Portugal. The Man	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2017
Lightning 100	Automatic Mondo Cozmo	Lightning 100 Top 200 Songs of 2017
The Current	Love Lana Del Rey	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2017
WERS 88.9	Feel It Still Portugal. The Man	WERS Top 88 Songs of 2017
WFUV	Feel It Still Portugal. The Man	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2017
WRNR 103.1	Feel it Still Portugal. The Man	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2017
WTMD	Over Everything Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2017
WXPN	If We Were Vampires Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	WXPN Year in Review: Top 50 Songs of 2017

All 2017 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2017 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 2017 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.