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

The best rock songs of 2018

Q: What was the top rock song of 2018?

Combining 21 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2018 is "You Worry Me" by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which appeared on 12 of the lists.

21 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2018: 91X, The Buzz, 102.7 WEQX, 107.1 The Peak, 90.9 The Bridge, 93.3 WMMR, 94.3 KILO, 98KUPD, 99 Rock, ALT 104.5, Exit 97.7, Lightning 100, SiriusXM Octane, The Current, WBER, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD, WXPN, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2018 is “You Worry Me” by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which appeared on twelve of the 21 countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. 21 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “If You Want It” by Slightly Stoopid, “Every Step That I Take” by Tom Morello feat. Portugal. The Man, “She's Kerosene” by The Interrupters, “Uh-Huh” by Jade Bird and “For Tomorrow” by Bob & Una Walkenhorst and others. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 26 times across the countdowns.

21countdowns

937songs charted

21different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2018

All 937 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2018 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	You Worry Me Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	949	12	#1	1
2	Gold Rush Death Cab for Cutie	816	13	#2	–
3	Bad Bad News Leon Bridges	720	8	#1	1
4	Nina Cried Power Hozier	705	11	#1	1
5	Beyond Leon Bridges	701	8	#2	–
6	Good Kisser Lake Street Dive	659	8	#7	–
7	Severed The Decemberists	629	9	#4	–
8	Hunger Florence And The Machine	608	11	#3	–
9	Mr. Tillman Father John Misty	576	8	#4	–
10	Colors Beck	574	9	#5	–
11	Guiding Light Mumford & Sons	565	10	#11	–
12	Uh-huh Jade Bird	552	7	#1	1
13	Broken LovelyTheBand	544	6	#1	1
14	Devil Shinedown	526	6	#1	1
15	Light On Maggie Rogers	518	8	#9	–
16	Saturday Sun Vance Joy	499	9	#20	–
17	Loading Zones Kurt Vile	498	8	#2	–
18	All My Friends The Revivalists	489	10	#5	–
19	Hey Mama Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	481	7	#4	–
20	Fever Pitch Rainbow Kitten Surprise	463	8	#6	–
21	Make Me Feel Janelle Monae	462	5	#2	–
22	Life to Fix The Record Company	453	8	#3	–
23	Are You Ready Disturbed	452	6	#3	–
24	Bulletproof Godsmack	451	5	#1	1
25	You Should See Me In A Crown Billie Eilish	443	7	#1	1
26	A Little Honey Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	443	7	#8	–
27	Everybody's Coming To My House David Byrne	439	8	#8	–
28	This is America Childish Gambino	436	5	#1	1
29	Such a Simple Thing Ray LaMontagne	436	7	#10	–
30	Body Talks The Struts	431	6	#11	–
31	Apollo St. Paul & The Broken Bones	431	6	#4	–
32	Casanova Rayland Baxter	424	7	#7	–
33	New Birth in New England Phosphorescent	421	7	#6	–
34	Bad Luck Neko Case	417	7	#21	–
35	Zombie Bad Wolves	411	5	#1	1
36	You're Somebody Else Flora Cash	411	6	#4	–
37	Lottery Jade Bird	410	6	#12	–
38	Nameless, Faceless Courtney Barnett	407	7	#20	–
39	Mistake Middle Kids	400	7	#25	–
40	Natural Imagine Dragons	398	5	#8	–
41	Living in the Future Dawes	389	7	#21	–
42	She's Kerosene The Interrupters	387	5	#1	1
43	Wait By The River Lord Huron	369	8	#24	–
44	Four Out Of Five Arctic Monkeys	365	8	#10	–
45	Jeannie Becomes a Mom Caroline Rose	364	4	#3	–
46	Fine Line Parker Millsap	364	5	#14	–
47	When The Curtain Falls Greta Van Fleet	362	7	#13	–
48	Say Amen (Saturday Night) Panic! at the Disco	358	4	#5	–
49	The Joke Brandi Carlile	357	4	#1	1
50	Whatever It Takes Imagine Dragons	357	4	#1	1
51	Everybody Wants To Be Famous Superorganism	353	5	#16	–
52	Slow Burn Kacey Musgraves	349	4	#3	–
53	Lash Out Alice Merton	349	7	#10	–
54	Hold Out Your Hand Brandi Carlile	349	4	#1	1
55	Africa Weezer	346	6	#4	–
56	High Hopes Panic! at the Disco	339	4	#2	–
57	Quarter Past Midnight Bastille	335	6	#11	–
58	Sit Next To Me Foster The People	335	4	#2	–
59	Jumpsuit Twenty One Pilots	333	4	#2	–
60	Live in the Moment Portugal. The Man	329	4	#3	–
61	Sham Pain Five Finger Death Punch	328	4	#6	–
62	House On Fire Rise Against	327	5	#7	–
63	Nobody Mitski	323	6	#10	–
64	No More Darkness, No More Light Amos Lee	321	7	#15	–
65	Red Cold River Breaking Benjamin	316	4	#7	–
66	Thought Contagion Muse	316	6	#5	–
67	My Blood Twenty One Pilots	313	4	#8	–
68	When Legends Rise Godsmack	305	4	#1	1
69	Summer's End John Prine	301	4	#9	–
70	Nevermind Dennis Lloyd	301	5	#19	–
71	Shame Elle King	299	8	#12	–
72	The Mountain Three Days Grace	297	4	#9	–
73	Connected By Love Jack White	297	8	#29	–
74	Mantra Bring Me the Horizon	293	4	#7	–
75	Short Court Style Natalie Prass	292	5	#2	–
76	Ghost Badflower	290	4	#11	–
77	Get Out CHVRCHES	288	5	#9	–
78	Alone in a Room Asking Alexandria	287	3	#2	–
79	Beverly Low Cut Connie	286	4	#4	–
80	Soul No. 5 Caroline Rose	281	5	#19	–
81	Fireworks First Aid Kit	279	3	#2	–
82	Sucker's Prayer The Decemberists	278	7	#38	–
83	Rats Ghost	274	4	#2	–
84	Silver Lining Mt. Joy	270	6	#17	–
85	Handyman AWOLNATION	270	4	#9	–
86	Bambi Hippo Campus	262	6	#10	–
87	All Out Life Slipknot	252	3	#5	–
88	Wide Awake Parquet Courts	251	4	#7	–
89	Safari Song Greta Van Fleet	249	4	#7	–
90	Come on to Me Paul McCartney	248	6	#27	–
91	Run For Cover The Killers	244	4	#3	–
92	Disease Beartooth	243	4	#4	–
93	Best Days Lissie	241	5	#28	–
94	Deathwish Red Sun Rising	237	4	#10	–
95	Hear Me Now Bad Wolves	235	4	#14	–
96	Keep A Little Soul Tom Petty	234	4	#29	–
97	Miracle CHVRCHES	234	6	#29	–
98	I Feel Like I'm Drowning Two Feet	232	4	#11	–
99	Do You Really Want It? Nothing More	232	3	#13	–
100	Uncomfortable Halestorm	230	3	#8	–

Every station’s number one of 2018

Station	Number one song	Countdown
91X	If You Want It Slightly Stoopid	91X Top 91 Songs of 2018
The Buzz	Every Step That I Take Tom Morello feat. Portugal. The Man	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2018
102.7 WEQX	She's Kerosene The Interrupters	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2018
107.1 The Peak	Uh-Huh Jade Bird	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2018
90.9 The Bridge	For Tomorrow Bob & Una Walkenhorst	90.9 The Bridge Top 90 Songs of 2018
93.3 WMMR	The One You Know Alice In Chains	WMMR Top 25 Songs of 2018
94.3 KILO	Driving Rain Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators	KILO 2018 Top 30 Kountdown
98KUPD	Bulletproof Godsmack	98KUPD Top 98 of 2018
99 Rock	Crazy From Ashes to New	99Rock WFRD Top 99 of 2018
ALT 104.5	Sober Up AJR	Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2018
Exit 97.7	Hold Out Your Hand Brandi Carlile	WEXT Top 97 of 2018
Lightning 100	Cash For Gold Cut Worms	Lightning 100 Top 200 Songs of 2018
SiriusXM Octane	Zombie Bad Wolves	SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs of 2018
The Current	Hymnostic Big Red Machine	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2018
WBER	You Should See Me In A Crown Billie Eilish	WBER Listener Countdown 2018
WFUV	Nina Cried Power Hozier	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2018
WRNR 103.1	Alex Ovechkin, It's Your Day Garth Ukrainetz	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2018
WTMD	Keep Falling Over Outcalls	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2018
WXPN	Come On To Me Paul McCartney	WXPN Year in Review: Top 50 Songs of 2018
X96	Whatever It Takes Imagine Dragons	X96 Top 50 Songs of 2018
Triple J	Confidence Ocean Alley	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2018

All 2018 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2018 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 2018 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.