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

The best indie rock songs of 2018

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2018?

Combining 9 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2018 is "Bad Bad News" by Leon Bridges, which appeared on 8 of the lists.

Nine radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2018: 107.1 The Peak, 90.9 The Bridge, Exit 97.7, Lightning 100, The Current, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2018 is “Bad Bad News” by Leon Bridges, which appeared on eight of the nine countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Nine different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Uh-Huh” by Jade Bird, “For Tomorrow” by Bob & Una Walkenhorst, “Hold Out Your Hand” by Brandi Carlile, “Cash For Gold” by Cut Worms and “Hymnostic” by Big Red Machine and others. Leon Bridges was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 21 times across the countdowns.

9countdowns

507songs charted

9different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2018

All 507 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Bad Bad News Leon Bridges	720	8	#1	1
2	Beyond Leon Bridges	701	8	#2	–
3	Good Kisser Lake Street Dive	659	8	#7	–
4	You Worry Me Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	633	8	#1	1
5	Nina Cried Power Hozier	615	9	#1	1
6	Light On Maggie Rogers	518	8	#9	–
7	Loading Zones Kurt Vile	498	8	#2	–
8	Mr. Tillman Father John Misty	485	7	#4	–
9	Hey Mama Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	481	7	#4	–
10	Severed The Decemberists	475	7	#11	–
11	Uh-huh Jade Bird	465	6	#1	1
12	Make Me Feel Janelle Monae	462	5	#2	–
13	Gold Rush Death Cab for Cutie	450	7	#9	–
14	A Little Honey Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	443	7	#8	–
15	Such a Simple Thing Ray LaMontagne	436	7	#10	–
16	Apollo St. Paul & The Broken Bones	431	6	#4	–
17	Casanova Rayland Baxter	424	7	#7	–
18	New Birth in New England Phosphorescent	421	7	#6	–
19	Bad Luck Neko Case	417	7	#21	–
20	Lottery Jade Bird	410	6	#12	–
21	Nameless, Faceless Courtney Barnett	407	7	#20	–
22	Everybody's Coming To My House David Byrne	406	7	#8	–
23	Living in the Future Dawes	389	7	#21	–
24	The Joke Brandi Carlile	357	4	#1	1
25	Slow Burn Kacey Musgraves	349	4	#3	–
26	Hold Out Your Hand Brandi Carlile	349	4	#1	1
27	This is America Childish Gambino	339	4	#1	1
28	Life to Fix The Record Company	334	6	#3	–
29	Fever Pitch Rainbow Kitten Surprise	334	5	#6	–
30	Nobody Mitski	323	6	#10	–
31	No More Darkness, No More Light Amos Lee	321	7	#15	–
32	Mistake Middle Kids	310	5	#25	–
33	Summer's End John Prine	301	4	#9	–
34	Wait By The River Lord Huron	296	6	#24	–
35	Fine Line Parker Millsap	295	4	#14	–
36	Short Court Style Natalie Prass	292	5	#2	–
37	Hunger Florence And The Machine	292	6	#24	–
38	Beverly Low Cut Connie	286	4	#4	–
39	Fireworks First Aid Kit	279	3	#2	–
40	Sucker's Prayer The Decemberists	278	7	#38	–
41	Jeannie Becomes a Mom Caroline Rose	266	3	#9	–
42	Colors Beck	264	4	#10	–
43	Silver Lining Mt. Joy	260	5	#17	–
44	Wide Awake Parquet Courts	251	4	#7	–
45	Come on to Me Paul McCartney	248	6	#27	–
46	Shame Elle King	247	6	#12	–
47	All My Friends The Revivalists	245	5	#5	–
48	Best Days Lissie	241	5	#28	–
49	Keep A Little Soul Tom Petty	234	4	#29	–
50	Nevermind Dennis Lloyd	234	3	#21	–
51	Guiding Light Mumford & Sons	232	5	#11	–
52	Girlfriend Anderson East	224	4	#7	–
53	Charity Courtney Barnett	220	6	#18	–
54	Feed the Fire Dawes	208	3	#12	–
55	Lash Out Alice Merton	206	4	#10	–
56	Everybody Wants To Be Famous Superorganism	205	3	#16	–
57	Unwanted Number Elvis Costello	203	4	#26	–
58	Soul No. 5 Caroline Rose	201	4	#19	–
59	Four Out Of Five Arctic Monkeys	201	4	#23	–
60	Homesick Marcus King Band	197	5	#26	–
61	If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be) Leon Bridges	191	3	#13	–
62	Bambi Hippo Campus	188	5	#10	–
63	Connected By Love Jack White	186	5	#29	–
64	The Mother Brandi Carlile	185	3	#4	–
65	Knocking On Your Screen Door John Prine	184	2	#9	–
66	Throwback Jim James	183	3	#29	–
67	Heat Wave Snail Mail	172	3	#13	–
68	Keep A Little Soul Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	170	2	#3	–
69	Saturday Sun Vance Joy	168	3	#20	–
70	Woman Cat Power	164	3	#19	–
71	Loving Is Easy Rex Orange County	159	3	#20	–
72	Already Gone Brett Dennen	158	3	#35	–
73	Unwanted Number Elvis Costello and The Imposters	157	3	#25	–
74	Go Out Fighting Dr. Dog	157	2	#27	–
75	Shame Shame Shame Lake Street Dive	155	4	#15	–
76	Broken LovelyTheBand	155	2	#19	–
77	Mockingbird Ruston Kelly	149	2	#21	–
78	Shiny One Belly	148	3	#15	–
79	Girlfriend Christine and the Queens	147	2	#8	–
80	New Light John Mayer	147	3	#28	–
81	Northern Lights Death Cab for Cutie	145	3	#18	–
82	Jenny Jenkins Mt. Joy	145	3	#28	–
83	Here's Looking At You Kid Brett Dennen	142	4	#41	–
84	Healing Tide The War and Treaty	138	3	#20	–
85	Heart Killer Dr. Dog	132	2	#5	–
86	Get Out CHVRCHES	132	2	#14	–
87	Roll on Slow Glen Hansard	131	4	#29	–
88	Blackout Frank Turner	129	3	#19	–
89	Annihilation Song Rubblebucket	128	2	#41	–
90	The Middle Trampled by Turtles	125	2	#33	–
91	Bite The Hand Boygenius	123	2	#19	–
92	Make It Happen The Record Company	123	3	#42	–
93	Brooklyn in the Summer Aloe Blacc	121	2	#50	–
94	The Heart Is A Muscle Gang of Youths	120	2	#37	–
95	Happiness Jones Wood Brothers	120	2	#16	–
96	Party of One Brandi Carlile	114	2	#16	–
97	Don't Give In Snow Patrol	113	2	#37	–
98	Hideaway Great Peacock	113	2	#58	–
99	Tokyo Bay Nick Lowe	111	2	#12	–
100	Fists of Fury Kamasi Washington	110	2	#23	–

Every station’s number one of 2018

Station	Number one song	Countdown
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
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
The Current	Hymnostic Big Red Machine	The Current Top 89 Songs of 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

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 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.