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

The best rock songs of 2020

Q: What was the top rock song of 2020?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2020 is "Lost In Yesterday" by Tame Impala, which appeared on 5 of the lists.

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2020: 91X, CD101, SiriusXM Octane, The Current, WFUV and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2020 is “Lost In Yesterday” by Tame Impala, which appeared on five of the six countdowns. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “It Might Be Time” by Tame Impala, “Level Of Concern” by TWENTY ONE PILOTS, “Popular Monster” by Falling in Reverse, “Guess Again” by Jeff Tweedy and “Kyoto” by Phoebe Bridgers and others. Tame Impala was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 12 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

391songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2020

All 391 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2020 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Lost In Yesterday Tame Impala	417	5	#5	–
2	Bad Decisions The Strokes	345	4	#2	–
3	Everything I Wanted Billie Eilish	231	3	#2	–
4	My Own Soul's Warning The Killers	223	4	#8	–
5	Is It True Tame Impala	211	3	#17	–
6	Kyoto Phoebe Bridgers	198	2	#1	1
7	Level Of Concern Twenty One Pilots	193	2	#1	1
8	Hallucinogenics Matt Maeson	190	2	#3	–
9	Hell N Back Bakar	188	3	#14	–
10	Running Up That Hill Meg Myers	187	2	#5	–
11	Under the Table Fiona Apple	187	2	#6	–
12	And It's Still Alright Nathaniel Rateliff	187	2	#6	–
13	Caution The Killers	186	3	#13	–
14	Turntables Janelle Monae	184	2	#2	–
15	Your Love (Déjà Vu) Glass Animals	184	4	#44	–
16	Black Madonna Cage The Elephant	182	2	#6	–
17	Shameika Fiona Apple	180	2	#4	–
18	Lilacs Waxahatchee	173	2	#10	–
19	Dreamsicle Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	171	2	#13	–
20	Private Lives Low Cut Connie	166	2	#15	–
21	Honeybee The Head and the Heart	164	2	#17	–
22	Might Be Right White Reaper	162	2	#18	–
23	Dance Of The Clairvoyants Pearl Jam	161	3	#15	–
24	Hero Weezer	160	2	#17	–
25	Parasite Eve Bring Me the Horizon	160	2	#2	–
26	Fire For You Cannons	159	2	#14	–
27	The Steps Haim	158	2	#4	–
28	Hard On Everyone Kathleen Edwards	154	2	#9	–
29	Ferris Wheel Sylvan Esso	148	2	#22	–
30	Can I Believe You Fleet Foxes	147	2	#20	–
31	Can't Do Much Waxahatchee	146	2	#22	–
32	It Might Be Time Tame Impala	146	2	#1	1
33	When Am I Gonna Lose You Local Natives	145	2	#4	–
34	Options Open Kathleen Edwards	145	2	#3	–
35	Heat Waves Glass Animals	145	3	#1	1
36	Oh Yeah! Green Day	141	2	#21	–
37	Deleter Grouplove	141	2	#25	–
38	Shine A Little Light The Black Keys	140	2	#23	–
39	Can I Call You Tonight? Dayglow	140	2	#28	–
40	Novocaine Unlikely Candidates	140	2	#6	–
41	Are You Bored Yet? WALLOWS	136	2	#27	–
42	Social Cues Cage The Elephant	135	2	#24	–
43	How Will I Rest In Peace If I'm Buried By A Highway? Kenny Hoopla	133	2	#27	–
44	Therefore I Am Billie Eilish	131	3	#10	–
45	Texas Sun Khruangbin & Leon Bridges	130	2	#10	–
46	Revolution Heartless Bastards	126	2	#26	–
47	Be Afraid Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	125	2	#32	–
48	My Future Billie Eilish	124	4	#32	–
49	anything Adrianne Lenker	117	2	#30	–
50	I'm Ready Black Pumas	117	2	#18	–
51	Five More Minutes The War and Treaty	114	2	#37	–
52	Animals Architects	111	2	#14	–
53	Cringe Matt Maeson	110	2	#40	–
54	People I've Been Sad Christine and the Queens	109	2	#5	–
55	circle the drain Soccer Mommy	108	2	#12	–
56	Life In The City Lumineers	106	2	#29	–
57	Loneliness For Love LovelyTheBand	105	2	#36	–
58	I Want You To Love Me Fiona Apple	103	2	#14	–
59	Doin' Time Lana Del Rey	103	2	#26	–
60	This Forgotten Town The Jayhawks	102	2	#41	–
61	Popular Monster Falling in Reverse	100	1	#1	1
62	JU$T Run the Jewels	100	1	#1	1
63	Booster Seat Spacey Jane	99	1	#2	–
64	Letter To You Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band	99	1	#2	–
65	Orphans Coldplay	99	2	#38	–
66	The Difference Flume and Toro y Moi	98	1	#3	–
67	Dissolve Absofacto	98	1	#3	–
68	Cherub Ball Park Music	97	1	#4	–
69	Bang! Ajr	97	1	#4	–
70	Trampoline SHAED	96	1	#5	–
71	Moment in the Sun Sunflower Bean	96	1	#5	–
72	Tangerine Glass Animals	95	2	#18	–
73	WAP Cardi B	95	1	#6	–
74	Hyperfine G Flip	94	1	#7	–
75	Another Life Motionless in White	93	1	#3	–
76	How Lucky Kurt Vile and John Prine	93	1	#7	–
77	How Lucky Kurt Vile	93	1	#7	–
78	Sending Me Ur Loving The Jungle Giants	93	1	#8	–
79	2all Catfish and the Bottlemen	92	2	#49	–
80	I'm Good? Hilltop Hoods	92	1	#9	–
81	Everything Has Changed Best Coast	92	2	#40	–
82	Swim Good Switchfoot	91	1	#9	–
83	BLACK PARADE Beyoncé	91	1	#9	–
84	Monsters f/blackbear All Time Low	90	1	#10	–
85	Panic From Ashes to New	90	1	#4	–
86	On Our Own Lime Cordiale	90	1	#11	–
87	Coffee For Your Head POWFU	89	1	#11	–
88	Someone Else Rezz & Grabbitz	89	2	#48	–
89	Warning Pepper	89	1	#11	–
90	Get on the Beers Mashd N Kutcher	89	1	#12	–
91	I Remember Everything John Prine	89	1	#11	–
92	exile Taylor Swift	89	1	#11	–
93	The Hype Twenty One Pilots	88	1	#12	–
94	Rockstar Mallrat	88	1	#13	–
95	Leave Me Alone I Don't Know How But…	88	1	#12	–
96	Exile Taylor Swift and Bon Iver	88	1	#12	–
97	Hollywood Car Seat Headrest	88	3	#57	–
98	Tombstone Ocean Alley	87	1	#14	–
99	Atlas Falls Shinedown	87	1	#5	–
100	Skin Spacey Jane	86	1	#15	–

Every station’s number one of 2020

Station	Number one song	Countdown
91X	It Might Be Time Tame Impala	91X Top 91 Songs of 2020
CD101	Level Of Concern TWENTY ONE PILOTS	CD101 Top 93 Songs of 2020
SiriusXM Octane	Popular Monster Falling in Reverse	SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs of 2020
The Current	Guess Again Jeff Tweedy	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2020
WFUV	Kyoto Phoebe Bridgers	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2020
Triple J	Heat Waves Glass Animals	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2020

All 2020 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2020 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 2020 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 six qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.