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

The best indie rock songs of 2020

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2020?

Combining 11 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2020 is "And It's Still Alright" by Nathaniel Rateliff, which appeared on 11 of the lists.

Eleven radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2020: 107.1 The Peak, 90.9 The Bridge, Exit 97.7, Indie 102.3, Lightning 100, The Current, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD and WXPN. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2020 is “And It's Still Alright” by Nathaniel Rateliff, which appeared on eleven of the eleven countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Ten different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Kyoto” by Phoebe Bridgers (2 stations), “Fire” by Black Pumas, “Habit” by Jake Wells, “And It's Still Alright” by Nathaniel Rateliff and “You're Not Alone” by Semisonic and others. Nathaniel Rateliff was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 20 times across the countdowns.

11countdowns

528songs charted

10different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2020

All 528 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	And It's Still Alright Nathaniel Rateliff	849	11	#1	1
2	Kyoto Phoebe Bridgers	796	10	#1	2
3	Bad Decisions The Strokes	783	10	#6	–
4	Lost In Yesterday Tame Impala	758	10	#2	–
5	Letter To You Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band	748	10	#2	–
6	Be Afraid Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	747	11	#6	–
7	Can I Believe You Fleet Foxes	714	11	#6	–
8	The Steps Haim	633	8	#1	1
9	Shameika Fiona Apple	627	8	#4	–
10	Feel You My Morning Jacket	590	9	#7	–
11	Lilacs Waxahatchee	587	8	#10	–
12	Texas Sun Khruangbin & Leon Bridges	584	8	#2	–
13	Ferris Wheel Sylvan Esso	584	10	#6	–
14	circle the drain Soccer Mommy	567	8	#4	–
15	Strong Enough Ray LaMontagne	559	8	#10	–
16	Dreamsicle Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit	553	7	#13	–
17	Time Stands Nathaniel Rateliff	526	8	#3	–
18	Dance Of The Clairvoyants Pearl Jam	515	9	#5	–
19	Private Lives Low Cut Connie	479	7	#11	–
20	The Let Go Elle King	477	7	#4	–
21	exile Taylor Swift	456	5	#3	–
22	Turntables Janelle Monae	454	6	#2	–
23	Under the Table Fiona Apple	440	6	#6	–
24	Expectations Katie Pruitt	435	7	#7	–
25	The Adults Are Talking The Strokes	431	7	#2	–
26	Is It True Tame Impala	427	6	#8	–
27	Cold Chris Stapleton	422	7	#2	–
28	Living in Ghost Town The Rolling Stones	421	8	#12	–
29	Caution The Killers	419	6	#9	–
30	Everything Has Changed Best Coast	418	9	#4	–
31	Shangri-La EOB	411	7	#7	–
32	Strangers Mt. Joy	408	7	#15	–
33	The Good Life Devon Gilfillian	395	6	#9	–
34	Who Do You Think You're Talking To? Dawes	389	7	#15	–
35	Shame Shame Foo Fighters	386	6	#16	–
36	Feel the Way I Want Caroline Rose	383	6	#8	–
37	My Own Soul's Warning The Killers	365	6	#5	–
38	Visitor Of Monsters And Men	361	5	#11	–
39	Fire Black Pumas	358	4	#1	1
40	Can't Do Much Waxahatchee	358	6	#22	–
41	For Sure Future Islands	351	6	#3	–
42	Domino Nicole Atkins	335	6	#5	–
43	This Forgotten Town The Jayhawks	334	7	#18	–
44	Identical Phoenix	327	7	#13	–
45	I Got You Michael Franti & Spearhead	323	5	#24	–
46	Leave Virginia Alone Tom Petty	321	4	#16	–
47	Time (You and I) Khruangbin	319	6	#8	–
48	Hard On Everyone Kathleen Edwards	318	7	#9	–
49	Options Open Kathleen Edwards	315	5	#3	–
50	Rolling Michael Kiwanuka	310	5	#8	–
51	Letting Me Down Margo Price	310	5	#1	1
52	Officer of Love CAAMP	308	5	#13	–
53	Can't Fight Lianne La Havas	306	6	#10	–
54	The Buzz The Pretenders	303	6	#21	–
55	Hell N Back Bakar	299	4	#10	–
56	Five More Minutes The War and Treaty	290	6	#1	1
57	I'm Ready Black Pumas	281	5	#8	–
58	How Lucky Kurt Vile	280	3	#7	–
59	Held Down Laura Marling	263	4	#7	–
60	One Day She's Here Marcus King	258	3	#15	–
61	JU$T Run the Jewels	257	3	#1	1
62	Video Game Sufjan Stevens	257	5	#14	–
63	4 American Dollars U.S. Girls	256	5	#24	–
64	Making Do Lake Street Dive	253	4	#5	–
65	Didn't Want to Be This Lonely The Pretenders	250	6	#29	–
66	Color My Life Chicano Batman	232	3	#3	–
67	You're Not Alone Semisonic	229	5	#20	–
68	Mariana Trench Bright Eyes	229	5	#34	–
69	Love You For A Long Time Maggie Rogers	229	4	#24	–
70	Hero Michael Kiwanuka	227	4	#25	–
71	Salt And The Sea Lumineers	225	4	#14	–
72	Lockdown Anderson. Paak	225	3	#2	–
73	Victory Avett Brothers	225	6	#40	–
74	Honeybee The Head and the Heart	222	3	#11	–
75	Black Madonna Cage The Elephant	219	3	#9	–
76	Figure It Out Blu DeTiger	218	5	#31	–
77	Lay Your Head On Me Major Lazer	216	3	#8	–
78	I Remember Everything John Prine	215	3	#10	–
79	Strange Girl Laura Marling	213	4	#18	–
80	Don't Let Me Down Milky Chance and Jack Johnson	212	4	#1	1
81	ooh la la Run the Jewels	210	3	#16	–
82	My Future Billie Eilish	207	4	#32	–
83	Unchained Devon Gilfillian	205	4	#23	–
84	Need Your Love Tennis	195	4	#35	–
85	By And By CAAMP	194	4	#18	–
86	All In It Together Mavis Staples	192	5	#28	–
87	You Can't Rule Me Lucinda Williams	189	4	#17	–
88	Impossible Weight Deep Sea Diver	188	6	#33	–
89	On The Floor Perfume Genius	186	5	#38	–
90	I'm Alive Norah Jones	186	3	#35	–
91	survivin' Bastille	181	3	#23	–
92	Brave Pressing Strings	181	3	#10	–
93	It Ain't Easy Delta Spirit	181	4	#25	–
94	I Want More Kaleo	172	4	#29	–
95	I Want You To Love Me Fiona Apple	172	3	#14	–
96	Neon Cross Jaime Wyatt	170	2	#2	–
97	BLACK PARADE Beyoncé	168	3	#9	–
98	Care Beabadoobee	168	5	#33	–
99	Back To Me Grace Potter	167	3	#4	–
100	The Great Divide The Shins	165	5	#42	–

Every station’s number one of 2020

Station	Number one song	Countdown
107.1 The Peak	Fire Black Pumas	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2020
90.9 The Bridge	Habit Jake Wells	90.9 The Bridge Top 90 Songs of 2020
Exit 97.7	And It's Still Alright Nathaniel Rateliff	WEXT Top 97 of 2020
Indie 102.3	Kyoto Phoebe Bridgers	Indie 102.3 Top 102.3 Songs of 2020
Lightning 100	You're Not Alone Semisonic	Lightning 100 Top 200 Songs of 2020
The Current	Guess Again Jeff Tweedy	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2020
WERS 88.9	The Steps Haim	WERS Top 88 Songs of 2020
WFUV	Kyoto Phoebe Bridgers	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2020
WRNR 103.1	This Year Can Kiss My Ass Meiko	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2020
WTMD	Five More Minutes The War And Treaty	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2020
WXPN	All In It Together Mavis Staples	WXPN Top 100 Most Played Songs 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 eleven 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.