What was the top rock song of 2021?

Combining 6 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2021 is "Chaise Longue" by Wet Leg, which appeared on 4 of the lists.

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

The best rock songs of 2021

Six radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2021: 91X, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, SiriusXM Octane, The Current, WFUV and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2021 is “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg, which appeared on four of the six countdowns and was voted number one by two of them. Six different songs were voted number one somewhere: “The Adults Are Talking” by The Strokes, “Blow Up” by The Beaches, “Animals” by Architects, “Strong Feelings” by Dry Cleaning and “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg and others. Foo Fighters was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 7 times across the countdowns.

6countdowns

326songs charted

6different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2021

All 326 songs →

Ranked by combined points across every 2021 year-end countdown in this format. How it works.

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	351	4	#1	2
2	Solar Power Lorde	267	4	#10	–
3	I Don't Live Here Anymore The War On Drugs	256	3	#2	–
4	Missing Piece Vance Joy	253	3	#2	–
5	The Angel of 8th Ave. Gang of Youths	244	3	#6	–
6	Survivor Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	222	4	#8	–
7	All My Favorite Songs Weezer	214	4	#10	–
8	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	193	2	#2	–
9	Be Sweet Japanese Breakfast	189	2	#4	–
10	FREEDOM Jon Batiste	183	2	#5	–
11	Waiting On A War Foo Fighters	179	2	#3	–
12	Quiet Town The Killers	179	2	#5	–
13	I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) Glass Animals	178	3	#23	–
14	Hypotheticals Lake Street Dive	178	2	#11	–
15	Hurt Arlo Parks	175	2	#7	–
16	We Are Between Modest Mouse	173	2	#4	–
17	Smile Wolf Alice	172	3	#21	–
18	Paprika Japanese Breakfast	171	2	#13	–
19	Black Myself Amythyst Kiah	161	2	#3	–
20	What You Say Cold War Kids	158	2	#6	–
21	Taking Me Back Jack White	157	2	#19	–
22	Easy On Me Adele	156	2	#18	–
23	Stop Making This Hurt Bleachers	155	3	#14	–
24	justified Kacey Musgraves	154	2	#19	–
25	Not Dead Yet Lord Huron	143	2	#26	–
26	Stand For Myself Yola	142	2	#16	–
27	brutal Olivia Rodrigo	139	2	#3	–
28	Can't Let Go Robert Plant & Alison Krauss	139	2	#14	–
29	Witchoo Durand Jones & The Indications	137	2	#13	–
30	Shy Away Twenty One Pilots	137	2	#2	–
31	Phoenix Big Red Machine	135	2	#29	–
32	DiE4u Bring Me the Horizon	135	2	#8	–
33	I Need You Jon Batiste	132	2	#23	–
34	Mine Forever Lord Huron	127	2	#26	–
35	The Hardest Cut Spoon	124	3	#20	–
36	Walking at a Downtown Pace Parquet Courts	123	2	#27	–
37	Serotonin Girl In Red	122	3	#40	–
38	The Bandit Kings of Leon	120	2	#9	–
39	Rumors Lizzo	119	2	#9	–
40	Hush The Marias	114	3	#34	–
41	Long Way Eddie Vedder	114	2	#39	–
42	Write a List Of Things to Look Forward To Courtney Barnett	113	2	#22	–
43	Brando Lucy Dacus	112	2	#10	–
44	Good Days SZA	109	2	#22	–
45	Typhoons Royal Blood	108	2	#12	–
46	Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic	107	2	#43	–
47	Call me a Fool Valerie June	106	2	#30	–
48	Motorbike Leon Bridges	106	2	#33	–
49	Amoeba Clairo	106	2	#9	–
50	Magnolia Blues Adia Victoria	104	2	#37	–
51	Hot and Heavy Lucy Dacus	104	2	#35	–
52	Like I Used To Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen	102	2	#35	–
53	Certainty Big Thief	101	2	#18	–
54	Shame Shame Foo Fighters	100	2	#7	–
55	The Adults Are Talking The Strokes	100	1	#1	1
56	Blow Up The Beaches	100	1	#1	1
57	Animals Architects	100	1	#1	1
58	Elephant (Like a Version) The Wiggles	100	1	#1	1
59	Broken Horses Brandi Carlile	99	2	#45	–
60	Stay The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber	99	1	#2	–
61	Brightside Lumineers	99	2	#15	–
62	Stacking Chairs Middle Kids	99	2	#39	–
63	Worry With You Sleater-Kinney	98	2	#25	–
64	Lots of Nothing Spacey Jane	98	1	#3	–
65	Crawling Kingsnake The Black Keys	98	2	#17	–
66	Fire For You Canons	98	1	#3	–
67	Good 4 U Olivia Rodrigo	97	1	#4	–
68	Heat Waves Glass Animals	97	2	#25	–
69	Let The Bad Times Roll The Offspring	97	1	#4	–
70	Teardrops Bring Me the Horizon	97	1	#2	–
71	Days Like These Low	97	1	#4	–
72	The Last Man on Earth Wolf Alice	96	2	#46	–
73	Happier Than Ever Billie Eilish	96	1	#5	–
74	He Said She Said CHVRCHES	96	2	#40	–
75	Colors Black Pumas	96	1	#5	–
76	Diamond Studded Shoes Yola	95	2	#31	–
77	Kiss Me More Doja Cat	94	1	#7	–
78	Bed Head Manchester Orchestra	94	2	#32	–
79	Hip to Be Scared Ice Nine Kills	93	1	#3	–
80	817 Oakland Avenue Charlie Parr	93	1	#7	–
81	Industry Baby Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow	93	1	#8	–
82	Freaks Surf Curse	92	1	#8	–
83	You and Me On The Rock Brandi Carlile	92	1	#8	–
84	On My Knees Rüfüs Du Sol	92	1	#9	–
85	Montero (Call Me by Your Name) Lil Nas X	91	1	#10	–
86	Is It True Tame Impala	90	1	#10	–
87	Adrenaline Zero 9:36	90	1	#4	–
88	H.Y.C.Y.BH Tom Cardy	90	1	#11	–
89	Lunchtime Spacey Jane	89	1	#12	–
90	Drivers License Olivia Rodrigo	88	1	#13	–
91	Estella Kenny Hoopla	88	1	#12	–
92	Bitter Taste Billy Idol	88	1	#12	–
93	Apple Crumble Lime Cordiale and Idris Elba	87	1	#14	–
94	The Past Is Dead Beartooth	87	1	#5	–
95	Nowhere Generation Rise Against	86	1	#14	–
96	Seventeen Going Under Sam Fender	85	1	#16	–
97	How Not To Drown CHVRCHES	84	1	#15	–
98	Mixed Messages Tom Cardy	84	1	#17	–
99	Beggin' Maneskin	84	1	#16	–
100	Rainy Day Ice Nine Kills	83	1	#6	–

Every station’s number one of 2021

Station	Number one song	Countdown
91X	The Adults Are Talking The Strokes	91X Top 91 Songs of 2021
CFNY 102.1 The Edge	Blow Up The Beaches	102.1 The Edge The Top 21 of 2021
SiriusXM Octane	Animals Architects	SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs of 2021
The Current	Strong Feelings Dry Cleaning	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2021
WFUV	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2021
Triple J	Elephant (Like a Version) The Wiggles	Triple J Hottest 100 of 2021

All 2021 countdowns in this ranking

About the 2021 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 2021 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.