Year-end consensus · All Rock Formats · 25 countdowns combined

The best rock songs of 2021

Q: What was the top rock song of 2021?

Combining 25 year-end radio countdowns, the top rock song of 2021 is "I Don't Live Here Anymore" by The War On Drugs, which appeared on 17 of the lists.

25 radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2021: 91X, CFNY 102.1 The Edge, 102.7 WEQX, 107.1 The Peak, 88.3 The Sting, 90.9 The Bridge, 90.9 The Bridge, 93X, 94.3 KILO, 98KUPD, ALT 104.5, Exit 97.7, Impact 89FM, Lightning 100, SiriusXM Octane, The Current, WBER, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD, WXPN, WYEP, X96 and Triple J. Combining every list, the top rock song of 2021 is “I Don't Live Here Anymore” by The War On Drugs, which appeared on 17 of the 25 countdowns. 25 different songs were voted number one somewhere: “The Adults Are Talking” by The Strokes, “Blow Up” by The Beaches, “I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)” by Glass Animals, “Right On Time” by Brandi Carlile and “All My Favorite Songs” by Weezer and others. Foo Fighters was the year’s most-charted artist, with five different songs placing 31 times across the countdowns.

25countdowns

989songs charted

25different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2021

All 989 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	I Don't Live Here Anymore The War On Drugs	1,184	17	#2	–
2	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	1,111	14	#1	2
3	Be Sweet Japanese Breakfast	1,067	13	#2	–
4	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	1,017	12	#1	1
5	Hypotheticals Lake Street Dive	981	12	#1	1
6	Solar Power Lorde	914	17	#6	–
7	We Are Between Modest Mouse	877	13	#4	–
8	Survivor Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	873	14	#7	–
9	Waiting On A War Foo Fighters	859	13	#3	–
10	I Need You Jon Batiste	824	12	#1	1
11	Black Myself Amythyst Kiah	803	11	#2	–
12	FREEDOM Jon Batiste	775	10	#2	–
13	Not Dead Yet Lord Huron	772	12	#3	–
14	The Bandit Kings of Leon	765	13	#8	–
15	Stop Making This Hurt Bleachers	761	14	#6	–
16	Brightside Lumineers	738	12	#6	–
17	All My Favorite Songs Weezer	721	12	#6	–
18	justified Kacey Musgraves	717	11	#10	–
19	Bed Head Manchester Orchestra	684	11	#1	1
20	The Hardest Cut Spoon	672	11	#4	–
21	Motorbike Leon Bridges	672	12	#7	–
22	Taking Me Back Jack White	671	10	#14	–
23	Missing Piece Vance Joy	658	10	#2	–
24	Hurt Arlo Parks	656	9	#5	–
25	Easy On Me Adele	652	10	#5	–
26	Love Love Love My Morning Jacket	622	12	#8	–
27	Call me a Fool Valerie June	617	9	#6	–
28	Hush The Marias	598	9	#6	–
29	Diamond Studded Shoes Yola	587	11	#1	1
30	Can't Let Go Robert Plant & Alison Krauss	581	11	#4	–
31	Quiet Town The Killers	568	7	#5	–
32	Pay Your Way in Pain St. Vincent	544	11	#6	–
33	Mine Forever Lord Huron	534	7	#2	–
34	Crawling Kingsnake The Black Keys	530	11	#6	–
35	Like I Used To Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen	514	7	#5	–
36	Nowhere Generation Rise Against	497	7	#5	–
37	Brando Lucy Dacus	493	9	#8	–
38	Magnificent Hurt Elvis Costello and The Imposters	492	9	#11	–
39	Serotonin Girl In Red	487	8	#7	–
40	Making A Fire Foo Fighters	484	9	#7	–
41	U&ME Alt J	476	11	#13	–
42	Witchoo Durand Jones & The Indications	471	7	#13	–
43	Heat Waves Glass Animals	459	6	#1	1
44	What You Say Cold War Kids	443	11	#6	–
45	I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) Glass Animals	442	7	#1	1
46	Moaning Lisa Smile Wolf Alice	437	9	#21	–
47	How High The Record Company	432	7	#20	–
48	Hold Yourself TuneYards	421	8	#22	–
49	Crutch Band of Horses	417	7	#3	–
50	Low Chet Faker	412	6	#4	–
51	Follow You Imagine Dragons	412	6	#1	2
52	Amoeba Clairo	411	8	#9	–
53	Valentine Snail Mail	410	8	#1	1
54	Nightflyer Allison Russell	405	6	#1	1
55	Beggin' Maneskin	404	5	#4	–
56	Colorado Milky Chance	392	7	#5	–
57	Shy Away Twenty One Pilots	387	5	#2	–
58	Write a List Of Things to Look Forward To Courtney Barnett	382	9	#22	–
59	Long Way Eddie Vedder	378	7	#13	–
60	See The World Brett Dennen	369	7	#20	–
61	Questions Middle Kids	367	7	#7	–
62	Teardrops Bring Me the Horizon	351	4	#2	–
63	Open Up The Heavens Jade Bird	350	6	#8	–
64	Worry With You Sleater-Kinney	344	9	#21	–
65	Freedom Illiterate Light	342	6	#2	–
66	Sanctuary Hiss Golden Messenger	342	7	#5	–
67	Hope Arlo Parks	337	7	#15	–
68	Higher Power Coldplay	335	6	#4	–
69	The Angel of 8th Ave. Gang of Youths	332	5	#6	–
70	Hot and Heavy Lucy Dacus	329	6	#17	–
71	Wrecked Imagine Dragons	324	5	#11	–
72	Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic	323	5	#13	–
73	Better Michigander	322	6	#12	–
74	Walking at a Downtown Pace Parquet Courts	322	5	#15	–
75	Roots and Wings The Wallflowers	314	6	#7	–
76	Once In A Lifetime All Time Low	313	5	#11	–
77	How Low Heartless Bastards	310	5	#12	–
78	How Not To Drown CHVRCHES	308	4	#1	1
79	Bitter Taste Billy Idol	303	5	#4	–
80	Last Train Home John Mayer	300	6	#11	–
81	Saturday Twenty One Pilots	299	4	#2	–
82	662 Christone Kingfish Ingram	295	4	#2	–
83	Your Power Billie Eilish	292	7	#21	–
84	Vertigo Alice Merton	291	8	#13	–
85	Self Destructor Chevelle	291	4	#3	–
86	Stand For Myself Yola	289	4	#16	–
87	Kill the Noise Papa Roach	286	5	#2	–
88	Typhoons Royal Blood	285	5	#12	–
89	Worry No More Amos Lee	285	6	#14	–
90	Family Farm Hold Steady	283	4	#10	–
91	The Sun Hasn't Left Modest Mouse	280	7	#46	–
92	Can't Stop The Rain Neal Francis	280	6	#33	–
93	Heat Above Greta Van Fleet	276	4	#10	–
94	Let The Bad Times Roll The Offspring	273	5	#4	–
95	Phoenix Big Red Machine	271	6	#29	–
96	Time In Disguise Kings of Leon	264	7	#18	–
97	Animals Architects	256	3	#1	1
98	Redemption Nathaniel Rateliff	253	4	#26	–
99	Broken Horses Brandi Carlile	250	4	#11	–
100	And So It Went The Pretty Reckless	250	3	#1	1

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
102.7 WEQX	I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) Glass Animals	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2021
107.1 The Peak	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2021
88.3 The Sting	All My Favorite Songs Weezer	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2021
90.9 The Bridge	Bed Head Manchester Orchestra	90.9 The Bridge Top 90 Most Played Songs of 2021
90.9 The Bridge	Average Joe Shawn Stewart	90.9 The Bridge Top 90 Songs of 2021
93X	And So It Went The Pretty Reckless feat. Tom Morello	93X Top 21 Songs of 2021
94.3 KILO	Let The Bad Times Roll The Offspring	KILO's Top 30 Kountdown of 2021
98KUPD	Trouble's Coming Royal Blood	98KUPD Top 98 of 2021
ALT 104.5	Follow You Imagine Dragons	ALT 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2021
Exit 97.7	Nightflyer Allison Russell	WEXT Top 97 of 2021
Impact 89FM	HOT WIND BLOWS Tyler the Creator feat. Lil Wayne	Impact 89FM Top 89 Songs of 2021
Lightning 100	Anything Could Happen Dylan Cartlidge	Lightning 100 Top 200 Songs 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
WBER	How Not To Drown Chvrches	WBER Listener Countdown 2021
WERS 88.9	Hypotheticals Lake Street Dive	WERS Top 88 Songs of 2021
WFUV	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2021
WRNR 103.1	Idiot Jenny Lewis	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2021
WTMD	Valentine Snail Mail	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2021
WXPN	Days Go By HAERTS	WXPN Top 100 Most Played Songs of 2021
WYEP	The Balcony Fruit Bats	WYEP Top 91 Songs of 2021
X96	Heat Waves Glass Animals	X96 Top 50 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 25 qualifying countdowns. This ranking combines every rock format on the site. Read the full methodology.