RockLists.com

Year-end consensus · Hard Rock & Metal · one countdowns combined

The best hard rock songs of 2021

One radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2021: SiriusXM Octane. Combining every list, the top hard rock song of 2021 is “Animals” by Architects, which appeared on one of the one countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Ice Nine Kills was the year’s most-charted artist, with two different songs placing 2 times across the countdowns.

1countdowns
30songs charted
1different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2021

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

# Song Strength Lists Best #1s
1 Animals Architects
100		 1 #1 1
2 Teardrops Bring Me the Horizon
97		 1 #2 –
3 Hip to Be Scared Ice Nine Kills
93		 1 #3 –
4 Adrenaline Zero 9:36
90		 1 #4 –
5 The Past Is Dead Beartooth
87		 1 #5 –
6 Rainy Day Ice Nine Kills
83		 1 #6 –
7 Alone Again Asking Alexandria
80		 1 #7 –
8 DiE4u Bring Me the Horizon
77		 1 #8 –
9 Circle the Drain Wage War
73		 1 #9 –
10 Breathe Again Pop Evil
70		 1 #10 –
11 Obsolete Of Mice & Men
67		 1 #11 –
12 Warrior Atreyu
63		 1 #12 –
13 Back from the Dead Halestorm
60		 1 #13 –
14 Kill the Noise Papa Roach
57		 1 #14 –
15 Circle with Me Spiritbox
53		 1 #15 –
16 Shotgun Blues Volbeat
50		 1 #16 –
17 Mars Simula Chevelle
47		 1 #17 –
18 Lifeline Bad Wolves
43		 1 #18 –
19 Feast of Fire Trivium
40		 1 #19 –
20 Don't Hate Me Badflower
37		 1 #20 –
21 Choke The Warning
33		 1 #21 –
22 Light Up the Sky From Ashes to New
30		 1 #22 –
23 Infected Starset
27		 1 #23 –
24 Blood & Water Memphis May Fire
23		 1 #24 –
25 Only Love Can Save Me Now The Pretty Reckless
20		 1 #25 –
26 Better Without You Evanescence
17		 1 #26 –
27 Mercy Ayron Jones
13		 1 #27 –
28 Scarlet Cross Black Veil Brides
10		 1 #28 –
29 Hate Plush
7		 1 #29 –
30 Last Resort Jeris Johnson
3		 1 #30 –

Every station’s number one of 2021

StationNumber one songCountdown
SiriusXM Octane Animals Architects SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown Songs 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 one qualifying countdowns. Each radio format is ranked separately, so classic rock and hard rock countdowns never shift the hard rock results; use the tabs above to switch formats. Read the full methodology.