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

The best indie rock songs of 2021

Q: What was the top indie rock song of 2021?

Combining 2 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2021 is "Chaise Longue" by Wet Leg, which appeared on 2 of the lists.

Two radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2021: The Current and WFUV. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2021 is “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg, which appeared on two of the two countdowns and was voted number one by two of them. Two different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Strong Feelings” by Dry Cleaning and “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg. Brandi Carlile was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 5 times across the countdowns.

2countdowns

134songs charted

2different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2021

All 134 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	200	2	#1	2
2	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	193	2	#2	–
3	I Don't Live Here Anymore The War On Drugs	193	2	#2	–
4	Be Sweet Japanese Breakfast	189	2	#4	–
5	FREEDOM Jon Batiste	183	2	#5	–
6	Quiet Town The Killers	179	2	#5	–
7	Hypotheticals Lake Street Dive	178	2	#11	–
8	Hurt Arlo Parks	175	2	#7	–
9	Paprika Japanese Breakfast	171	2	#13	–
10	Black Myself Amythyst Kiah	161	2	#3	–
11	Easy On Me Adele	156	2	#18	–
12	justified Kacey Musgraves	154	2	#19	–
13	Solar Power Lorde	145	2	#10	–
14	Not Dead Yet Lord Huron	143	2	#26	–
15	Stand For Myself Yola	142	2	#16	–
16	Can't Let Go Robert Plant & Alison Krauss	139	2	#14	–
17	Witchoo Durand Jones & The Indications	137	2	#13	–
18	Phoenix Big Red Machine	135	2	#29	–
19	I Need You Jon Batiste	132	2	#23	–
20	Mine Forever Lord Huron	127	2	#26	–
21	Stop Making This Hurt Bleachers	126	2	#14	–
22	Walking at a Downtown Pace Parquet Courts	123	2	#27	–
23	Smile Wolf Alice	117	2	#21	–
24	Write a List Of Things to Look Forward To Courtney Barnett	113	2	#22	–
25	Brando Lucy Dacus	112	2	#10	–
26	The Hardest Cut Spoon	110	2	#20	–
27	Survivor Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	108	2	#36	–
28	Call me a Fool Valerie June	106	2	#30	–
29	Motorbike Leon Bridges	106	2	#33	–
30	Amoeba Clairo	106	2	#9	–
31	Magnolia Blues Adia Victoria	104	2	#37	–
32	Hot and Heavy Lucy Dacus	104	2	#35	–
33	Like I Used To Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen	102	2	#35	–
34	Certainty Big Thief	101	2	#18	–
35	Broken Horses Brandi Carlile	99	2	#45	–
36	Worry With You Sleater-Kinney	98	2	#25	–
37	brutal Olivia Rodrigo	98	1	#3	–
38	Days Like These Low	97	1	#4	–
39	The Last Man on Earth Wolf Alice	96	2	#46	–
40	Diamond Studded Shoes Yola	95	2	#31	–
41	817 Oakland Avenue Charlie Parr	93	1	#7	–
42	You and Me On The Rock Brandi Carlile	92	1	#8	–
43	Rumors Lizzo	91	1	#9	–
44	Bitter Taste Billy Idol	88	1	#12	–
45	All My Favorite Songs Weezer	85	2	#32	–
46	How Not To Drown CHVRCHES	84	1	#15	–
47	Taking Me Back (Gently) Jack White	82	1	#17	–
48	Detroit Basketball Bad Bad Hats	80	1	#19	–
49	Valentine Snail Mail	79	2	#48	–
50	Baby Don't Cry Sunflower Bean	79	1	#20	–
51	Wet Dream Wet Leg	78	1	#21	–
52	Taking Me Back Jack White	76	1	#22	–
53	Pay Your Way in Pain St. Vincent	75	2	#50	–
54	Nightflyer Allison Russell	74	1	#24	–
55	Russian Doll Gully Boys	73	1	#25	–
56	The Angel of 8th Ave. Gang of Youths	70	1	#28	–
57	I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) Glass Animals	70	1	#28	–
58	Good Girls CHVRCHES	69	1	#29	–
59	Magnificent Hurt Elvis Costello	68	1	#30	–
60	The Beachland Ballroom Idles	65	1	#32	–
61	Making a Fire (Mark Ronson Re-Version) Foo Fighters	64	1	#33	–
62	Puppy And A Truck Jenny Lewis	63	1	#34	–
63	Questions Middle Kids	61	1	#36	–
64	Hold On To Love Kiss the Tiger	60	1	#37	–
65	Worry No More Amos Lee	59	1	#38	–
66	Long Way Eddie Vedder	58	1	#39	–
67	Hello Hello Hello Remi Wolf	57	1	#39	–
68	He Said She Said CHVRCHES	56	1	#40	–
69	Therefore I Am Billie Eilish	56	2	#44	–
70	Harlem River Blues Steve Earle	54	1	#42	–
71	Bunny Is A Rider Caroline Polachek	54	1	#42	–
72	Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic	53	1	#43	–
73	Hush The Marias	50	2	#65	–
74	How Not To Drown CHVRCHES and Robert Smith	50	1	#46	–
75	Rae Street Courtney Barnett	49	1	#47	–
76	Serotonin Girl In Red	46	1	#49	–
77	Dancing Away In Tears Yola	46	1	#50	–
78	Beautiful Life Michael Kiwanuka	44	1	#51	–
79	Lost Cause Billie Eilish	43	1	#52	–
80	Renegade Big Red Machine	43	1	#52	–
81	Last Train Home John Mayer	41	1	#54	–
82	NDA Billie Eilish	38	1	#56	–
83	662 Christone Kingfish Ingram	38	1	#57	–
84	Black Dog Arlo Parks	37	1	#57	–
85	Stacking Chairs Middle Kids	37	1	#58	–
86	Face Down In The Moment Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	36	1	#59	–
87	Silk Chiffon Muna	35	1	#59	–
88	Galacticana Strand Of Oaks	34	1	#60	–
89	Mood Ring Lorde	34	1	#60	–
90	Wild Blue John Mayer	33	1	#61	–
91	Racist, Sexist Boy - Live at LA Public Library) The Linda Lindas	33	1	#61	–
92	Keep Moving Jungle	32	2	#71	–
93	Strangers Black Pumas	31	1	#62	–
94	Good Days SZA	30	1	#63	–
95	Walkman Bad Bad Hats	29	1	#64	–
96	Bed Head Manchester Orchestra	28	1	#66	–
97	Charyse Low Cut Connie	27	1	#66	–
98	Hope Arlo Parks	27	1	#67	–
99	It's a good day (to fight the system) Shungudzo	26	1	#67	–
100	You've Got a Habit Of Leaving David Bowie	26	1	#68	–

Every station’s number one of 2021

Station	Number one song	Countdown
The Current	Strong Feelings Dry Cleaning	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2021
WFUV	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	WFUV Top 90 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 two 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.