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

The best indie rock songs of 2021

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

Combining 12 year-end radio countdowns, the top indie rock song of 2021 is "Right On Time" by Brandi Carlile, which appeared on 12 of the lists.

Twelve radio stations and charts published year-end countdowns for 2021: 107.1 The Peak, 90.9 The Bridge, 90.9 The Bridge, Exit 97.7, Lightning 100, The Current, WERS 88.9, WFUV, WRNR 103.1, WTMD, WXPN and WYEP. Combining every list, the top indie rock song of 2021 is “Right On Time” by Brandi Carlile, which appeared on twelve of the twelve countdowns and was voted number one by one of them. Twelve different songs were voted number one somewhere: “Right On Time” by Brandi Carlile, “Bed Head” by Manchester Orchestra, “Average Joe” by Shawn Stewart, “Nightflyer” by Allison Russell and “Anything Could Happen” by Dylan Cartlidge and others. Jon Batiste was the year’s most-charted artist, with three different songs placing 23 times across the countdowns.

12countdowns

504songs charted

12different #1s

Top 100 songs of 2021

All 504 songs →

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

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s
1	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	1,017	12	#1	1
2	Hypotheticals Lake Street Dive	981	12	#1	1
3	I Don't Live Here Anymore The War On Drugs	901	12	#2	–
4	Be Sweet Japanese Breakfast	884	11	#2	–
5	Chaise Longue Wet Leg	858	10	#1	2
6	I Need You Jon Batiste	824	12	#1	1
7	Black Myself Amythyst Kiah	803	11	#2	–
8	FREEDOM Jon Batiste	775	10	#2	–
9	justified Kacey Musgraves	717	11	#10	–
10	Not Dead Yet Lord Huron	714	11	#3	–
11	Motorbike Leon Bridges	672	12	#7	–
12	Solar Power Lorde	663	11	#6	–
13	Hurt Arlo Parks	656	9	#5	–
14	Easy On Me Adele	652	10	#5	–
15	Call me a Fool Valerie June	617	9	#6	–
16	Diamond Studded Shoes Yola	587	11	#1	1
17	Can't Let Go Robert Plant & Alison Krauss	581	11	#4	–
18	Love Love Love My Morning Jacket	580	11	#8	–
19	Stop Making This Hurt Bleachers	578	9	#6	–
20	Survivor Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats	576	10	#16	–
21	The Hardest Cut Spoon	562	9	#4	–
22	Mine Forever Lord Huron	534	7	#2	–
23	Hush The Marias	534	8	#6	–
24	Like I Used To Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen	514	7	#5	–
25	Brando Lucy Dacus	493	9	#8	–
26	Quiet Town The Killers	486	6	#5	–
27	Witchoo Durand Jones & The Indications	471	7	#13	–
28	Pay Your Way in Pain St. Vincent	461	9	#6	–
29	All My Favorite Songs Weezer	445	7	#23	–
30	We Are Between Modest Mouse	436	7	#19	–
31	Bed Head Manchester Orchestra	423	8	#1	1
32	Waiting On A War Foo Fighters	413	7	#19	–
33	Low Chet Faker	412	6	#4	–
34	Crutch Band of Horses	412	6	#3	–
35	The Bandit Kings of Leon	407	6	#18	–
36	Nightflyer Allison Russell	405	6	#1	1
37	Magnificent Hurt Elvis Costello and The Imposters	404	8	#11	–
38	How High The Record Company	402	6	#20	–
39	Hold Yourself TuneYards	387	7	#22	–
40	Write a List Of Things to Look Forward To Courtney Barnett	382	9	#22	–
41	See The World Brett Dennen	369	7	#20	–
42	Crawling Kingsnake The Black Keys	361	8	#6	–
43	U&ME Alt J	350	8	#13	–
44	Brightside Lumineers	350	6	#9	–
45	Open Up The Heavens Jade Bird	350	6	#8	–
46	Valentine Snail Mail	346	7	#1	1
47	Freedom Illiterate Light	342	6	#2	–
48	Sanctuary Hiss Golden Messenger	342	7	#5	–
49	Hope Arlo Parks	337	7	#15	–
50	Taking Me Back Jack White	332	5	#17	–
51	Questions Middle Kids	329	6	#7	–
52	Better Michigander	322	6	#12	–
53	Long Way Eddie Vedder	322	6	#13	–
54	Hot and Heavy Lucy Dacus	317	5	#17	–
55	Roots and Wings The Wallflowers	314	6	#7	–
56	How Low Heartless Bastards	310	5	#12	–
57	Bitter Taste Billy Idol	303	5	#4	–
58	Last Train Home John Mayer	300	6	#11	–
59	662 Christone Kingfish Ingram	295	4	#2	–
60	Stand For Myself Yola	289	4	#16	–
61	Worry No More Amos Lee	285	6	#14	–
62	Can't Stop The Rain Neal Francis	280	6	#33	–
63	Phoenix Big Red Machine	271	6	#29	–
64	Moaning Lisa Smile Wolf Alice	269	6	#21	–
65	Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic	269	4	#13	–
66	Worry With You Sleater-Kinney	269	8	#25	–
67	Amoeba Clairo	262	6	#9	–
68	Redemption Nathaniel Rateliff	253	4	#26	–
69	Broken Horses Brandi Carlile	250	4	#11	–
70	Walking at a Downtown Pace Parquet Courts	242	4	#15	–
71	Magnolia Blues Adia Victoria	242	7	#37	–
72	Vertigo Alice Merton	241	6	#13	–
73	Madelyn Anderson East	240	6	#16	–
74	Paprika Japanese Breakfast	237	4	#13	–
75	Steam Leon Bridges	223	5	#6	–
76	Galacticana Strand Of Oaks	216	7	#23	–
77	The Last dance St. Paul & The Broken Bones	212	4	#23	–
78	The Tipping Point Tears for Fears	208	6	#23	–
79	How Not To Drown CHVRCHES	208	3	#15	–
80	Family Farm Hold Steady	205	3	#10	–
81	Colorado Milky Chance	204	3	#5	–
82	Down In The Country Israel Nash	201	4	#16	–
83	My Cleveland Heart Jackson Browne	196	6	#42	–
84	Elevator Boots Counting Crows	193	5	#18	–
85	Space Girl Frances Forever	191	5	#39	–
86	Making A Fire Foo Fighters	190	3	#7	–
87	Wake Me Up Foals	189	4	#7	–
88	Las Vegas Houndmouth	189	4	#30	–
89	Missing Piece Vance Joy	186	3	#35	–
90	Down St. Vincent	184	5	#35	–
91	Survivor Nathaniel Rateliff	181	2	#1	1
92	Wild Blue John Mayer	177	4	#24	–
93	Perennial Bloom (Back To You) Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real	175	5	#12	–
94	Wolves Garbage	175	3	#20	–
95	Certainty Big Thief	174	3	#18	–
96	Stay In The Car Bachelor	174	6	#37	–
97	Dried Up River Lone Bellow	172	3	#29	–
98	Smile Valerie June	171	4	#51	–
99	Last Day On Earth Beabadoobee	169	4	#28	–
100	What You Say Cold War Kids	168	5	#46	–

Every station’s number one of 2021

Station	Number one song	Countdown
107.1 The Peak	Right On Time Brandi Carlile	WXPK Top 107 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
Exit 97.7	Nightflyer Allison Russell	WEXT Top 97 of 2021
Lightning 100	Anything Could Happen Dylan Cartlidge	Lightning 100 Top 200 Songs of 2021
The Current	Strong Feelings Dry Cleaning	The Current Top 89 Songs of 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

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 twelve 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.