X96 played 50 Years of Number One Alternative songs on New Year’s Day. We assembled this list based on an amalgamation of scientific research, sales and streaming data, and heavily biased opinions. Admittedly, limiting this feature to only number one songs for each year left out a lot of great music. Maybe next year we can do an hour of music from each year and spread this over 50 hours. That way we can dig a little deeper in each year. Anyway, here ya go with the number one songs!
50 Years of Number One Alternative Songs
1975 “Love is the Drug” Roxy Music
1976 “Blitzkrieg Bop” The Ramones
1977 “Psycho Killer” Talking Heads
1978 “Roxanne” The Police
1979 “London Calling” The Clash
1980 “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Joy Division
1981 “Just Can’t Get Enough” Depeche Mode
1982 “Hungry Like the Wolf” Duran Duran
1983 “Blue Monday” New Order
1984 “How Soon is Now” The Smiths
1985 “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” Tears For Fears
1986 “If You Leave” Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
1987 “Just Like Heaven” The Cure
1988 “Peek-A-Boo” Siouxsie and the Banshees
1989 “Head Like a Hole” Nine Inch Nails
1990 “Enjoy the Silence” Depeche Mode
1991 “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Nirvana
1992 “Friday, I’m in Love” The Cure
1993 “Heart-Shaped Box” Nirvana
1994 “Basket Case” Green Day
1995 “Lightning Crashes” Live
1996 “What I Got” Sublime
1997 “Semi-Charmed Life” Third Eye Blind
1998 “Iris” Goo Goo Dolls
1999 “Scar Tissue” Red Hot Chili Peppers
2000 “All the Small Things” Blink-182
2001 “Otherside” Red Hot Chili Peppers
2002 “All My Life” Foo Fighters
2003 “Numb” Linkin Park
2004 “American Idiot” Green Day
2005 “Feel Good, Inc.” Gorillaz
2006 “Dani California” Red Hot Chili Peppers
2007 “What I’ve Done” Linkin Park
2008 “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
2009 “Uprising” Muse
2010 “Animal” Neon Trees
2011 “Pumped-Up Kicks” Foster the People
2012 “Madness” Muse
2013 “Radioactive” Imagine Dragons
2014 “Do I Wanna Know?” Arctic Monkeys
2015 “Stressed Out” Twenty One Pilots
2016 “Heathens” Twenty One Pilots
2017 “Believer” Imagine Dragons
2018 “Africa” Weezer
2019 “High Hopes” Panic! At The Disco
2020 “Level Of Concern” Twenty One Pilots
2021 “Heat Waves” Glass Animals
2022 “Running Up That Hill” Kate Bush
2023 “One More Time” Blink-182
2024 “The Emptiness Machine” Linkin Park
2025 “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” Nine Inch Nails
