The 20 Best Rock/Alternative Radio Hits of 2019
One thing that frustrates me every year when I do this list is that the rock radio options are kind of limited where I live and I actually haven't heard maybe a quarter of these songs on the radio, I just know that they charted from looking at Billboard. I like Washington's alt station DC101 and Baltimore's active rock station 98 Rock, but they both skew so much towards old recurrents that sometimes I won't hear a new song unless it hits #1 on the charts. I really miss Maryland's pioneering old alternative station WHFS.
Here's the Spotify playlist of these songs and the lists I did for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
1. Of Monsters And Men - "Alligator"
#2 Alternative Songs, #1 Rock Airplay
Whenever a formerly acoustic neo folk band like Mumford & Sons plugs in their guitars and makes a loud modern rock anthem, I wonder if anyone in their fanbase cares enough to yell "Judas!" like when Bob Dylan went electric in 1966. But this year the Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men, previously best known for chipper acoustic tracks like "Little Talks," cranked up the amps for the roaring single "Alligator" and alt-rock radio embraced it with open arms, so it's wishful thinking for me to think there's any controversy there. This song really makes me wish Of Monsters And Men had more songs that sound like it, or that The Joy Formidable had more radio hits.
2. Billie Eilish - "Bad Guy"
Even though When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was a blockbuster album and "Bad Guy" was a huge crossover hit, I would still say alt-rock radio is Billie Eilish's home turf right now -- it's the only radio format where the album had four top 10 hits, two of them chart-toppers. In fact, in over 3 decades of Billboard's alternative chart, Billie Eilish is only the 3rd woman with multiple #1s (the previous ones being Sinead O'Connor and Alanis Morrissette, way back before Eilish was born).
3. Young The Giant - "Superposition"
#2 Alternative Songs, #3 Rock Airplay
Young The Giant were the dark horse of the "____ the _____" craze at the beginning of the decade, and after their 2010 debut they fell far behind Foster The People, Cage The Elephant, and Portugal. The Man. But they came back big with this single from their 4th album, a lithe midtempo groove that frames Sameer Radhia's distinctive voice more beautifully than any of their previous singles. I appreciate that they gave their song with the "I want you to want me" hook something else as the title, presumably out of deference to Cheap Trick.
4. Hobo Johnson - "Typical Story"
Young The Giant were the dark horse of the "____ the _____" craze at the beginning of the decade, and after their 2010 debut they fell far behind Foster The People, Cage The Elephant, and Portugal. The Man. But they came back big with this single from their 4th album, a lithe midtempo groove that frames Sameer Radhia's distinctive voice more beautifully than any of their previous singles. I appreciate that they gave their song with the "I want you to want me" hook something else as the title, presumably out of deference to Cheap Trick.
4. Hobo Johnson - "Typical Story"
#24 Alternative Songs, #49 Rock Airplay
Hobo Johnson went viral in 2018 with some jam band slam poetry that sharply divided music fans over whether it was awesome or too embarrassing for words. I was never a fan of the songs that made Hobo Johnson internet famous, but I was pleasantly surprised by his first major label single, which compressed his clever anxious verbose persona into a punchy, fast, noisy 3-minute radio single. "Typical Story" wasn't a big hit and Hobo Johnson's album got terrible reviews, but he at least won me over. 5. Panic! At The Disco - "Hey Look Ma, I Made It"
#6 Alternative Songs, #5 Rock Airplay, #16 Hot 100
I didn't much care for "High Hopes," the enormous crossover hit that became the biggest song of Panic! At The Disco's career last year, and at the time I was fond of saying that I never liked any Panic song more than a little (which is kind of odd given how much I like Fall Out Boy). But then the follow-up single came out and even though it's kind of in the same slick triumphant mode as "High Hopes," I totally fucking love "Hey Look Ma, I Made It": the synth sounds, the pre-chorus build up, the vamping at the end, it all works so perfectly.
6. Twenty One Pilots - "The Hype"
#1 Alternative Songs, #1 Rock Airplay
Barring a latter day resurgence like P!ATD is currently having, it seems likely that Twenty One Pilots will never enjoy crossover success again like the three enormous pop hits they had in 2016. But their 2018 album Trench has at least cemented them as a mainstay of rock radio, with four big singles, the last of which ended up being the album's biggest hit (6 weeks and counting at #1 on Alternative Songs, longer than "Jumpsuit" and "Chlorine" combined). And "The Hype" really might be one of the catchiest songs they've ever made, I really enjoy Tyler Joseph's songwriting when he's not rapping.
7. Matt Maeson - "Cringe"
7. Matt Maeson - "Cringe"
#1 Alternative Songs, #2 Rock Airplay
Matt Maeson seemed to come out of nowhere with this song this year, but he actually released it back in 2016. Apparently Maeson's parents played in Christian metal bands and forbade him from listening to secular music as a kid, and also his family surname is Mason so he did the funky spelling as a google-friendly affectation.
Matt Maeson seemed to come out of nowhere with this song this year, but he actually released it back in 2016. Apparently Maeson's parents played in Christian metal bands and forbade him from listening to secular music as a kid, and also his family surname is Mason so he did the funky spelling as a google-friendly affectation.
8. Absofacto - "Dissolve"
#3 Alternative Songs, #7 Rock Airplay
"Dissolve" is even older than "Cringe," in fact it's probably the only hit song of 2019 that took a longer, more circuitous route to radio airplay than Lizzo's hits -- Absofacto's Jonathan Visger independently released "Dissolve" in 2015, then Atlantic Records signed him and released it in 2017, unsuccessfully servicing the song to radio in 2018 before it became popular in TikTok, where it's appeared in over a million videos, in 2019.
9. SHAED - "Trampoline"
#1 Alternative Songs, #1 Rock Airplay, #13 Hot 100
Virginia singer Chelsea Lee, who had a major label deal as an acoustic pop solo act a decade ago, met Maryland brothers Max and Spencer Ernst at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., and transformed into an electronic alt-pop band whose Caroline-distributed indie label single "Trampoline" turned into a giant crossover hit over the course of 2019. I feel like they wound up with the career The Band Perry was trying to have when they torched their country sound and went EDM. I think my favorite thing about "Trampoline" is how those 12th note synth arpeggios remind me of Kenna's "Hellbent."
Virginia singer Chelsea Lee, who had a major label deal as an acoustic pop solo act a decade ago, met Maryland brothers Max and Spencer Ernst at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., and transformed into an electronic alt-pop band whose Caroline-distributed indie label single "Trampoline" turned into a giant crossover hit over the course of 2019. I feel like they wound up with the career The Band Perry was trying to have when they torched their country sound and went EDM. I think my favorite thing about "Trampoline" is how those 12th note synth arpeggios remind me of Kenna's "Hellbent."
10. The 1975 - "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)"
#19 Alternative Songs, #35 Rock Airplay
"It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" is Matty Healy's take on the classic 'drug song that can scan on the surface as a love song,' and it's really kind of a poignant and dark one coming from a recently cleaned up addict. It never quite fulfilled its presumed destiny as A Brief Inquiry's big pop hit, but I'm glad it got a run on American radio before they quickly moved on to the next album's singles.
"It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" is Matty Healy's take on the classic 'drug song that can scan on the surface as a love song,' and it's really kind of a poignant and dark one coming from a recently cleaned up addict. It never quite fulfilled its presumed destiny as A Brief Inquiry's big pop hit, but I'm glad it got a run on American radio before they quickly moved on to the next album's singles.
11. Volbeat - "Last Day Under The Sun"
#1 Mainstream Rock Songs, #12 Rock Airplay
Pretty much every year when I do this post, I note the irony that 'mainstream rock' has fallen so far as a radio format that Mainstream Rock #1s rarely breach the Hot 100 or even get into the top 10 of the overall Rock Airplay chart. The Dutch band Volbeat have been staples of hard rock radio for the whole decade, mostly with big macho "let's get ready to rumble" type songs. But "Last Day Under The Sun" is this big hooky pop/rock tune with soulful wailing backup singers. It's like their "Ain't It Fun," I adore it.
12. Ed Sheeran f/ Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars - "Blow"
13. Post Malone f/ Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott - "Take What You Want"
Pretty much every year when I do this post, I note the irony that 'mainstream rock' has fallen so far as a radio format that Mainstream Rock #1s rarely breach the Hot 100 or even get into the top 10 of the overall Rock Airplay chart. The Dutch band Volbeat have been staples of hard rock radio for the whole decade, mostly with big macho "let's get ready to rumble" type songs. But "Last Day Under The Sun" is this big hooky pop/rock tune with soulful wailing backup singers. It's like their "Ain't It Fun," I adore it.
12. Ed Sheeran f/ Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars - "Blow"
#17 Mainstream Rock, #36 Rock Airplay, #60 Hot 100
Another interesting indicator of the commercial health of rock music: three of the biggest names in popular music, two of whom regularly top the 100 and have never worked together, collaborated on a song, but it did little action on the charts because it was a guitar-driven rock song. It was fun to hear Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars on 98 Rock a few times, though, Bruno really kicked some ass producing and playing most of the instruments on this song.
Another interesting indicator of the commercial health of rock music: three of the biggest names in popular music, two of whom regularly top the 100 and have never worked together, collaborated on a song, but it did little action on the charts because it was a guitar-driven rock song. It was fun to hear Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars on 98 Rock a few times, though, Bruno really kicked some ass producing and playing most of the instruments on this song.
13. Post Malone f/ Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott - "Take What You Want"
#28 Mainstream Rock Songs, #38 Rock Airplay, #8 Hot 100
After years of covering Fleetwood Mac and jamming at award shows with Aerosmith and RHCP, Post Malone officially became a rock radio fixture in 2019, with "Circles" and "Allergic" getting alternative radio plays and his Ozzy Osbourne collab "Take What You Want" rising up the mainstream rock chart. As someone who finds him more talented and credible as a rocker than a rapper beyond just the the fact that he's white, I'm okay with this development, this is easily one of the best songs on Hollywood's Bleeding.
14. Maggie Rogers - "Light On"
#1 Adult Alternative Songs, #35 Rock Airplay
Greg Kurstin had another year of quiet ubiquity, producing songs on pop radio, R&B radio, country radio, and alternative radio. But my favorite work he did in 2019 was for Maggie Rogers' debut album Heard It In A Past Life, which didn't quite live up commercially to the It Girl press she got in the run up to the release but was still a really lovely album.
15. X Ambassadors - "Boom"
#22 Alternative Songs, #30 Rock Airplay
X Ambassadors produced and co-wrote 3 songs on Lizzo's blockbuster Cuz I Love You album, and I can't help but wonder if "Boom" from their band's second album Orion was originally written with Lizzo in mind. It's a big, bombastic, playful dance pop song that feels like it might have been penned for Lizzo's voice for rather than Sam Harris's voice, but he's one of the best vocalists on alt-rock radio today and he really pulls it off.
16. Tool - "Fear Inoculum"
X Ambassadors produced and co-wrote 3 songs on Lizzo's blockbuster Cuz I Love You album, and I can't help but wonder if "Boom" from their band's second album Orion was originally written with Lizzo in mind. It's a big, bombastic, playful dance pop song that feels like it might have been penned for Lizzo's voice for rather than Sam Harris's voice, but he's one of the best vocalists on alt-rock radio today and he really pulls it off.
16. Tool - "Fear Inoculum"
#2 Mainstream Rock Songs, #30 Alternative Songs, #11 Rock Airplay, #93 Hot 100
There are a lot of '90s hard rock and metal bands that are still around and releasing albums and getting rock radio airplay in 2019, including Godsmack, KoRn, and Slipknot. Tool might be the only one that you already knew was still making music in 2019, because they stuck to their guns and made such uncompromisingly dark, arty and intricate prog metal that they built up a rabid cult following, and took long enough between albums that each new record is an event. Tool have been testing the limits of how long their radio singles can be for a long time, but at 10 minutes 21 seconds "Fear Inoculum" is not just the longest Tool single to date but the longest song in Hot 100 history (which I guess just means "Alice's Restaurant" never made the charts). The title track isn't my favorite song on Fear Inoculum, but I dig that syncopated 11/8 section in the second half of the song.
There are a lot of '90s hard rock and metal bands that are still around and releasing albums and getting rock radio airplay in 2019, including Godsmack, KoRn, and Slipknot. Tool might be the only one that you already knew was still making music in 2019, because they stuck to their guns and made such uncompromisingly dark, arty and intricate prog metal that they built up a rabid cult following, and took long enough between albums that each new record is an event. Tool have been testing the limits of how long their radio singles can be for a long time, but at 10 minutes 21 seconds "Fear Inoculum" is not just the longest Tool single to date but the longest song in Hot 100 history (which I guess just means "Alice's Restaurant" never made the charts). The title track isn't my favorite song on Fear Inoculum, but I dig that syncopated 11/8 section in the second half of the song.
17. Green Day - "Father Of All..."
#3 Alternative Songs, #1 Mainstream Rock Songs, #1 Rock Airplay
How long have Green Day been dominating alt-rock radio? Well, 2019 marked the Alternative Songs debut of SWMRS, whose drummer Joey Armstrong was born around the time his dad hit #1 with "When I Come Around." Meanwhile, the elder Armstrong tried to be a tough guy with a new song called "Father Of All Motherfuckers" but the bowdlerized title just kind of looks stupid. I like the song, though, it has the vibe of Green Day's '60s garage rock side project Foxboro Hot Tubs, and borrows liberally from the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Fire."
18. Billie Eilish - "Bury A Friend"
#1 Alternative Songs, #5 Rock Airplay, #14 Hot 100
Without thinking about it I put this song next to Green Day because I heard you like Billies. I wasn't sure what to make of this song, but like Billie Eilish in general, it really grew on me over the course of 2019. I wanna describe it more in terms of sound design, like the creepy score and foley effects of a horror movie, than the production of a song, it's so vividly realized.
19. Meg Myers - "Running Up That Hill"
#4 Alternative Songs, #6 Rock Airplay
Since 2014, Meg Myers has notched four minor hits with original songs that peaked in the teens on Alternative Songs (including my personal favorite, "Lemon Eyes"). But her fairly straightforward cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" has become by far her biggest hit, which I don't really understand.. But I'll take a faithful remake of a great song over the usual kind of campy, vaguely mocking covers that often do well on alt-rock radio like Weezer's "Africa" and Lana Del Rey's "Doin' Time."
20. Five Finger Death Punch f/ Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brantley Gilbert, and Brian May - "Blue On Black"
#1 Mainstream Rock, #9 Rock Airplay, #66 Hot 100
Louisiana blues guitar prodigy Kenny Wayne Shepherd had a platinum run a couple decades ago that culminated in "Blue On Black," a sleeper hit that ended up being one of the great enduring rock radio staples of the late '90s (tip of the hat to the song's co-writer Mark Selby, who died of cancer in 2017). I rolled my eyes at Vegas metal band Five Finger Death Punch revisiting the song with a slightly heavier cover, but their version, which features Shepherd as well as a country star and the guitarist from Queen, manages to be a satisfying if not essential retread of the original.
The 10 Worst Rock/Alternative Radio Hits of 2019:
1. Lana Del Rey - "Doin' Time"
2. Tones And I - "Dance Monkey"
3. Barns Courtney - "99"
4. Rex Orange County - "10/10"
5. AJR - "100 Bad Days"
6. Dominic Fike - "3 Nights"
7. Coldplay - "Orphans"
8. Machine Gun Kelly f/ YUNGBLUD and Travis Barker - "I Think I'm OKAY"
9. Blink-182 - "Blame It On My Youth"
10. Bad Wolves - "Remember When"
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