Rolling Stone Ranks the 200 Best Rock Songs of This Century

WHO:

Fox News - Rolling Stone ranked “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs as the greatest rock song of the 21st century; Fox News said the ranking snubbed Blink-182 and System of a Down.

Rolling Stone Music - The list covers songs by artists including Bruce Springsteen, Boygenius, Bombino, Bob Dylan, D’Angelo, Deftones, Wilco, Wednesday, the White Stripes, Black Sabbath, Mastodon, Fiona Apple, Sonic Youth, David Bowie, Prince, Neil Young, OutKast, Jay-Z, Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift.

Yahoo - Rolling Stone’s list includes songs across rock styles and generations, from artists around the world; it generally avoids repeating artists, with some exceptions for artists with multiple classics.

WHAT:

Rolling Stone Music - Rolling Stone published a ranking of the 200 greatest rock songs of the 21st century so far, describing it as a companion to its “Reasons to Love Rock” feature.

Fox News - Fox News characterized Rolling Stone’s ranking as “as awful as you’d imagine.”

Yahoo - Rolling Stone said the list includes universally beloved classics, deep cuts, and underground cult favorites, with songs spanning pop-punk, emo, metal, indie, grunge, roots music, rock en español, and other styles.

Yahoo - The list’s entries 200 through 64 include songs such as Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue,” Mogwai’s “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong,” Incubus’ “Circles,” and many others; the excerpt ends during the entry for Car Seat Headrest’s “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales.”

Yahoo - Rolling Stone described the songs’ shared quality as that “they rock.”

WHERE:

Yahoo - The list’s artists represent places including the United States, Colombia, Tokyo, Versailles, Niger, Dublin, Mexico City, and Toronto.

WHY:

Yahoo - Rolling Stone said the list celebrates rock’s vitality, diversity, and energy, arguing that the genre remains vibrant because it “keeps growing because rock keeps changing.”

HOW:

Yahoo - Rolling Stone said the list was narrowed to 200 songs from a larger pool of worthy artists and mostly avoids listing multiple songs by the same artist.

(UPDATED October 28, 2026 04:01 UTC)

Rolling Stone has ranked Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” as the greatest rock song of the 21st century so far, topping a new list of 200 tracks. The ranking spans styles from pop-punk and metal to indie and rock en español, with artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift. Rolling Stone says the list celebrates rock’s vitality and diversity, while Fox News criticized its choices for snubbing Blink-182 and System of a Down.