This article is about the music chart. For the music genre, seeAlternative rock.
Billboard chart
Alternative Airplay (formerly known asModern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, andAlternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is amusic chart published in the American magazineBillboard since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played songs onalternative andmodern rock radio stations. Introduced as Modern Rock Tracks, the chart served as a companion to theMainstream Rock chart (then called Album Rock Tracks), and its creation was prompted by the explosion of alternative music on American radio in the late 1980s. During the first several years of the chart, it regularly featured music that did not receive commercial radio airplay anywhere but on a few modern rock and college rock radio stations. This included manyelectronic andpost-punk artists. Gradually, as alternative rock became more mainstream (spearheaded by thegrunge explosion in the early 1990s), alternative and mainstream rock radio stations began playing many of the same songs. By the late 2000s, the genres became more fully differentiated with only limited crossover. The Alternative Airplay chart features morealternative rock,indie pop, andpop punk artists while the Mainstream Rock chart leans towards more guitar-tingedblues rock,hard rock, andheavy metal.
The chart is based solely on radio airplay ranked by a calculation of the total number of spins each song receives per week. As of 2012, approximately 80 alternative radio stations across the United States are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week byNielsen Broadcast Data Systems.[1] The chart had 30 positions when it was introduced in September 1988 and expanded to 40 positions on September 10, 1994.[2]
The chart was renamed to Alternative Songs beginning with the June 20, 2009, issue afterBillboard fully absorbedRadio & Records, whose similar chart was called "Alternative" and to reflect the music industry's more common use of the term.[3] In June 2020,Billboard introduced the separateHot Alternative Songs chart, which uses similar methodology as theBillboard Hot 100 by measuring the popularity of songs classified as alternative across all radio formats, streaming services, and sales within the United States. To avoid confusion, Alternative Songs was renamed Alternative Airplay.
The first alternative chart, called Modern Rock Tracks, appeared in the September 10, 1988, edition ofBillboard magazine.[4] The first number-one song of the chart wasSiouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-a-Boo", which topped the charts for two weeks.[5] In the chart's early years, the chart was closely associated withcollege rock,new wave,post-punk andelectronic genres with a large presence of British, Irish and Australian artists, as only 24 of the chart's first 82 number-one hits were by American acts.[6] Bands includingDepeche Mode,Pixies,the Cure,New Order andR.E.M. were amongst the most popular acts on Alternative radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[6]
In 1991, with the release of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" byNirvana (which reached No. 1 on November 23, 1991),[7] grunge became a new form of alternative rock to chart. However, grunge did not have a dominating presence on the chart in its heyday; over time, grunge would grow into popularity as a representation of alternative rock in the mainstream. Iconic grunge songs fared decently on the Alternative Songs chart but better on the Mainstream Rock Songs.[6] For example, "Black" byPearl Jam peaked only at No. 20 on the former but No. 3 on the latter.[8][9] This was because the college rock and new wave of the 1980s remained the dominant styles of the format, while grunge became an alternative rock style that was popular on the Mainstream Rock format.
In the mid-1990s, alternative rock songs began to crossover toPop radio, with acts such asGreen Day,the Offspring andAlanis Morissette being played on Pop stations after establishing hits on the Alternative chart.[6] Dominant genres includedpop punk and softer alternative rock, as grunge acts such asSoundgarden andStone Temple Pilots did not reach No. 1, whileBritpop, a form of alternative rock from the UK, was represented only byOasis.[6] By the late 1990s, the Alternative Songs chart was ruled by relatively lighter alternative rock bands such asThird Eye Blind,Matchbox Twenty andSugar Ray and a plethora of one-hit wonders.[6][10]
At the turn of the century, alternative radio embracednu-metal/rap rock with bands includingKorn,Limp Bizkit and most famously,Linkin Park. Chris Molanphy ofPitchfork stated that "possibly the most loathed period for music of the last half-century, the rap-rock years—when looked through the prism of the Modern Rock chart's evolution—are a logical endpoint to a decade when alt-culture steadily de-wussified itself."[6] Garage rock from the likes ofthe White Stripes andthe Strokes also became hits in the early 2000s as a counter to the over-aggression of rap rock.[6]
In the mid-2000s, the Alternative charts were ruled at the top by its most dominant members. From 2003 to 2008, the No. 1 song was by eitherFoo Fighters, Green Day,Incubus, Linkin Park orRed Hot Chili Peppers 49% of the time – 152 out of 313 weeks.[6] During this time, 1990s alternative groups such asNine Inch Nails andWeezer enjoyed their biggest success, whileemo (Jimmy Eat World), indie rock (Modest Mouse) and pop punk (Fall Out Boy) also were popular.[6] In 2007, "The Kill" byThirty Seconds to Mars set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of the US alternative chart when it remained on the national chart for 52 weeks.[11]Rise Against's "Savior" later broke the record by spending 65 weeks, followed around the same time by "1901" fromPhoenix at 57.[12] In 2009,Billboard renamed the chart to "Alternative Songs".[3]
In the 2010s, the Alternative charts were led by softerindie pop andfolk, and crossed over new acts topop radio for the first time since the late 1990s, such asFoster the People,Imagine Dragons,Fun, andGotye.[6] The chart also began to diverge from the Mainstream Rock chart, as only 10 of 40 songs were shared between the two in November 2012, compared to 23 of 40 in November 2002.[13] For the chart's 25th anniversary in 2013,Billboard published a list of the 100 biggest hits in the history of the Alternative chart. "Uprising" byMuse was listed at No. 1, having spent 17 weeks on the top of the chart and 53 weeks in total. "Savior" by Rise Against was listed at No. 2, peaking at #3 but staying on the chart for a record-breaking 65 weeks.[14]
On October 11, 2018,Billboard released its Greatest of All Time Alternative Songs 30th-anniversary recap.Foo Fighters continued its reign as the chart's No. 1 act over the list's first 30 years, after leading the 25th-anniversary recap.Muse's "Uprising" retained its standing as the all-time No. 1 song.Rise Against's "Savior" again ranked at No. 2, whilePortugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" entered at No. 3, the highest debut on the 30th anniversary songs list, following its record 20-week reign in 2017.[15] Six bands charted at least once in the first four decades of the chart's existence –Nine Inch Nails,Depeche Mode,Jane's Addiction,Red Hot Chili Peppers,U2 andBeastie Boys.[16] As of 2025, only Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, and Nine Inch Nails have extended that streak to five decades.[17] Although the Alternative Songs chart "tends to be heavily male-dominated",Billboard released a list of the top-performing women in the chart's archives as part of the 30th anniversary of the Alternative Songs chart, withDolores O'Riordan ofthe Cranberries taking the lead spot.[18]The current number-one song on the chart is "So Far So Fake" byPierce the Veil.[19]
Blink-182's albumOne More Time... has generated songs with the highest total number of weeks spent at number one, with thirty-three weeks total. Red Hot Chili Peppers' albumCalifornication and Linkin Park's albumMeteora come next with thirty weeks each.[citation needed]
Sublime have had the longest time between number-ones (28 years, 10 months), with "What I Got" (1996) and "Ensenada" (2025).[90] The record was previously held bySum 41, who waited 22 years, 5 months and 3 weeks, between "Fat Lip" (2001) and "Landmines" (2023) for their next number one.[91]
AlthoughSoundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" did not hit number one on the chart, peaking at number two on July 2, 1994,[93] it became the Modern Rock Tracks year-end number one single of 1994,[94] the only song to do so without ever being number one on the weekly chart.
In August 2013,Lorde became the first woman to top the chart sinceTracy Bonham in 1996 when her song "Royals" reached number one in August 2013;[95] the next woman to top the chart wasElle King with her song "Ex's & Oh's" which hit the top spot in September 2015.[96] In September 2013, Lorde surpassedAlanis Morissette to become the woman with the longest-running single at number one when "Royals" spent its sixth week at number one.[97] Since then, five other women have also topped the chart (Alice Merton (2018),Lana Del Rey (2019),Billie Eilish (2019),Meg Myers (2020), andLola Young (2025)), as have female-fronted bandsShaed (2019),Cannons (2021), andParamore (2023).
Lorde is the youngest solo artist to reach number one, achieving this feat at the age of 16 with "Royals".[98]
Billie Eilish holds the records for most number ones on the chart for a soloist and most number ones for a female artist or band with female vocals, having topped the chart four times.[99]
Yellowcard holds the record for the longest wait between their first entry and their first number one single on the chart. 21 years, 11 months, and three weeks separated the debut of "Way Away" in September 2003 and the ascension of "Better Days" to the pole position in August 2025.[100]
Debbie Harry holds the record for the longest gap between entries on the chart: "Kiss It Better" last appeared on the chart in January 1990 and she did not reappear again until a featured credit on "Soul Train" by Just Loud in December 2018, 29 years later.Kate Bush has the longest gap between entries for a lead artist: "Rubberband Girl" last appeared on the chart in January 1994, and she did not chart again until a re-release of her 1985 single "Running Up That Hill", which debuted on the chart 28 years later in June 2022.Blur has the longest gap between entries for a band: "Crazy Beat" last appeared on the chart in May 2003, and they did not chart again until "The Narcissist" debuted on the chart 20 years later in June 2023.[101]
^"The Top 30 Female Alternative Songs Artists ranking is based on weekly performance on the Alternative Songs chart from its September 10, 1988, inception through September 8, 2018".[18]
^"Mary Ramsey replaced Merchant in 1993, though all of the band's Alternative Songs entries were in the Merchant era".[18]
