KROQ Top 106.7 Countdowns

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The KROQ Top 106.7 Countdowns is an end-of-year countdown that lists the top "106.7" songs on the Los Angeles station KROQ as voted by listeners. The countdown started in 1980, and ran every year until 2009.[b] Since 2009, the list has been compiled by fans from playlist data.[1]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, KROQ's proximity to Hollywood and the Los Angeles music scene gave it a unique place in the development of the punk, new wave and alternative rock genres.[2] In its heyday, KROQ was considered the most powerful radio station in the world. It was the top-rated station in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and its "ROQ of the 80s" format was copied nationwide.[3] Its renegade roots, and willingness to experiment, came along at the same time as the birth of punk and new wave. The choices made by the station and its staff had a worldwide impact. This is reflected in the annual list of most popular songs.[3]

The end of year countdown was the first among the station's "lists". Among others released are the "List Of 106.7 Biggest KROQ Bands"[4][5] and "Flashback 500" or "Firecracker 500" (presenting the 500 most popular songs).[4] In April 2020, the station released a COVID Quarantine edition of the "Top 106.7 Songs of All Time", with Everlong by the Foo Fighters topping the list.[6]

Countdowns by year[edit]

KROQ Top 106.7 Countdowns
Year Number 1 Song Artist Reference
1980 Whip It Devo [7][b]
1981 Mental Hopscotch Missing Persons [a]
1982 Rock the Casbah The Clash [a]
1983 Is There Something I Should Know? Duran Duran [a]
1984 Relax Frankie Goes to Hollywood [a]
1985 Shake the Disease Depeche Mode [a]
1986 Suburbia Pet Shop Boys [a]
1987 Just Like Heaven The Cure [a]
1988 Route 66 Depeche Mode [a]
1989 Love Song The Cure [a]
1990 Nothing Compares 2 U Sinéad O'Connor [a]
1991 Losing My Religion R.E.M. [a]
1992 Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers [a]
1993 Plush Stone Temple Pilots [a]
1994 Longview Green Day [a]
1995 Lightning Crashes Live [a]
1996 Down 311 [a]
1997 Wrong Way Sublime [a]
1998 Intergalactic Beastie Boys [a]
1999 What's My Age Again? Blink-182 [a]
2000 Last Resort Papa Roach [a]
2001 In the End Linkin Park [a]
2002 Fell in Love with a Girl The White Stripes [a]
2003 Seven Nation Army The White Stripes [a]
2004 Float On Modest Mouse [a]
2005 Boulevard of Broken Dreams Green Day [a]
2006 Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers [a]
2007 The Pretender Foo Fighters [a]
2008 You're Gonna Go Far, Kid The Offspring [a]
2009 Use Somebody Kings of Leon [a]
2010 Lisztomania Phoenix [a]
2011 Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People [a]
2012 We Are Young Fun. [a]
2013 Radioactive Imagine Dragons [b]

Lack of female artist representation[edit]

Over the years, bands like the Go-Gos and the Bangles made the list, but didn't make the top spot. Missing Persons, fronted by Dale Bozzio, topped the chart in 1981, the chart's second year.[a][b] However, since its inception, the number of female artists has decreased over the years,[8] with Sinéad O'Connor being the only woman, or female act, to top the countdown.[a][b][9] This is the same phenomena seen on the Billboard's Alternative Songs chart that went seventeen years without a woman topping the chart from 1996 to 2013.[10]

Over the years, KROQ's Weenie Roast has also faced allegations that it does not pay enough attention to gender equity.[11]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. "List of KROQ Top 106.7 Countdowns". RadioHitlist.
  2. "KROQ Top 106.7 Songs". Frank's Page.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "KROQ 2010 Top 106.7 Most Played Songs Playlist". Darth Brett. YouTube.
  2. ^ Apter, Jeff (2009). Gwen Stefani and No Doubt: Simple Kind of Life. Omnibus Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780857120489.
  3. ^ a b Sullivan, Kate (November 2001). "KROQ An Oral History". Los Angeles Magazine. Emmis Communications: 90–. ISSN 1522-9149.
  4. ^ a b "Complete list of countdowns from 1980 to present". Rocklists.com.
  5. ^ "Beastie Boys #1 On The List Of 106.7 Biggest KROQ Bands". May 12, 2012.
  6. ^ "KROQ Quarantine Countdown of the Top 106 (Point 7) Songs of All Time". KROQ.COM. April 23, 2020.
  7. ^ "Top 80 Songs of 1980". KROQ. radio.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  8. ^ Craughwell, Kathleen (January 21, 2002). "It's a Man's World at KROQ". LA Times.
  9. ^ Steve Hawtin (April 6, 2020). "Song title 66 - Nothing Compares 2 U". Chart Entries. chart2000.com. KROQ 1 of 1990
  10. ^ "Lorde First Woman in 17 Years to Top Alternative with 'Royals'". Billboard. August 16, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  11. ^ Boehm, Mike (June 17, 1999). "Weenie Roast: No Women Aloud?". Los Angeles Times.

External links[edit]