Criteria: Alternative Music Artists are ranked by their influence, impact, and popularity. List includes alternative rock, post-punk and new wave artists, as well as artists in the various alternative rock subgenres (including - but not limited to - indie rock, Britpop, grunge, shoegazing, post rock, emo, alternative dance, goth rock, dream pop, alternative country, alternative metal, alternative hip-hop and trip-hop).
Edited By: Ryan
Last Updated: 2025-12-12
Newly added names are in Red
1. R.E.M. 2. Nirvana 3. Radiohead 4. Talking Heads 5. The Cure 6. Sonic Youth 7. Pearl Jam 8. U2 9. The Smiths 10. Pixies 11. Red Hot Chili Peppers 12. The Replacements 13. Elvis Costello & The Attractions 14. Joy Division 15. Nine Inch Nails 16. Green Day 17. Depeche Mode 18. Soundgarden 19. Hüsker Dü 20. Kate Bush 21. The Smashing Pumpkins 22. Beck 23. New Order 24. Dinosaur Jr. 25. Jane's Addiction 26. Echo and the Bunnymen 27. Siouxsie and the Banshees 28. Foo Fighters 29. Pavement 30. Oasis 31. Fugazi 32. XTC 33. Alice in Chains 34. Weezer 35. Minutemen 36. The Jesus and Mary Chain 37. The White Stripes 38. Tori Amos 39. Blur 40. Wire 41. My Bloody Valentine 42. Björk 43. The Jam 44. Liz Phair 45. Rage Against the Machine 46. No Doubt 47. Bauhaus 48. PJ Harvey 49. Coldplay 50. Jeff Buckley
51. The B-52's 52. Hole 53. Faith No More 54. Stone Temple Pilots 55. The Flaming Lips 56. Public Image Ltd. 57. Cocteau Twins 58. They Might Be Giants 59. Linkin Park 60. The Strokes 61. Alanis Morissette 62. My Chemical Romance 63. Paramore 64. Arctic Monkeys 65. Fiona Apple 66. Deftones 67. Mudhoney 68. Pulp 69. The Tragically Hip 70. Blink 182 71. The Killers 72. Sinéad O'Connor 73. Wilco 74. Morrissey 75. The Psychedelic Furs 76. The Offspring 77. Muse 78. Incubus 79. Violent Femmes 80. Portishead 81. Soda Stereo 82. Primal Scream 83. 10,000 Maniacs 84. INXS 85. The Stone Roses 86. Sublime 87. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 88. Modest Mouse 89. Vampire Weekend 90. The Cranberries 91. Sleater-Kinney 92. Gorillaz 93. Suede 94. Midnight Oil 95. Elliott Smith 96. Gang of Four 97.Goo Goo Dolls 98.Sarah McLachlan 99. Queens of the Stone Age 100. Superchunk
101. Belle and Sebastian 102. Meat Puppets 103. Yo La Tengo 104. The Fall 105. LCD Soundsystem 106. Sunny Day Real Estate 107. The Breeders 108. Rancid 109. The Sisters of Mercy 110. Florence + The Machine 111. Fall Out Boy 112. Primus 113. Arcade Fire 114. Guided by Voices 115. The Happy Mondays 116. The Go-Betweens 117. Bad Religion 118.Bikini Kill 119. Manic Street Preachers 120. Ministry 121. Soul Asylum 122. The Pogues 123. Bush 124. The Smithereens 125. Aimee Mann 126. Mission of Burma 127. Yeah Yeah Yeahs 128. TV on the Radio 129. The Church 130. The Verve 131. Teenage Fanclub 132. Spoon 133. Jimmy Eat World 134. Franz Ferdinand 135.Fishbone 136. Stereolab 137. Slowdive 138. Throwing Muses 139. The Alarm 140. Gin Blossoms 141. The Sugarcubes 142.Legião Urbana 143. Killing Joke 144. Camper Van Beethoven 145. The Black Keys 146. Juliana Hatfield 147. Kings of Leon 148.Third Eye Blind 149. The National 150. This Mortal Coil
151. Social Distortion 152. Galaxie 500 153. The Chameleons 154. The Mountain Goats 155.Interpol 156.Bloc Party 157.Live 158. Lush 159. The Lemonheads 160. The Charlatans 161. Death Cab for Cutie 162.311 163. Ween 164. American Football 165. Billy Bragg 166. Silverchair 167. Ride 168. The The 169. Robyn Hitchcock 170. Placebo 171.Matchbox Twenty 172. Belly 173. Low 174. Love and Rockets 175. Neutral Milk Hotel 176. Sebadoh 177. James 178. Built to Spill 179. Screaming Trees 180.Phoenix 181. Beach House 182. Mother Love Bone 183. At the Drive-In 184.St. Vincent 185. Bright Eyes 186. Sloanv 187. The Birthday Party 188. Pere Ubu 189. Butthole Surfers 190. Panic! at the Disco 191. The Slits 192. Afghan Whigs 193. Catherine Wheel 194. Matthew Sweet 195.The Hold Steady 196. The Feelies 197. Magazine 198. AFI 199. Uncle Tupelo 200. Lorde
201. Silversun Pickups 202. Cage the Elephant 203. The dB's 204. The Call 205. Snow Patrol 206. Slint 207. Taking Back Sunday 208. Super Furry Animals 209. Spiritualized 210. fIREHOSE 211.Helmet 212. The Sundays 213. Tame Impala 214. The Wedding Present 215. The Chills 216. Big Black 217. Beat Happening 218. Fountains of Wayne 219. Let's Active 220. The Dismemberment Plan 221.Hum 222. The Magnetic Fields 223. Foals 224. The Jesus Lizard 225. M.I.A.
226. The 1975 227. Orange Juice 228. Broken Social Scene 229. The xx 230.The Shins 231.My Morning Jacket 232. Morphine 233. Pylon 234. Twenty One Pilots 235.Sigur Rós 236. Barenaked Ladies 237. Swans 238. The Soft Boys 239. The Mekons 240. Game Theory 241.The War on Drugs 242.Mitski 243.Big Thief 244.Héroes del Silencio 245.Phoebe Bridgers 246.Courtney Barnett 247.Billie Eilish 248.Soul Coughing 249.Alvvays 250.Our Lady Peace
100 Greatest Influences on Alternative Music
Criteria: Includes which perform non-alternative genres (including some artists which pre-date the genre, or are contemporaneous with it) which have had a noticeable and long-lasting influence on alternative rock music. Includes pre-alternative, 1970's punk, 1960's garage rock, protopunk, psychedelic rock, experimental music and electronica artists. Artists are ranked by influence on alternative music, critical acclaim from alternative music publications and popularity within the alternative music culture and community.
1. David Bowie 2. Velvet Underground 3. Neil Young 4. The Stooges 5. MC5 6. Patti Smith 7. Brian Eno 8. Scott Walker 9.Television 10. Tom Waits 11. Ramones 12. Sex Pistols 13. The Clash 14. Lou Reed 15. Iggy Pop 16.Blondie 17. Roxy Music 18. Big Star 19. Kraftwerk 20. The Sonics 21.Beastie Boys 22. New York Dolls 23. Buzzcocks 24.The Pretenders 25. Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers 26. Black Flag 27. X 28. The Damned 29. Captain Beefheart 30. Nick Drake 31.Devo 32. Can 33. Throbbing Gristle 34. Suicide 35. Bad Brains 36. Peter Gabriel 37. The Residents 38. Dead Kennedys 39. Syd Barrett 40. The Stranglers 41. T. Rex 42. Love 43. The 13th Floor Elevators 44. Sparks 45. Nick Lowe 46.Lucinda Williams 47. The Seeds 48. John Cale 49.The Specials 50. Richard Hell and the Voidoids
51. The Cars 52. Laurie Anderson 53. Nico 54. Stiff Little Fingers 55.Misfits 56. Los Lobos 57. Richard Thompson 58. Glenn Branca 59.Massive Attack 60. The Adverts 61. Cabaret Voltaire 62. Ian Dury and the Blockheads 63.X-Ray Spex 64.The Raincoats 65.The Fugs 66.Germs 67. Suzanne Vega 68.Flipper 68. ESG 70.Talk Talk 71.This Heat 72. Robert Wyatt 73. Graham Parker 74.Steve Earle 75.Descendents 76.The Go-Go's 77. James Chance and the Contortions 78. The Cramps 79.Dead Boys 80.De La Soul 81.A Tribe Called Quest 82.The Roots 83.Squeeze 84. The Monks 85.The Pop Group 86.Radio Birdman 87. Liquid Liquid 88.Charly Garcia 89.The Saints 90. The Gun Club 91. Dr. Feelgood 92.Tears for Fears 93.Flamin' Groovies 94.Marshall Crenshaw 95.Swell Maps 96.Johnny Thunders 97. The Prodigy 98. The Chemical Brothers 99. Living Colour 100.Crass
