Alternative Airplay is a record chart published by the music industry magazine Billboard that ranks the most-played songs on American modern rock radio stations. It was introduced by Billboard in September 1988. During the 2000s, the chart was based on electronically monitored airplay data compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems from a panel of national rock radio stations, with songs being ranked by their total number of spins per week. The chart was known as Modern Rock Tracks until June 2009, when it was renamed Alternative Songs in order to "better [reflect] the descriptor used among those in the [modern rock radio] format."
106 songs topped the chart in the 2000s; the first was "All the Small Things" by Blink-182, while the last was "Uprising" by Muse. "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters spent eighteen weeks atop the chart in 2007—the most for any song during the decade—and broke the previous all-time record for most weeks at number one set by "Scar Tissue" by Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1999 and later tied by "It's Been Awhile" by Staind in 2001 and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day in 2005.
The top song of the 2000s on Billboards Alternative Songs decade-end list was "Headstrong" by Trapt, which topped the chart for five weeks and was also its year-end number-one song for 2003. The decade-end top Alternative Songs artist was Linkin Park, who scored eight number-one songs—"In the End", "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Numb", "Lying from You", "Breaking the Habit", "What I've Done" and "New Divide"—and spent a record sixty-two weeks atop the chart during the 2000s.
Number-one songs Key – Billboard year-end number-one song – Billboard decade-end number-one song ↑ – Return of a song to number one
Song Artist Reached number one Weeks atnumber one "All the Small Things" Blink-182 8 "Otherside" Red Hot Chili Peppers 13 "Kryptonite" 3 Doors Down 11 "Last Resort" Papa Roach 1 "Californication" Red Hot Chili Peppers 1 "Last Resort" ↑ Papa Roach 6 "Minority" Green Day 5 "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" Fuel 12 "Hanging by a Moment" Lifehouse 3 "Butterfly" Crazy Town 2 "Drive" Incubus 8 "It's Been Awhile" Staind 16 "Fat Lip" Sum 41 1 "Smooth Criminal" Alien Ant Farm 4 "How You Remind Me" Nickelback 13 "In the End" Linkin Park 5 "Blurry" Puddle of Mudd 9 "Youth of the Nation" P.O.D. 2 "" Jimmy Eat World 4 "Seein' Red" Unwritten Law 4 "Hero" featuring 3 "By the Way" Red Hot Chili Peppers 14 "Aerials" System of a Down 3 "You Know You're Right" Nirvana 4 "All My Life" Foo Fighters 10 "Always" Saliva 1 "No One Knows" Queens of the Stone Age 4 "Can't Stop" Red Hot Chili Peppers 3 "Bring Me to Life" Evanescence 2 "Somewhere I Belong" Linkin Park 5 "Like a Stone" Audioslave 2 "Headstrong" Trapt 5 "Send the Pain Below" Chevelle 1 "Seven Nation Army" 3 "Just Because" Jane's Addiction 1 "Faint" Linkin Park 6 "So Far Away" Staind 6 "Weak and Powerless" 2 "So Far Away" ↑ Staind 1 "Numb" Linkin Park 12 "Hit That" 1 "Megalomaniac" Incubus 6 "I Miss You" Blink-182 2 "" Hoobastank 1 "Last Train Home" Lostprophets 1 "Love Song" 311 1 "Cold Hard Bitch" Jet 3 "Lying from You" Linkin Park 3 "Ch-Check It Out" Beastie Boys 2 "Slither" Velvet Revolver 4 "Float On" Modest Mouse 1 "Just Like You" Three Days Grace 3 "Breaking the Habit" Linkin Park 4 "American Idiot" Green Day 6 "Vertigo" U2 4 "Pain" Jimmy Eat World 1 "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Green Day 16 "E-Pro" Beck 1 "Be Yourself" Audioslave 4 "Holiday" Green Day 3 "" Nine Inch Nails 5 "Beverly Hills" Weezer 1 "Best of You" Foo Fighters 7 "Feel Good Inc." Gorillaz 8 "Only" Nine Inch Nails 5 "DOA" Foo Fighters 2 "Only" ↑ Nine Inch Nails 2 "DOA" ↑ Foo Fighters 4 "Hypnotize" System of a Down 1 "Perfect Situation" Weezer 4 "Wasteland" 10 Years 1 "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" Nine Inch Nails 4 "World Wide Suicide" Pearl Jam 3 "Dani California" Red Hot Chili Peppers 14 "Steady, As She Goes" 1 "Miss Murder" AFI 5 "Animal I Have Become" Three Days Grace 2 "Tell Me Baby" Red Hot Chili Peppers 4 "When You Were Young" 2 "Welcome to the Black Parade" My Chemical Romance 7 "Anna Molly" Incubus 5 "Snow (Hey Oh)" Red Hot Chili Peppers 5 "Pain" Three Days Grace 4 "From Yesterday" Thirty Seconds to Mars 2 "Survivalism" Nine Inch Nails 1 "What I've Done" Linkin Park 15 "Icky Thump" 3 "Paralyzer" Finger Eleven 1 "" Foo Fighters 18 "Fake It" Seether 8 "Long Road to Ruin" Foo Fighters 7 "Psycho" Puddle of Mudd 2 "Rise Above This" Seether 2 "Pork and Beans" Weezer 11 "Let It Die" Foo Fighters 4 "Viva la Vida" Coldplay 2 "Believe" Staind 3 "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" 11 "Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon 8 "Second Chance" Shinedown 1 "Love Hurts" Incubus 1 "Second Chance" ↑ Shinedown 2 "Love Hurts" ↑ Incubus 2 "Brother" Pearl Jam 2 "Use Somebody" Kings of Leon 3 "Feel Good Drag" Anberlin 1 "Know Your Enemy" Green Day 6 "New Divide" Linkin Park 1 "Panic Switch" Silversun Pickups 1 "New Divide" ↑ Linkin Park 11 "Notion" Kings of Leon 1 "Uprising" Muse 2 "Check My Brain" Alice in Chains 1 "Uprising" ↑ Muse 15
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External links Alternative Airplay at Billboard