Only 2 Metal Songs Made Rolling Stone’s 21st Century Best-Of List

Rolling Stone has published a new list of the 250 best songs of the 21st century so far, and the music magazine included a whopping two metal songs in the roundup.

The first metal appearance on the list goes to Mastodon, whose 2004 Leviathan track “Blood and Thunder” landed at No. 230. Slightly higher up the list at No. 174 was System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!,” off 2001’s Toxicity.

These two inclusions are consistent with Rolling Stone‘s list of the 250 best albums of the 21st century so far, published at the beginning of the year. That list also included a mere two metal albums — the parent albums of the songs on the new list. Rolling Stone deemed Leviathan the 171st best album of the past quarter-century, while Toxicity arrived at No. 159.

The Rock Songs on Rolling Stone‘s Best of the 21st Century List

Rock fared better than metal on Rolling Stone‘s new list, with dozens of era-defining tracks scattered throughout the ranking. Green Day’s pop-punk epic “Jesus of Suburbia” landed at No. 205, Evanescence’s goth-rock smash “Bring Me to Life” arrived at No. 195 and My Chemical Romance’s glam-emo anthem “Welcome to the Black Parade” clocked in at No. 96.

Higher up the list, more pop-punk and garage rock revival songs got their due, such as Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” (No. 79), Paramore’s “Still Into You” (No. 63) and the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” (No. 26).

The highest-ranking rock songs were the Strokes’ “Last Nite,” which reached No. 12, and the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which landed at No. 4.

Check out the entire Top 250 over at Rolling Stone.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Rock Albums of the Last 25 Years

Mastodon and System of a Down Make Loudwire’s Best of the 21st Century Lists

Loudwire can also attest to the greatness of Mastodon and System of a Down. We included “Blood and Thunder” and “Chop Suey!” on our list of the greatest metal songs of the past 25 years.

Both artists made it onto our list of the best metal albums of the past 25 years as well — but you’ll have to see for yourself which entry we chose for each band.