Top Rock Songs of 2009

Although not George Michael, this Wham! cover is an unusually good (Nickelback-sounding) hard rock take on an '80s ballad -- replacing saxophone with electric guitar. The tune peaked at No. 63 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and made it to the top five on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock charts.

This rock song was the Aussie alt metal band's most successful single, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Active Rock chart and No. 11 on the Alternative Rock Songs chart -- and was selected as the the theme song for WWE's Extreme Wrestling show.

After fans noticed the song's lyrics on 'Momento Mori' were different from when the band performed it on tour back in '07, lead singer Lacey Mosley wrote a letter to her fans on their website to explain the change: "...the words say better [now] what my heart meant. It is written for people like me, who feel a restlessness to make the world better somehow, but are much to small to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. It's to say, you have the right heart, but you weren't meant to carry it all...God's big and he can handle it all better than you! Its okay to let go and not understand everything."

Included on their fifth studio album 'Sci-Fi Crimes,' drummer Sam Loeffler explains the song is about saving the environment using "tongue-and-check" innuendos: "Put into jars / Keep safe this earth / We can't both become the same pawn / That's made to fall."

Written for the movie 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,' the song reveals a great balance between Chester Bennington's pop-vocals and the song's hard rock elements. The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's highest-ranking debut ever.

Lead Singer John Cooper says the song's lyrics are about the idea that all of us have a secret side that we are afraid to show other people, and sometimes we feel like we've lost control and struggle to keep that part of ourselves in check: "My secret side I keep hid under lock and key / I keep it caged but I can't control it / 'Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up, break me down / Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?"

This top rock song of 2009 is about having the option and choice to break away from any situation, good or bad. The single peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard's Alternative Rock Songs chart and No. 3 on Rocks Songs chart.

This tune is Mudvayne's first single off their self-titled and fifth studio album, released in late December of 2009. The single fittingly alternates between mellow Metallica-sounding vocals and the chorus' fierce singing and heavy drums.

Although not originally written for the film, this rock song was featured in Bruce Willis' 'Surrogates.' The song peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and made it in the top five on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts.