The only New Zealand musician to make the list, 21-year-old Ella Yelich-O'Connor comes in at number nine with her 2013 track Royals.
Featuring in Rolling Stone's July 2018 edition, the list was curated after the magazine polled artists, critics and industry insiders, creating "the era's truly essential moments".
The magazine labels Lorde's hit "maybe the greatest striver's anthem of our modern era".
"Written in half an hour by a 15-year-old in Auckland, New Zealand - perfectly reasonable, since no one views the world's absurd unfairness, or their own rights within in it, with greater clarity than a 15-year-old, especially one situated 8,800 miles from Wall Street and the heart of pop-culture imperialism," Rolling Stone says.
"Ella Yelich-O'Connor, a.k.a. Lorde, came up with the name after seeing a picture of the Kansas City Royals' George Brett in a magazine, and its critique of luxury fetishism after bingeing on rap LPs (especially Watch the Throne) and Lana Del Rey's Born to Die. 'All those references to expensive alcohol, beautiful clothes and beautiful cars,' she said. 'I was thinking, 'This is so opulent, but it's also bullshit.'"
Topping the list was Beyonce's 2003 track Crazy in Love feat. Jay-Z, M.I.A's Paper Planes from 2007 came in second and The White Stripes 20013 hit Seven Nation Army number three.
