[7] The first average circulation published in February 2016 of 307,217 copies per week was the highest in the brand's history, beating the previous best of 306,881, recorded in 1964 at the height of the Beatles' fame.

Other competing titles included Record Mirror, which led the way in championing American rhythm and blues, and Disc, which focused on chart news.

Bands such as Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex and Generation X were regular cover stars, eulogised by writers such as Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, whose nihilistic tone narrated the punk years perfectly.

"[22] By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and Sounds.

We did Looking Back and Consumer Guide features that beat the competition out of sight, and we did this not just to surpass our rivals but because we reckoned that rock had finished its first wind around 1969/70 and deserved to be treated as history, as a canon of work.

The NME gave the Sex Pistols their first music press coverage in a live review of their performance at the Marquee in February that year, but overall it was slow to cover this new phenomenon in comparison to Sounds and Melody Maker, where Jonh Ingham and Caroline Coon respectively were early champions of punk.

Although articles by the likes of Mick Farren (whose article "The Titanic Sails at Dawn" called for a new street-led rock movement in response to stadium rock) were published by the NME that summer, it was felt that younger writing was needed to credibly cover the emerging punk movement, and the paper advertised for a pair of "hip young gunslingers" to join their editorial staff.

Writers at this time included Mat Snow, Chris Bohn (known in his later years at the paper as 'Biba Kopf'), Antonella Gambotto-Burke (known by her pseudonyms Antonella Black and, because of her then-dyed orange hair, Ginger Meggs), Barney Hoskyns, Paolo Hewitt, Don Watson, Danny Kelly, Steven Wells, and David Quantick.

A number of features entirely unrelated to music appeared on the cover in this era, including a piece by William Leith on computer crime and articles by Stuart Cosgrove on such subjects as the politics of sport and the presence of American troops in Britain, with Elvis Presley appearing on the cover not for musical reasons but as a political symbol.

This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a poster of an insert contained in the Dead Kennedys' album Frankenchrist, consisting of a painting by H.R.

This came to a head in 1991, when, during an interview with Steve Lamacq, Richey Edwards would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade.

Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with BBC Radio 1 as it reinvented itself under Matthew Bannister.

In April 1994, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the NME, but would see a massive change in British music.

The term was coined by NME[citation needed] after the band Blur released their album Parklife in the month of Cobain's death.

Blur won the "race" for the top of the charts, and the resulting fallout from the publicity led to the paper enjoying increased sales during the 1990s as Britpop became the dominant genre.

The paper did attempt to return to its highly politicised 1980s incarnation by running a cover story in March 1998 condemning Tony Blair, who had previously associated himself with Britpop bands such as Oasis, and this received a certain level of attention in the wider media.

Black Emperor saw the paper dip to a sales low, and Sutherland later stated in his weekly editorial that he regretted putting them on the cover.

From the issue of 21 March 1999, the paper was no longer printed on newsprint, and more recently, it has shifted to tabloid size with glossy colour covers.

In 2000, Steve Sutherland left to become brand director of the NME, and was replaced as editor by 26-year-old Melody Maker writer Ben Knowles.

In the early 2000s, the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronic musician Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say, and R&B groups such as Destiny's Child.

In 2001, the NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music, and helped to introduce bands including the Strokes, the Vines, and the White Stripes.

In 2002, Conor McNicholas was appointed editor, with a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley, Andrew Kendall, James Looker, and Pieter Van Hattem, and a high turnover of young writers.

It focused on new British bands such as the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and the Kaiser Chiefs, which had emerged as indie music continued to grow in commercial success.

In the 80s, the paper prided itself on its coverage of hip hop, R&B and the emerging dance scene which it took seriously and featured prominently – alongside the usual Peel-endorsed indie fare.

Like everything else in publishing, this particular direction must be in response to reader demand, but it doesn't half make for a self-limiting magazine.In May 2008, the magazine received a redesign aimed at an older readership with a more authoritative tone.

[49] Distributed nationwide via universities, retail stores and the transport network, the first circulation numbers published in February 2016 of 307, 217 copies per week were the highest in the brand's history.

Since relaunch the magazine has featured a number of high-profile international pop stars on the cover such as Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Kanye West and Green Day alongside emerging talent like Zara Larsson, Years & Years, Lady Leshurr and Christine and the Queens.

As well as publishing print magazines in the United Kingdom and Australia, NME Networks is responsible for a trio of online music publications and the main NME.com website, which now also has an area[54] devoted to the Asian music scene and acts such as The Itchyworms,[55] SEVENTEEN,[56] Voice Of Baceprot,[57] Sponge Cola[58] and I Belong To The Zoo[59] from countries such as South Korea,[60] the Philippines and Indonesia.

[61][62] NME Networks' chief operating and commercial officer Holly Bishop explained that the company was "inspired by the resurgence we've seen in vinyl and cassette tapes" to bring a physical edition back for music fans.

NME Networks' Chief Operating and Commercial Officer Holly Bishop stated that it would include "long reads, hero content, franchises, reviews and interactive streams".