NME Single of the Year

Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best singles or tracks of the year.

The companion list is NME album of the year The NME Single of the Year list is compiled by the music reviewers and independent journalists who work for the magazine and for NME.com.

Each picks his or her top 20 singles of the year and hands them in to the editor.

All of the points from the various top 20s are then gathered together and the overall favourites are worked out and ranked for publication in the official list.

There have been, to date, four artists who have won Album and Single of the Year in the same year: Joy Division in 1980, Klaxons in 2007, MGMT in 2008 and Lorde in 2017.

Logo for NME. The capitals letters N, M and E are spelled out close together in a large, red font.
" Pretty Vacant " by the Sex Pistols topped the listing in 1977.
NME named " Eton Rifles " by The Jam as the best single of 1979.
Prince was the only artist to top the list more than once, until 2022.
The Stone Roses ' " She Bangs the Drum " was named the single of the year in 1989.
" Higher than the Sun " by Primal Scream was voted the greatest single of 1991.
NME voted " Girls & Boys " by Blur as the number-one song of 1994.
MGMT had three songs in NME 's top five singles of 2008.