Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best singles or tracks of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for 9 December. 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. An album marked at Number One gets 20 points, Number Two gets 19 points and so on until the 20th, which gets one point. 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. The single or track with the most points overall is Number One in the list, the one with the second most points is Number Two and so on. 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. Cecil Womack and Bobby Womack also won Single & Album of the Year respectively in 1984.
Singles of the Year
YearArtistSingleTop five1975"No Woman No Cry"
1976Thin Lizzy""
1977Sex Pistols"Pretty Vacant"
1978Buzzcocks"Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"
1979"Eton Rifles"
1980Joy Division"Love Will Tear Us Apart"
1981"Ghost Town"
1982Grandmaster Flash""
1983"Billie Jean"
1984Womack and Womack"Love Wars"
1985"Never Understand"
1986Prince"Kiss"
1987Prince"Sign o' the Times"
1988""
1989"She Bangs the Drums"
1990Deee-Lite"Groove Is in the Heart"
1991Primal Scream"Higher than the Sun"
1992Suede""
1993"Cannonball"
1994Blur"Girls & Boys"
1995Black Grape"Reverend Black Grape"
1996Underworld"Born Slippy"
1997"Bitter Sweet Symphony"
1998Beastie Boys"Intergalactic"
1999Aphex Twin"Windowlicker"
2000Eminem""
2001Missy Elliott"Get Ur Freak On"
2002Doves"There Goes the Fear"
2003Beyoncé"Crazy in Love"
2004"Can't Stand Me Now"
2005"Hounds of Love"
2006Hot Chip"Over and Over"
2007Klaxons"Golden Skans"
2008MGMT"Kids"
2009Yeah Yeah Yeahs"Zero"
2010Foals"Spanish Sahara"
2011"Video Games"
2012Palma Violets"Best of Friends"
2013Daft Punk"Get Lucky"
2014Future Islands"Seasons (Waiting on You)"
2015Skepta"Shutdown"
2016Rihanna"Work"
2017Lorde"Green Light"
2018Ariana Grande"No Tears Left to Cry"
2019Mura Masa featuring Slowthai"Deal Wiv It"
2020Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion"WAP"
2021Olivia Rodrigo"Good 4 U"
2022 Beyoncé "Cuff It"2023Lana Del Rey"A&W" 2nd: NewJeans – "Super Shy" 3rd: Kylie Minogue – "Padam Padam" 4th: Olivia Rodrigo – "Vampire" 5th: The Last Dinner Party – "Nothing Matters"2024Chappell Roan"Good Luck, Babe!" 2nd: Kendrick Lamar – "Not Like Us" 3rd: Fontaines D.C. – "Starburster" 4th: Charli XCX & Lorde – "Girl, So Confusing featuring Lorde" 5th: Jade – "Angel of My Dreams"2025PinkPantheress"Illegal" 2nd: Geese – "Taxes" 3rd: CMAT – "Take a Sexy Picture of Me" 4th: Amaarae – "S.M.O." 5th: Katseye – "Gnarly"
See also
NME Album of the Year NME Awards
References
External links