NME Single of the Year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track 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 December 9. 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, three artists who have won Album and Single of the Year in the same year: Joy Division in 1980, Klaxons in 2007 and MGMT in 2008. Cecil Womack and Bobby Womack also won Single & Album of the Year respectively in 1984.
No 1 singles by year
- 1975 – "No Woman, No Cry" – Bob Marley & The Wailers
- 1976 – "The Boys Are Back in Town" – Thin Lizzy
- 1977 – "Pretty Vacant" – Sex Pistols
- 1978 – "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" – The Buzzcocks
- 1979 – "The Eton Rifles" – The Jam
- 1980 – "Love Will Tear Us Apart" – Joy Division
- 1981 – "Ghost Town" – The Specials
- 1982 – "The Message" – Grandmaster Flash
- 1983 – "Billie Jean" – Michael Jackson
- 1984 – "Love Wars" – Womack & Womack
- 1985 – "Never Understand" – The Jesus & Mary Chain
- 1986 – "Kiss" – Prince
- 1987 – "Sign o' the Times" – Prince
- 1988 – "The Mercy Seat" – Nick Cave
- 1989 – "She Bangs the Drums" – The Stone Roses
- 1990 – "Groove Is in the Heart" – Deee-lite
- 1991 – "Higher Than the Sun" – Primal Scream
- 1992 – "The Drowners" – Suede
- 1993 – "Cannonball" – The Breeders
- 1994 – "Girls & Boys" – Blur
- 1995 – "Reverend Black Grape" – Black Grape
- 1996 – "Born Slippy" – Underworld
- 1997 – "Bitter Sweet Symphony" – The Verve
- 1998 – "Intergalactic" – Beastie Boys
- 1999 – "Windowlicker" – Aphex Twin
- 2000 – "The Real Slim Shady" – Eminem
- 2001 – "Get Ur Freak On" – Missy Elliott
- 2002 – "There Goes the Fear" – Doves
- 2003 – "Crazy in Love" – Beyoncé
- 2004 – "Can't Stand Me Now" – The Libertines
- 2005 – "Hounds of Love" – The Futureheads
- 2006 – "Over and Over" – Hot Chip
- 2007 – "Golden Skans" – Klaxons
- 2008 – "Kids" – MGMT
- 2009 – "Zero" – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- 2010 – "Spanish Sahara" – Foals
- 2011 – "Video Games" - Lana Del Rey
- 2012 - "Best of Friends" - Palma Violets
- 2013 - "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
- 2014 - "Seasons (Waiting on You)" - Future Islands
- 2015 - "Shutdown" - Skepta