The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

A fully ranked canon of 500 tracks published by NME in 2014, presented online in five parts and in print; NME describes it as “compiled by staff and writers,” with no voter roll or headcount disclosed. For weighting, we record an estimated 30 contributors as a cautious midpoint of a 20–40 range, based on the phrasing (multi-person editorial process), the project’s scale (500 songs with accompanying copy), typical NME staff size circa 2013–2014 (few dozen across print/digital), and precedent from adjacent NME lists that drew on many journalists.