NME UNVEILS THE 2011 COOL LIST

November 23, 2011

The NME Cool List is the ultimate guide to the 50 coolest people on the planet right now. On sale nationally from Wednesday November 23, this week's magazine unveils the 2011 list, while www.NME.com features galleries and blogs celebrating this year's champions.

Now in its 10th year, The NME Cool List celebrates the artists who have rocked the music world over the past 12 months. Previous winners include Jack White, Alex Turner, Beth Ditto and Pete Doherty.

Top of the 2011 list, and the coolest person in the World right now, is 19-year-old New York rapper Azealia Banks. So what makes her so cool? Her x-rated signature tune '212' is, according to NME, the most exciting track of the year, bursting with youthful rebellion and a can-do, F-you attitude. She's cocky enough to fall out with XL Records chief Richard Russell without committing career suicide. She bristles with a burning ambition to rule the world, and she's also been confirmed in the coveted opening slot of the NME Awards Tour 2012, previously held by the likes of Florence and Arctic Monkeys.

NME editor Krissi Murison says: "The NME Cool List has long been the most fiercely contested and talked about countdown of the year, and 2011 is proving no different with drummers usurping singers, brothers at war, and a whole new breed of rappers, frontmen and chanteuses set to knock the old guard off their perches. No wonder it's the list every musician in the world is desperate to be on - even if they might insist otherwise..."

Azealia isn't the only brand new hip-hop artist to do well. Drake (#27), A$AP Rocky (#31) and Tyler, The Creator (#35), challenge the old order, with last year's #3 Kanye West down to #30.

Drummers also come out on top, with Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders (#9) beating Alex Turner (#15) and The Killers' Ronnie Vannucci at #49, while singer Brandon Flowers does not appear in the list. NME Godlike Genius and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl also enters the Cool List at #12.

The countdown features familiar faces - Jarvis Cocker at #2, Noel Gallagher (#11), Liam Gallagher (#50) and Bjork (#37). But from top to bottom it's rammed full of the people set to dominate in 2012, including Tribes' Johnny Lloyd (#45), Howler's Jordan Gatesmith (#44), Spector's Fred MacPherson (#39), SCUM's Tom Cohen (#28) and Lana Del Rey (#6) amongst others.

The list that separates the great from the good also features:

  • Honor Titus from punk band Cerebral Ballzy at #3, up from the #43 slot last year
  • Last year's #1 Laura Marling drops to #13
  • Florence Welch enters the 2011 Cool List at #20, having not appeared in 2010
  • Janelle Monae drops from her 2010 #2 slot to #17 this year
  • Stone Roses' Ian Brown makes an appearance at #34 and Reni bags the #46 slot
  • Kasabian's Tom and Serge get 5th and 4th slot respectively

Accompanying the 2011 NME Cool List is the fool list which this year features Ricky Gervais and Ed Sheeran. Not everyone can be cool.

-ends-

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR IMAGERY PLEASE CONTACT:

Anna Gawan, PR Manager, IPC Media on 020 3148 5405, 07816 316432 or

email anna_gawan@ipcmedia.com

About NME

NME has become a truly unique multi-platform media proposition. Across the magazine, nme.com, NMETV, NME Radio and the brand's live events and awards, NME reaches over one million music fans every week. NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world.

The full 2011 NME Cool List:

1. Azealia Banks

2. Jarvis Cocker, Pulp

3. Honor Titus, Cerebral Ballzy

4. Serge Pizzorno, Kasabian

5. Tom Meighan, Kasabian

6. Lana Del Ray

7. Rys Webb, The Horrors

8. Theo Hutchcraft, Hurts

9. Matt Helders, Arctic Monkeys

10. Ellery Roberts, Wu Lyf

11. Noel Gallagher

12. Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters

13. Laura Marling

14. Katy B

15. Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys

16. Gaspard Auge, Justice

17. Janelle Monae

18. Charlie Fink, Noah & The Whale

19. Orlando Weeks, The Maccabees

20. Florence Welch

21. Joe Mount, Metronomy

22. Freddie Cowan, The Vaccines

23. Elias Bender Ronnenfelt, Iceage

24. Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club

25. Christopher Owens, Girls

26. PJ Harvey

27. Drake

28. Tom Cohen, SCUM

29. Kurt Vile

30. Kanye West

31. A$AP Rocky

32. Mikes Kane

33. Hayden Thorpe, Wild Beasts

34. Ian Brown, The Stone Roses

35. Tyler The Creator, Odd Future

36. Frank Turner

37. Bjork

38. King Krule

39. Fred Macpherson, Spector

40. Orlando Higginbottom, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

41. Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast

42. Nicky Wire, Manic Street Preachers

43. Toddla T

44. Jordan Gatesmith, Howler

45. Johnny Lloyd, Tribes

46. Reni, The Stone Roses

47. Merrill Garbus, Tune-Yards

48. St Vincent

49. Ronnie Vanucci, The Killers/Big Talk

50. Liam Gallagher, Beady Eye

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