Editing NME (section)

===1960s===
During the 1960s, the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The ''NME'' circulation peaked under Andy Gray (editor 1957–1972) with a figure of 306,881 for the period from January to June 1964.<ref>Long, Pat, 2012, ''The History of the NME: High Times and Low Lives at the World's Most Famous Music Magazine,'' Portico Books, London. p. 23, 29. {{ISBN|978-1-907554-48-3}}</ref><ref name="Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK) Historic data">{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.org.uk/Products-Services/Historic-data/ |title=QuickView & other data subscriptions |publisher=ABC |access-date=11 August 2014 |archive-date=7 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907100054/http://www.abc.org.uk/Products-Services/Historic-data/ }}</ref> [[The Beatles]] and [[the Rolling Stones]] were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists also appeared at the NME Poll Winners' Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as most popular by the paper's readers. The concert also featured a ceremony where the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners' Concerts took place between 1959 and 1972. From 1964 onwards, they were filmed, edited, and transmitted on British television a few weeks after they had taken place.

In the mid-1960s, the ''NME'' was primarily dedicated to pop while its older rival, ''[[Melody Maker]]'', was known for its more serious coverage of music. Other competing titles included ''[[Record Mirror]]'', which led the way in championing American [[rhythm and blues]], and ''[[Disc (magazine)|Disc]]'', which focused on chart news.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Steve|title=Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year|year=2016|publisher=HarperLuxe|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-249713-0|pages=21–22}}</ref> The latter part of the decade the paper charted the rise of [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]] and the continued dominance of British groups of the time. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with ''Melody Maker''; however, ''NME'' sales were healthy, with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week, making it one of the UK's biggest sellers at the time.