Artist Poll, Poll — November 28, 2017 at 7:43 am

The absolute best of New Order: All 157 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers

Today we unveil the results of Round 5 of our Slicing Up Eyeballs readers’ poll series, a ranking of all 157 songs released by electronic-rock pioneers New Order, from their emergence in 1981 from the ashes of Joy Division up through the current post-Peter Hook era.

A little refresher: We asked readers to vote for up to 25 of their favorite songs recorded by New Order, choosing from a ballot that listed 157 singles, album tracks, compilation cuts and cover songs. We didn’t include live versions or most remixes, though we did allow voting on songs that were essentially mixes but carried distinct titles (“The Beach” and “Kiss of Death,” for example).

RELATED: Playlist of all 157 of New Order’s songs, ranked — minus 46 that aren’t on Spotify

Based on a total of about 50,000 votes, the full results are presented below. As you can see, the No. 1 selection — fittingly, a composition that was both one of the last Joy Division songs and one of the first New Order tracks — topped the list by nearly 100 votes. Songs No. 2 and 3 were much closer together.

PREVIOUS POLLS: Best of The Cure | Best of The Smiths | Best of R.E.M. | Best of Depeche Mode

As always, thank you all so much for participating.

And now, the results:

 

THE ABSOLUTE BEST OF NEW ORDER: ALL 157 SONGS, RANKED

 

 

1. “Ceremony”

Non-album single (1981) | 1,946 votes

 

2. “Bizarre Love Triangle”

Single; appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 1,854 votes

 

3. “Temptation”

Non-album single (1982) | 1,835 votes

 

4. “The Perfect Kiss”

Single; appears on Low-Life (1985) | 1,739 votes

 

5. “Age of Consent”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 1,709 votes

 

6. “True Faith”

Non-album single (1987) | 1,690 votes

 

7. “Regret”

Single; appears on Republic (1993) | 1,539 votes

 

8. “Blue Monday”

Single; appears on Power, Corruption & Lies [U.S.] (1983) | 1,536 votes

 

9. “Love Vigilantes”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 1,491 votes

 

10. “Thieves Like Us”

Non-album single (1984) | 1,311 votes

 

 

 

11. “Your Silent Face”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 1,310 votes

 

12. “Everything’s Gone Green”

B-side of “Procession” and non-album single (1981) | 1,140 votes

 

13. “Shellshock”

Non-album single (1986) | 1,086 votes

 

14. “1963”

B-side of “True Faith” (1987) | 1,061 votes

 

15. “Sub-culture”

Single; appears on Low-Life (1985) | 1,012 votes

 

16. “Round & Round”

Single; appears on Technique (1989) | 1,000 votes

 

17. “Confusion”

Non-album single (1983) | 947 votes

 

18. “Fine Time”

Single; appears on Technique (1989) | 884 votes

 

19. “Elegia”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 874 votes

 

20. “Crystal”

Single; appears on Get Ready (2001) | 849 votes

 

 

 

21. “Dreams Never End”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 845 votes

 

22. “Vanishing Point”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 828 votes

 

23. “Touched By the Hand of God”

Single; appears on “Salvation!” soundtrack (1987) | 745 votes

 

24. “Leave Me Alone”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 738 votes

 

25. “Procession”

Non-album single (1981) | 689 votes

 

26. “In a Lonely Place”

B-side of “Ceremony” (1981) | 572 votes

 

27. “Run”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 566 votes

 

28. “State of the Nation”

Single; appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 553 votes

 

29. “5 8 6”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 518 votes

 

30. “Mr. Disco”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 513 votes

 

 

 

31. “World in Motion”

Non-album single (1990) | 489 votes

 

32. “Dream Attack”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 487 votes

 

33. “Sunrise”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 419 votes

 

34. “All Day Long” (TIE)

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 417 votes

 

34. “Every Little Counts” (TIE)

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 417 votes

 

36. “Lonesome Tonight”

B-side of “Thieves Like Us” (1984) | 388 votes

 

37. “Face Up”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 381 votes

 

38. “Love Less”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 378 votes

 

39. “The Village”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 377 votes

 

40. “Blue Monday 1988”

Non-album single (1988) | 376 votes

 

 

 

41. “This Time of Night”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 346 votes

 

42. “All the Way”

Appears on Technique (1989) | 328 votes

 

43. “Here to Stay” (TIE)

Single; on “24 Hour Party People” soundtrack (2002) | 325 votes

 

43. “Ruined in a Day” (TIE)

Single; appears on Republic (1993) | 325 votes

 

45. “Unltraviolence”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 318 votes

 

46. “Sooner Than You Think”

Appears on Low-Life (1985) | 316 votes

 

47. “Weirdo” (TIE)

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 302 votes

 

47. “World (The Price of Love)” (TIE)

Single; appears on Republic (1993) | 302 votes

 

49. “Krafty”

Single; appears on Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 299 votes

 

50. “Paradise”

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 281 votes

 

 

51. “Waiting for the Sirens’ Call”

Single; appears on Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 270 votes

 

52. “Hurt”

B-side of “Temptation” (1982) | 268 votes

 

53. “Singularity”

Single; appears on Music Complete (2015) | 246 votes

 

54. “As It Is When It Was”

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 233 votes

 

55. “Doubts Even Here”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 219 votes

 

56. “Tutti Frutti”

Single; appears on Music Complete (2015) | 216 votes

 

57. “Guilty Partner” (TIE)

Appears on Technique (1989) | 209 votes

 

57. “ICB” (TIE)

Appears on Movement (1981) | 209 votes

 

59. “Plastic”

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 208 votes

 

60. “60 Miles an Hour”

Single; appears on Get Ready (2001) | 206 votes

 

 

61. “Mesh”

B-side of “Everything’s Gone Green” (1981) | 202 votes

 

62. “The Beach”

B-side of “Blue Monday” (1983) | 200 votes

 

63. “Cries and Whispers” (TIE)

B-side of “Everything’s Gone Green” (1981) | 198 votes

 

63. “Ecstasy” (TIE)

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 198 votes

 

65. “Truth”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 192 votes

 

66. “Temptation ’98”

Non-album single (1998) | 179 votes

 

67. “Angel Dust”

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 170 votes

 

68. “Run 2”

Single; appears on Technique (1989) | 163 votes

 

69. “The Him”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 159 votes

 

70. “Chosen Time”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 155 votes

 

 

71. “We All Stand”

Appears on Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) | 153 votes

 

72. “New Dawn Fades”

Appears on “24 Hour Party People” soundtrack (2002) | 148 votes

 

73. “Restless”

Single; appears on Music Complete (2015) | 145 votes

 

74. “True Faith-94”

Non-album single (1994) | 143 votes

 

75. “Denial”

Appears on Movement (1981) | 142 votes

 

76. “Murder” (TIE)

Non-album single (1984) | 141 votes

 

76. “Spooky” (TIE)

Single; appears on Republic (1993) | 141 votes

 

78. “Way of Life”

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 138 votes

 

79. “Kiss of Death”

B-side of “The Perfect Kiss” (1985) | 132 votes

 

80. “Let’s Go”

Appears on “Salvation!” soundtrack (1987) | 125 votes

 

 

81. “Turn”

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 124 votes

 

82. “Senses” (TIE)

Appears on Movement (1981) | 122 votes

 

82. “Turn the Heater On” (TIE)

Appears on Peel Sessions (1986) | 122 votes

 

84. “Special”

Appears on Republic (1993) | 117 votes

 

85. “Broken Promise”

Appears on Brotherhood (1986) | 112 votes

 

86. “Jetstream”

Single; appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 108 votes

 

87. “Academic”

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 103 votes

 

88. “Guilt is a Useless Emotion”

Single; appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 101 votes

 

89. “Turn My Way”

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 96 votes

 

90. “Someone Like You”

Single; appears on Get Ready (2001) | 95 votes

 

 

91. “Nothing But a Fool” (TIE)

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 90 votes

 

91. “Superheated” (TIE)

Appears on Music Complete (2005) | 90 votes

 

93. “Blue Monday-95”

Non-album single (1995) | 82 votes

 

94. “Everyone Everywhere”

Appears on Republic (1993) | 79 votes

 

95. “Who’s Joe?”

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 77 votes

 

96. “Primitive Motion”

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 75 votes

 

97. “People On the High Line”

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 71 votes

 

98. “Vicious Streak”

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 70 votes

 

99. “Bizarre Dub Triangle” (TIE)

B-side of “Bizarre Love Triangle” (1986) | 69 votes

 

99. “Young Offender” (TIE)

Appears on Republic (1993) | 69 votes

 

101. “Shame of the Nation”

B-side of “State of the Nation” (1986) | 67 votes

 

102. “Brutal”

Appears on “The Beach” soundtrack (2000) | 61 votes

 

103. “Chemical”

Appears on Republic (1993) | 60 votes

 

104. “Slow Jam”

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 59 votes

 

105. “Run Wild”

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 56 votes

 

106. “Dracula’s Castle”

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 54 votes

 

107. “Touched By the Hand of Dub”

B-side of “Touched By the Hand of God” (1987) | 49 votes

 

108. “Best & Marsh”

B-side of “Round & Round” (1989) | 47 votes

 

109. “I’ll Stay With You”

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 45 votes

 

110. “Hellbent”

Single; appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 44 votes

 

 

 

111. “Rock the Shack” (TIE)

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 44 votes

 

111. “Shellcock” (TIE)

B-side of “Shellshock” (1986) | 44 votes

 

111. “Unlearn This Hatred” (TIE)

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 44 votes

 

114. “Don’t Do It” (TIE)

B-side of “Fine Time” (1989) | 43 votes

 

114. “Video 5 8 6” aka “Prime 5 8 6” (TIE)

Non-album single (1997) | 43 votes

 

116. “Hey Now What You Doing”

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 41 votes

 

117. “Too Late”

Appears on Peel Sessions (1986) | 40 votes

 

118. “Avalanche”

Appears on Republic (1993) | 39 votes

 

119. “Stray Dog”

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 37 votes

 

120. “Close Range” (TIE)

Appears on Get Ready (2001) | 35 votes

 

 

 

120. “Confused Instrumental” (TIE)

Appears on Substance (1987) | 35 votes

 

120. “Liar” (TIE)

Appears on Republic (1993) | 35 votes

 

123. “I Told You So”

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 33 votes

 

124. “Behind Closed Doors”

B-side of “Crystal” (2001) | 29 votes

 

125. “Evil Dust”

B-side of “True Faith” (1987) | 28 votes

 

126. “Times Change”

Appears on Republic (1993) | 27 votes

 

127. “Player in the League”

B-side of “Here to Stay” (2002) | 26 votes

 

128. “World (The Price of Dub)”

B-side of “Ruined in a Day” (1993) | 24 votes

 

129. “Morning Night and Day” (TIE)

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 23 votes

 

129. “Ode to Joy” (TIE)

Appears on Hacienda Christmas flexidisc (1982) | 23 votes

 

 

 

131. “Skullcrusher”

Appears on “Salvation!” soundtrack (1987) | 21 votes

 

132. “Haystack” (with Kevin Hewick) (TIE)

Appears on From Brussels With Love compilation (1980) | 20 votes

 

132. “Sabotage” (TIE)

B-side of “60 Miles an Hour” (2001) | 20 votes

 

134. “Sugarcane”

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 18 votes

 

135. “Californian Grass”

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 17 votes

 

136. “Fine Line” (TIE)

B-side of “Fine Time” (1989) | 16 votes

 

136. “Salvation Theme” (TIE)

Appears on “Salvation!” soundtrack (1987) | 16 votes

 

136. “The Game” (TIE)

Appears on Music Complete (2015) | 16 votes

 

139. “Dub-vulture” (TIE)

B-side of “Sub-culture” (1985) | 15 votes

 

139. “Exit” (TIE)

Appears on “Control” soundtrack (2007) | 15 votes

 

 

 

139. “Perfect Pit” (TIE)

B-side of “The Perfect Kiss” (1985) | 15 votes

 

139. “Recoil” (TIE)

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 15 votes

 

143. “Get Out” (TIE)

Appears on “Control” soundtrack (2007) | 14 votes

 

143. “MTO” (TIE)

B-side of “Run 2” (1989) | 14 votes

 

145. “Beach Buggy” (TIE)

B-side of “Blue Monday 1988” (1988) | 13 votes

 

145. “Sputnik” (TIE)

Appears on “Salvation!” soundtrack (1987) | 13 votes

 

145. “True Dub” (TIE)

B-side of “True Faith” (1987) | 13 votes

 

148. “Confused Beats” (TIE)

B-side of “Confusion” (1983) | 12 votes

 

148. “Working Overtime” (TIE)

Appears on Waiting For the Sirens’ Call (2005) | 12 votes

 

150. “Shake It Up” (TIE)

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 11 votes

 

 

 

150. “Such a Good Thing” (TIE)

B-side of “World in Motion” (1990) | 11 votes

 

152. “I’ve Got a Feeling” (TIE)

Appears on Lost Sirens (2013) | 10 votes

 

152. “Vicious Circle” (TIE)

B-side of “Ruined in a Day” (1993) | 10 votes

 

154. “Vietnam”

Appears on War Child: Hope compilation (2013) | 9 votes

 

156. “The Peter Saville Show Soundtrack”

Appears on The Peter Saville Show Soundtrack (2003) | 7 votes

 

156. “Hypnosis”

Appears on “Control” soundtrack (2007) | 5 votes

 

157. “Rocking Carol”

Appears on Hacienda Christmas flexidisc (1982) | 2 votes

 

 

 

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

 

37 Comments

  1. Thanks for the vote! I’m very surprised Blue Monday only came in at #8 and Ceremony #1. Obviously the die hard fans voted!

  2. Blue Monday would’ve easily won the poll if you combined the votes for the original, Blue Monday ’98, Blue Monday ’95 and The Beach, which are all essentially the same song.

  3. 89 And 90 áre great songs, must be in higher Scale. O can’t Belive it.

    • I feel the same about Unlearn This Hatred at 111 and Avalanche at 118. Also Vietnam is 4 from the bottom of the list. I know it’s a cover version, but it’s a good song.

  4. Wow, unexpected results for sure. Surprised Everyone, Everywhere is so low and that Rock The Shack was above so many others.

  5. Really I nteresting results.

    Pleased to see the real die-hards obviously voted (Ceremony, Temptation and TPK rating higher than Blue Monday etc.).

    However, I would also like to see how things would’ve been different if remixes of tracks identified separately were combined.

    Really pleased to see tracks such as Everything’s Gone Green, I’m A Lonely Place and Confusion placing so highly. Here’s hoping New Order see these lists and perhaps bring these two into their live sets (like they recently did with Ultraviolence, Shellshock, Sub-Culture etc.). Saw the band do Confusion and IALP live once and they were both superb. IIALP is magnificent. Especially love.

    Many thanks for doing this.

  6. Wow! I was sure that “Bizarre Love Triangle” would finish first.

  7. Johnny Bravo

    Can you tell us about how many unique voters there were?

    I’m sure we all have our “WTF?” arguments with where some of our favorites landed, but part of the fun is seeing how diverse tastes are. The lowest of my 25 was “Turn” at #82.

    Kudos to another great list, Mr. Slice – thanks!

  8. I like New Order and have all their albums. But honestly, everything after #31 on this list is pretty forgettable imo.

  9. Numbers 99 and 100 both have 69 votes. Doesn’t that make them joint 99?

  10. Gee a lot of mine were lower down the order……..I must listen to New Order differently to most….

  11. Will be spinning New Order this weekend on my show, Left of the Dial. 9-11pm EST. WMPG.org. Every Sunday night it’s 2 hours of classic alternative, punk, post-punk and new wave.

  12. It’s a great poll. Thank you for all the effort involved.

  13. True Dub needs to be released on CD.

  14. Great to see Ceremony atop the list.

  15. My thoughts are that the various iterations of Blue Monday could be counted as one track. Same for Temptation 98 + Temptation, the Regular and B side versions of The Perfect Kiss, True Faith + TF’94 and True Dub, BLT + Bizarre Dub Triangle. If you count all of those as one song each, you get a different top ten:
    1) Blue Monday (2207 votes)
    2) Temptation (2033 votes)
    3) Ceremony (1946 votes)
    4) BLT (1923 votes)
    5) The Perfect Kiss (1886 votes)
    6) True Faith (1846 votes)
    7) Age of Consent (1709 votes)
    8) Regret (1539 votes)
    9) Love Vigilantes (1491 votes)
    10) Thieves Like Us(1311 votes)

  16. An album ranking, based on the average number of votes each album track has received:

    1 – Low-Life (822)
    2 – Power, Corruption and Lies* (665)
    3 – Technique* (577)
    4 – Brotherhood* (436)
    5 – Movement (255)
    6 – Republic (248)
    7 – Get Ready (159)
    8 – Music Complete (115)
    9 – Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (104)
    10 – Lost Sirens (23)

    *original album tracks only, not counting votes for ‘Blue Monday’, ‘State of the Nation’ and ‘Run 2’

    The five 1980s albums upfront, pretty natural for an 1980s music blog ;-)

    A bit surprising for me: how well Technique has aged with the voters, and how unpopular Movement still is.

  17. Yeah! I’m one of 18 that voted for ‘Sugarcane’. I agree with the first 4 albums. Maybe a Bashees poll next?

    • Ooh I’m up for that, I’d wager the poll would skew heavily towards Juju and Kaleidoscope with Dazzle and probably Dear Prudence up high as well.

      • Oh yes, Dazzle would definitely be top 10. One of the first 12″ records I bought. I once had the original Hyaena poster (new album, out now) but my mother accidentally threw it away when I moved out of the house. What a shame!

        I love the SATB, there are few bands with that much colour in their sound.

  18. Very amused at how high World in Motion placed. Is there really only 30 songs in the NO canon better than that one?

    • The track immediately below World in Motion is better than it for a start…

    • A lot of futbol fans on this site maybe!

      I think it’s a great song, although the “behind the music” story in Peter Hook’s memoir is pretty funny: “The booze was disappearing fast and, Christ, I’ve seen some power-drinking in my time but the England World Cup squad took the biscuit….” Things go downhill from there.

  19. Having anyone vote is pretty much the reason we got Donald Trump; I doubt even 5% of people voting have heard most of the b-sides and odd tracks; and of course most long-term fans wouldn’t even vote. That said, it’s pretty obvious that NO are a singles band, not an album band, and that despite moments of real genius, they have a lot of dross and an apparently very difficult time writing tunes. “Turn The Heater On” deserves much better and at least two members of the band would back me up on that.

  20. Ryan Maloney

    I’m surprised by a lot of results. With that being said, my preferences have changed over the years as well. They’ve been my favorite band since the early 80’s and I’ve actually really been loving Lost Sirens. Most die-hards would claim sacrilege, but be that as it may…I’ve really enjoyed their progress throughout the years. Temptation has always had a soft spot in my heart…(and not the later versions).

  21. No, Crystal is not better than Vanishing Point, c’mon.

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