{"id":611349,"date":"2026-09-25T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611349\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:08:16","slug":"the-rock-2000-blindspotts-nil-by-mouth-voted-1-in-2026-historic-nz-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611349\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rock 2000: Blindspott’s \u2018Nil By Mouth\u2019 voted #1 in 2026 historic NZ win"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been over 20 years in the making, but \u2018Nil By Mouth\u2019 by local legends Blindspott has taken out the #1 spot in this year\u2019s Rock 2000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their win is historic for New Zealand music, marking the first time a Kiwi act has topped the countdown in over two decades, dethroning legends System Of A Down, Metallica and Limp Bizkit.<\/p>\n

Blindspott\u2019s debut track has featured in every list since 2003<\/a>, circling the top 10 for almost a decade and peaking at #2 in 2024, before finally claiming the crown.<\/p>\n

WATCH: The Rock 2000: 2026 Live Ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n

Blindspott drummer Shelton Woolright shared his reaction to the historic win with The Morning Rumble’s Bryce Casey.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re just so thankful that everyone is still playing it and appreciating it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It always gives us a kick. We gave that song to the fans years ago, so it\u2019s more theirs than ours now.” <\/p>\n

\"\"The Top 10 Songs of The Rock 2000 for 2026<\/p>\n

10. \u2018No One Knows\u2019 – Queens of the Stone Age<\/p>\n

9. \u2018Master of Puppets\u2019 – Metallica<\/p>\n

8. \u2018Black\u2019 – Pearl Jam<\/p>\n

7. \u2018Blind\u2019 – Korn<\/p>\n

6. \u2018Nutshell (Unplugged)\u2019 – Alice in Chains<\/p>\n

5. \u2018The Pot\u2019 – Tool<\/p>\n

4. \u2018For Whom The Bell Tolls\u2019 – Metallica<\/p>\n

3. \u2018Break Stuff\u2019 – Limp Bizkit<\/p>\n

2. \u2018Chop Suey!\u2019 – System Of A Down<\/p>\n

1. \u2018Nil By Mouth\u2019 – Blindspott<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s landmark victory sits alongside strong local representation, as an all-time high of 229 Kiwi songs made this year\u2019s cut.<\/p>\n

Blindspott<\/a> carried 17 additional tracks in the mix, but it was fellow local rock heavyweights Shihad<\/a> and Devilskin<\/a> that proved their staying power, each securing 22 entries and reaching #13 and #19 respectively.<\/p>\n

With well over a million combined votes submitted, this year\u2019s countdown also produced the biggest shake-up to the Top 20 ever recorded.<\/p>\n

Nine songs surged into the upper tier, most noticeably Queens Of The Stone Age’s \u2018No One Knows,\u2019 which rocketed 200 positions from #210 last year to #10.<\/p>\n

However, it still couldn\u2019t move countdown stalwarts like Metallica and System Of A Down, who held seven of the 20 spots between them.<\/p>\n

With more than 115,000 people voting, 19% from overseas, this year is proof that not only does rock music hold strong, but Kiwi rock is among the best in the world.<\/p>\n

To all who voted, listened, complained \u2018should\u2019ve been higher\u2019, and belted along – thank you! It\u2019s time to put another edition of The Rock 2000 to bed, till we rise again next year.<\/p>\n

Dive further into The Rock 2000 with rova’s Votetrackr<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been over 20 years in the making, but \u2018Nil By Mouth\u2019 by local legends Blindspott has taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-611349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}