Song · Black Sabbath
“NIB” by Black Sabbath
From the album Black Sabbath (1970)
“NIB” by Black Sabbath appears on 11 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1990 and 2025. It was first released in 1970 on the album Black Sabbath. Its best result is #266 on the Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,677 classic rock song of all time.
"N.I.B." sits fourth on Black Sabbath's 1970 debut, and it's a love song with a wicked twist: Geezer Butler's lyric is sung by Lucifer himself, a devil who falls for someone and is turned good by it. Ozzy Osbourne delivers it in the first person over Tony Iommi's guitar, Butler's bass and Bill Ward's drums, with Rodger Bain producing and Tom Allom and Barry Sheffield engineering.
The title has kept fans guessing for decades, with guesses like "Nativity in Black" and "Name in Blood" doing the rounds. Butler's story is less satanic: it was just "Nib", a dig at Ward's beard, which the band thought looked like a pen nib. He added the full stops to make it sound mysterious, and America did the rest.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 266 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 427 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 1996 | 382 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) | 1000 |
| 1998 | 470 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 553 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) | 998 |
| 2019 | 763 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 | 1025 |
| 2020 | 494 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2021 | 773 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 446 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) | 1025 |
| 2024 | 881 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) | 1043 |
| 2025 | 828 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) | 1043 |
Also listed as: N.i.b.; N.i.b; N.I.B..
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