How to request a random row in SQL?

Question

How can I request a random row (or as close to truly random as is possible) in pure SQL?

Answer 1

In SQL Server you can combine TABLESAMPLE with NEWID() to get pretty good randomness and still have speed. This is especially useful if you really only want 1, or a small number, of rows.

SELECT TOP 1 * FROM [table] 
TABLESAMPLE (500 ROWS) 
ORDER BY NEWID()