SQL Server Random Sort
This is a duplicate of SO# 19412. Here's the answer I gave there:
select top 1 * from mytable order by newid()
In SQL Server 2005 and up, you can use TABLESAMPLE to get a random sample that's repeatable:
SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Contact TABLESAMPLE (1 ROWS) ;
Or use the following query, which returns a better random sample result:
SELECT * FROM a_table WHERE 0.01 >= CAST(CHECKSUM(NEWID(), a_column) & 0x7fffffff AS float) / CAST (0x7fffffff AS int)
0.01 means ~1 percent of total rows.
Quote from SQL 2008 Books Online:
If you really want a random sample of individual rows, modify your query to filter out rows randomly, instead of using TABLESAMPLE.