A rivet, in particular a solid rivet, for riveting components, which has a primary head for bearing on a component to be riveted and a rivet shank, which is plastically deformable to form a closing head, joined to the primary head so as to constitute a single piece therewith. The primary head has a greater hardness than the rivet shank. Owing to the greater hardness of the primary head, the rivet joint can be produced in a reliable and cost effective manner, even in the case of a rivet header bearing only partially on the primary head.