Item 1. Report to Stockholders:
The following is a copy of the report transmitted to stockholders pursuant to Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940:

Putnam
Premier Income
Trust

Annual report
7 | 31 | 10

Message from the Trustees

Dear Fellow Shareholder:

The U.S. economic recovery continues to face head winds, constrained by a lack of new jobs, weak housing sales, and tight credit markets. While fixed-income securities have enjoyed strong performance so far in 2010, volatility has returned to the equity markets. Patient investors understand that such periods of uncertainty can also present opportunities. In July, for instance, the S&P 500 Index rebounded 6.9%, delivering its best monthly performance in a year and reversing two straight months of declines.

Compared with 2009’s bull market, today’s investment climate requires a greater degree of investment skill, innovation, and expertise. We believe Putnam’s risk-focused, active-management approach is well-suited for conditions like these.

In developments affecting oversight of your fund, Barbara M. Baumann has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Putnam Funds, effective July 1, 2010. Ms. Baumann is president and owner of Cross Creek Energy Corporation of Denver, Colorado, a strategic consultant to domestic energy firms and direct investor in energy assets. We also want to thank Elizabeth T. Kennan, who has retired from the Board of Trustees, for her many years of dedicated and thoughtful leadership.

Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome new shareholders to the fund and to thank all of our investors for your continued confidence in Putnam.

Data is historical. Past performance does not guarantee future results. More recent returns may be less or more than those shown. Investment return and net asset value will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or a loss when you sell your shares. Performance assumes reinvestment of distributions and does not account for taxes. Fund returns in the bar chart are at NAV. See pages 5 and 10–11 for additional performance information, including fund returns at market price. Index and Lipper results should be compared to fund performance at NAV. Lipper calculates performance differently than the closed-end funds it ranks, due to varying methods for determining a fund’s monthly reinvestment NAV.

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Interview with your fund’s portfolio manager

D. William Kohli

Bill, how did Putnam Premier Income Trust perform for the 12 months ending July 31, 2010?

I am pleased to report that Putnam Premier Income Trust returned 26.08% at net asset value for the one-year period. This result strongly outpaced that of the fund’s benchmark, the Barclays Capital Government Bond Index, which returned 6.67%, as well as the 15.96% average return of its Lipper peer group, Flexible Income Funds [closed end].

How would you characterize the investment environment during the fund’s fiscal year?

Much of the activity throughout 2009 reflected a broad-based recovery across fixed-income sectors, with bond prices in many areas of the market returning to pre-crisis levels. Investors who had the courage to buy when the rest of the market was selling in late 2008 and early 2009 were rewarded for their conviction last year. In 2010, however, the market environment has been much more uncertain. Growing concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery came to a head in April and May as European sovereign debt risks captured headlines and led investors to sell off riskier assets.

At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve began winding down its mortgage-purchase programs aimed at creating market stability. Despite an improved economy, head winds such as high unemployment, weak home prices, and concerns about inflation persisted in the second half of the fund’s fiscal year.

What accounted for the fund’s strong relative performance?

The core of the fund’s investment strategy is to seek out securities that are undervalued relative to the risks they entail. The credit crisis in late 2008 created some

This comparison shows your fund’s performance in the context of broad market indexes for the 12 months ended 7/31/10. See pages 4 and 10–11 for additional fund performance information. Index descriptions can be found on page 11.

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truly unprecedented buying opportunities, particularly within mortgage-related securities, and the bulk of the fund’s performance was driven by our positioning in three sectors: commercial mortgages, agency inverse interest-only securities, and non-agency residential mortgages.

As the credit crisis reminded us, one of the risks always present in the market is liquidity risk, which is the risk that certain securities cannot be quickly or easily sold if the market deteriorates. Our analysis suggested that commercial mortgage-backed securities [CMBS], which are typically very liquid, were undervalued relative to the liquidity risk they entailed. The fund had established a sizable position in very high-quality, short-dated CMBS, which performed well as the period progressed. Recently, we’ve been locking in profits and reducing that position in favor of opportunities in other areas.

One of those areas was, and continues to be, agency inverse interest-only [IO] securities. IO securities, as their name suggests, are backed by the interest payments on prime mortgage loans, and the fund’s exposure to this segment has generated steady cash flows throughout the fiscal year. The main risk to IO securities is of prepayments, which typically occur when homeowners refinance their mortgages. We believe this risk is relatively low and that mortgage prepayment rates will remain below market expectations as home sales have continued to be weak and many homeowners lack sufficient home equity, which normally prevents them from refinancing.

The fund’s exposure to non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities [RMBS] also helped returns. Within this sector, we’ve focused our investment on Alt-A and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pools. These

Credit qualities are shown as a percentage of net assets as of 7/31/10. A bond rated Baa or higher (Prime-3 or higher, for short-term debt) is considered investment grade. The chart reflects Moody’s ratings; percentages may include bonds or derivatives not rated by Moody’s but rated by Standard & Poor’s or, if unrated by S&P, by Fitch, and then included in the closest equivalent Moody’s rating. Ratings will vary over time. Credit quality includes bonds and represents only the fixed-income portion of the portfolio. Derivative instruments, including currency forwards, are only included to the extent of any unrealized gain or loss on such instruments and are shown in the other category. The fund itself has not been rated by an independent rating agency.

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securities were caught up in the massive deleveraging event of the fourth quarter of 2008, and sold off dramatically. It’s important to note that we didn’t own them going into the financial crisis, so the fund was not hurt by their losses at the time. Rather, we established positions at what we believed were extremely depressed prices based on our analysis that, even in extreme worst-case scenarios for the housing and mortgage markets, these areas of the market offer compelling cash flow potential.

Outside of the United States, we positioned the fund to benefit from divergent growth trajectories within the eurozone by overweighting stronger economies, including Germany and France, while underweighting weaker economies and avoiding positions in debt-laden European countries. During the period, we also maintained exposure to select high-yielding quasi-sovereign and sovereign bonds in commodity-driven economies within emerging markets, such as Russia, Venezuela, and Argentina, which also aided performance.

Were there any areas that detracted from the fund’s performance?

There were very few holdings that declined on an absolute basis over the period. On a relative basis, however, throughout the year we were underweight corporate credit, a sector that went on to post strong returns. We believed the risks of a stalled recovery and increased defaults in corporate debt,

This table shows the fund’s top holdings across three key sectors and the percentage of the fund’s net assets that each represented as of 7/31/10.

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particularly among lower-rated securities, made valuations in the sector less appealing than in other areas of the market.

How did the use of derivatives affect fund performance?

The fund generally uses derivatives to enhance returns and reduce risks. For example, we use interest-rate futures and swap contracts to actively manage the fund’s “term-structure” risk, which is the risk related to changes in interest rates along the yield curve. We also use interest-rate futures, swaps, and options to hedge prepayment risks in the portfolio like those imbedded in our investments in IO securities. To manage foreign exchange risk in the portfolio, the fund uses currency forward contracts, which lock in a given currency exchange rate at a specific future date. To give another example, our position in the Australian dollar, which helped returns over the period, was established using currency forwards.

Dividend payments were increased during the period. Can you explain why?

The dividend payments the fund makes are based on the income it generates, and income recently has been higher than anticipated. We tend to be conservative in our income assumptions, and ultimately the fund generated more cash than we had predicted. See page 9 for more detail.

What is your outlook for the fixed-income markets and for the fund?

We believe that in the coming months the macroeconomic environment will continue to be characterized by a degree of uncertainty. The economic recovery is facing structural head winds, including high sovereign debt levels in the United States and overseas, continued high unemployment, and weak housing markets both at home and in certain key markets abroad. Given these challenges, we believe economic growth will remain sluggish, though we do not forecast deflation or a “double-dip” recession. As a result, we also believe that interest rates are unlikely to climb significantly over the near term.

This chart shows how the fund’s top weightings have changed over the past six months. Weightings are shown as a percentage of net assets. Holdings will vary over time.

* May include exposure to derivative instruments.

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For these reasons, the fund does not have any strategies that depend directly on a U.S. recovery. We believe the mortgage areas on which the portfolio is focused still offer very attractive return potential even in the face of a deteriorating economy. One key to performance in an uncertain market environment is the ability to remain nimble, pursuing opportunities as they arise. We believe that’s one of the key features of this fund, and we will continue to seek out the most compelling investment opportunities our research uncovers.

Thanks for bringing us up to date, Bill.

The views expressed in this report are exclusively those of Putnam Management. They are not meant as investment advice.

Please note that the holdings discussed in this report may not have been held by the fund for the entire period. Portfolio composition is subject to review in accordance with the fund’s investment strategy and may vary in the future. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

Of special interest

We are pleased to report several increases in your fund’s dividend rate during the fiscal year. The dividend was increased from $0.043 per share at the beginning of the period to $0.059 per share by the end due to the increase in yields from asset and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Portfolio Manager D. William Kohli is Team Leader of Portfolio Construction and Global Strategies at Putnam. He has an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego. Bill joined Putnam in 1994 and has been in the investment industry since 1987.

In addition to Bill, your fund’s portfolio managers are Michael Atkin, Rob Bloemker, Kevin Murphy, and Paul Scanlon.

IN THE NEWS

Although it seems hard to believe, the Federal Reserve maintains that it still has arrows left in its policy quiver. Despite having completed a massive Treasury bond and mortgage-backed security (MBS) buying spree and keeping short-term interest rates near zero for a record 20-plus months, the Fed indicated at its August 10 meeting that it would consider taking additional action if the economic outlook weakened further. Meeting minutes reveal that possible moves could include buying longer-dated securities or reinstating a version of the mortgage-purchase program that ended in March. The Fed has been reinvesting proceeds from its maturing mortgage securities in U.S. Treasuries, but “reinvesting in MBS might become desirable if conditions were to change,” according to the minutes.

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Your fund’s performance

This section shows your fund’s performance, price, and distribution information for periods ended July 31, 2010, the end of its most recent fiscal year. In accordance with regulatory requirements for mutual funds, we also include performance as of the most recent calendar quarter-end. Performance should always be considered in light of a fund’s investment strategy. Data represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. More recent returns may be less or more than those shown. Investment return, net asset value, and market price will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or a loss when you sell your shares.

Fund performance Total return and comparative index results for periods ended 7/31/10

Performance assumes reinvestment of distributions and does not account for taxes.

Index and Lipper results should be compared to fund performance at net asset value. Lipper calculates performance differently than the closed-end funds it ranks, due to varying methods for determining a fund’s monthly reinvestment NAV.

* Over the 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year, and life-of-fund periods ended 7/31/10, there were 6, 5, 5, 4, and 1 fund(s), respectively, in this Lipper category.

Fund price and distribution information For the 12-month period ended 7/31/10

The classification of distributions, if any, is an estimate. Final distribution information will appear on your year-end tax forms.

* Most recent distribution, excluding capital gains, annualized and divided by NAV or market price at end of period.

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Fund performance as of most recent calendar quarter
Total return for periods ended 6/30/10

Terms and definitions

Important terms

Total return shows how the value of the fund’s shares changed over time, assuming you held the shares through the entire period and reinvested all distributions in the fund.

Net asset value (NAV) is the value of all your fund’s assets, minus any liabilities, divided by the number of outstanding shares.

Market price is the current trading price of one share of the fund. Market prices are set by transactions between buyers and sellers on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange.

Current yield is the annual rate of return earned from dividends or interest of an investment. Current yield is expressed as a percentage of the price of a security, fund share, or principal investment.

Comparative indexes

Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged index of U.S. investment-grade fixed-income securities.

Barclays Capital Government Bond Index is an unmanaged index of U.S. Treasury and agency securities.

BofA (Bank of America) Merrill Lynch U.S. 3-Month Treasury Bill Index is an unmanaged index that seeks to measure the performance of U.S. Treasury bills available in the marketplace.

S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged index of common stock performance.

Indexes assume reinvestment of all distributions and do not account for fees. Securities and performance of a fund and an index will differ. You cannot invest directly in an index.

Lipper is a third-party industry-ranking entity that ranks mutual funds. Its rankings do not reflect sales charges. Lipper rankings are based on total return at net asset value relative to other funds that have similar current investment styles or objectives as determined by Lipper. Lipper may change a fund’s category assignment at its discretion. Lipper category averages reflect performance trends for funds within a category.

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Trustee approval of management contract

General conclusions

The Board of Trustees of the Putnam funds oversees the management of each fund and, as required by law, determines annually whether to approve the continuance of your fund’s management contract with Putnam Investment Management (“Putnam Management”), and the sub-management contract with respect to your fund, between Putnam Management and its affiliate, Putnam Investments Limited (“PIL”).

In this regard, the Board of Trustees, with the assistance of its Contract Committee consisting solely of Trustees who are not “interested persons” (as this term is defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended) of the Putnam funds (the “Independent Trustees”), requests and evaluates all information it deems reasonably necessary under the circumstances. Over the course of several months ending in June 2010, the Contract Committee met several times with representatives of Putnam Management and in executive session to consider the information provided by Putnam Management and other information developed with the assistance of the Board’s independent counsel and independent staff. The Contract Committee reviewed and discussed key aspects of this information with all of the Independent Trustees. At the Trustees’ June 11, 2010 meeting, the Contract Committee recommended, and the Independent Trustees approved, the continuance of your fund’s management contract, and sub-management contract, effective July 1, 2010. (Because PIL is an affiliate of Putnam Management and Putnam Management remains fully responsible for all services provided by PIL, the Trustees have not evaluated PIL as a separate entity, and all subsequent references to Putnam Management below should be deemed to include reference to PIL as necessary or appropriate in the context.)

The Independent Trustees’ approval was based on the following conclusions:

• That the fee schedule in effect for your fund represented reasonable compensation in light of the nature and quality of the services being provided to the fund, the fees paid by competitive funds, and the costs incurred by Putnam Management in providing such services, and

• That the fee schedule represented an appropriate sharing between fund shareholders and Putnam Management of such economies of scale as may exist in the management of the fund at current asset levels.

These conclusions were based on a comprehensive consideration of all information provided to the Trustees and were not the result of any single factor. Some of the factors that figured particularly in the Trustees’ deliberations and how the Trustees considered these factors are described below, although individual Trustees may have evaluated the information presented differently, giving different weights to various factors. It is also important to recognize that the fee arrangements for your fund and the other Putnam funds are the result of many years of review and discussion between the Independent Trustees and Putnam Management, that certain aspects of the arrangements may receive greater scrutiny in some years than others, and that the Trustees’ conclusions may be based, in part, on their consideration of fee arrangements in prior years.

Management fee schedules and categories; total expenses

The Trustees reviewed the management fee schedules in effect for all Putnam funds, including fee levels and breakpoints. In

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reviewing management fees, the Trustees generally focus their attention on material changes in circumstances — for example, changes in assets under management or investment style, changes in Putnam Management’s operating costs, or changes in competitive practices in the mutual fund industry — that suggest that consideration of fee changes might be warranted. The Trustees concluded that the circumstances did not warrant changes to the management fee structure of your fund.

As in the past, the Trustees continued to focus on the competitiveness of the total expense ratio of each fund. The Trustees reviewed comparative fee and expense information for competitive funds, which indicated that, in a custom peer group of competitive funds selected by Lipper Inc., your fund ranked in the 50th percentile in effective management fees (determined for your fund and the other funds in the custom peer group based on fund asset size and the applicable contractual management fee schedule) and in the 1st percentile in total expenses as of December 31, 2009 (the first percentile representing the least expensive funds and the 100th percentile the most expensive funds).

Your fund currently has the benefit of breakpoints in its management fee that provide shareholders with significant economies of scale in the form of reduced fee levels as the fund’s assets under management increase. In recent years, the Trustees have examined the operation of the existing breakpoint structure during periods of both growth and decline in asset levels. The Trustees concluded that the fee schedule in effect for your fund represented an appropriate sharing of economies of scale at that time.

In connection with their review of the management fees and total expenses of the Putnam funds, the Trustees also reviewed the costs of the services provided and profits realized by Putnam Management and its affiliates from their contractual relationships with the funds. This information included trends in revenues, expenses and profitability of Putnam Management and its affiliates relating to the investment management, investor servicing and distribution services provided to the funds. In this regard, the Trustees also reviewed an analysis of Putnam Management’s revenues, expenses and profitability, allocated on a fund-by-fund basis, with respect to the funds’ management, distribution, and investor servicing contracts. For each fund, the analysis presented information about revenues, expenses and profitability for each of the agreements separately and for the agreements taken together on a combined basis. The Trustees concluded that, at current asset levels, the fee schedules currently in place represented an appropriate sharing of economies of scale at that time.

The information examined by the Trustees as part of their annual contract review for the Putnam funds has included for many years information regarding fees charged by Putnam Management and its affiliates to institutional clients such as defined benefit pension plans, college endowments, and the like. This information included comparisons of such fees with fees charged to the funds, as well as a detailed assessment of the differences in the services provided to these two types of clients. The Trustees observed, in this regard, that the differences in fee rates between institutional clients and mutual funds are by no means uniform when examined by individual asset sectors, suggesting that differences in the pricing of investment management services to these types of clients may reflect historical competitive forces operating in separate market places. The Trustees considered the fact that fee rates across different asset classes are typically higher on average for mutual funds than for institutional clients, as well as the differences between the services that Putnam Management provides to the Putnam funds

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and those that it provides to institutional clients of the firm, and did not rely on these comparisons to any significant extent in concluding that the management fees paid by your fund are reasonable.

Investment performance

The quality of the investment process provided by Putnam Management represented a major factor in the Trustees’ evaluation of the quality of services provided by Putnam Management under your fund’s management contract. The Trustees were assisted in their review of the Putnam funds’ investment process and performance by the work of the Investment Oversight Coordinating Committee of the Trustees and the Investment Oversight Committees of the Trustees, which met on a regular monthly basis with the funds’ portfolio teams throughout the year. The Trustees concluded that Putnam Management generally provides a high-quality investment process — as measured by the experience and skills of the individuals assigned to the management of fund portfolios, the resources made available to such personnel, and in general the ability of Putnam Management to attract and retain high-quality personnel — but also recognized that this does not guarantee favorable investment results for every fund in every time period. The Trustees considered the investment performance of each fund over multiple time periods and considered information comparing each fund’s performance with various benchmarks and with the performance of competitive funds.

The Committee noted the substantial improvement in the performance of most Putnam funds during 2009. The Committee also noted the disappointing investment performance of a number of the funds for periods ended December 31, 2009 and considered information provided by Putnam Management regarding the factors contributing to the underperformance and actions being taken to improve performance. The Trustees recognized that, in recent years, Putnam Management has taken steps to strengthen its investment personnel and processes to address areas of underperformance, including Putnam Management’s continuing efforts to strengthen the equity research function, recent changes in portfolio managers, increased accountability of individual managers rather than teams, recent changes in Putnam Management’s approach to incentive compensation, including emphasis on top quartile performance over a rolling three-year period, and the recent arrival of a new chief investment officer. The Trustees indicated their intention to continue to monitor performance trends to assess the effectiveness of these efforts and to evaluate whether additional changes to address areas of underperformance are warranted.

In the case of your fund, the Trustees considered that your fund’s common share cumulative total return performance at net asset value was in the following percentiles of its Lipper Inc. peer group (Lipper Flexible Income Funds) for the one-year, three-year and five-year periods ended December 31, 2009 (the first percentile representing the best-performing funds and the 100th percentile the worst-performing funds):

Over each of the one-year, three-year and five-year periods ended December 31, 2009, there were 5 funds in your fund’s Lipper peer group. (When considering performance information, shareholders should be mindful that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.)

Brokerage and soft-dollar allocations; investor servicing

The Trustees considered various potential benefits that Putnam Management may receive in connection with the services it

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provides under the management contract with your fund. These include benefits related to brokerage and soft-dollar allocations, whereby a portion of the commissions paid by a fund for brokerage may be used to acquire research services that are expected to be useful to Putnam Management in managing the assets of the fund and of other clients. The Trustees considered a change made, at Putnam Management’s request, to the Putnam funds’ brokerage allocation policies commencing in 2010, which increased the permitted soft dollar allocation to third-party services over what had been authorized in previous years. The Trustees noted that a portion of available soft dollars continues to be allocated to the payment of fund expenses. The Trustees indicated their continued intent to monitor regulatory developments in this area with the assistance of their Brokerage Committee and also indicated their continued intent to monitor the potential benefits associated with fund brokerage and soft-dollar allocations and trends in industry practices to ensure that the principle of seeking best price and execution remains paramount in the portfolio trading process.

Putnam Management may also receive benefits from payments that the funds make to Putnam Management’s affiliates for investor or distribution services. In conjunction with the annual review of your fund’s management contract, the Trustees reviewed your fund’s investor servicing agreement with Putnam Fiduciary Trust Company (“PFTC”), an affiliate of Putnam Management. The Trustees concluded that the fees payable by the funds to PFTC for such services are reasonable in relation to the nature and quality of such services.

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Other information for shareholders

Important notice regarding share repurchase program

In September 2009, the Trustees of your fund approved the renewal of a share repurchase program that had been in effect since 2005. This renewal will allow your fund to repurchase, in the 12 months beginning October 8, 2009, up to 10% of the fund’s common shares outstanding as of October 7, 2009.

Important notice regarding Putnam’s privacy policy

In order to conduct business with our shareholders, we must obtain certain personal information such as account holders’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. Using this information, we are able to maintain accurate records of accounts and transactions.

It is our policy to protect the confidentiality of our shareholder information, whether or not a shareholder currently owns shares of our funds. In particular, it is our policy not to sell information about you or your accounts to outside marketing firms. We have safeguards in place designed to prevent unauthorized access to our computer systems and procedures to protect personal information from unauthorized use.

Under certain circumstances, we must share account information with outside vendors who provide services to us, such as mailings and proxy solicitations. In these cases, the service providers enter into confidentiality agreements with us, and we provide only the information necessary to process transactions and perform other services related to your account. Finally, it is our policy to share account information with your financial representative, if you’ve listed one on your Putnam account.

Proxy voting

Putnam is committed to managing our mutual funds in the best interests of our shareholders. The Putnam funds’ proxy voting guidelines and procedures, as well as information regarding how your fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the 12-month period ended June 30, 2010, are available in the Individual Investors section at putnam.com, and on the SEC’s Web site, www.sec.gov. If you have questions about finding forms on the SEC’s Web site, you may call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may also obtain the Putnam funds’ proxy voting guidelines and procedures at no charge by calling Putnam’s Shareholder Services at 1-800-225-1581.

Fund portfolio holdings

The fund will file a complete schedule of its portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. Shareholders may obtain the fund’s Forms N-Q on the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, the fund’s Forms N-Q may be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. You may call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for information about the SEC’s Web site or the operation of the Public Reference Room.

Trustee and employee fund ownership

Putnam employees and members of the Board of Trustees place their faith, confidence, and, most importantly, investment dollars in Putnam mutual funds. As of July 31, 2010, Putnam employees had approximately $315,000,000 and the Trustees had approximately $58,000,000 invested in Putnam mutual funds. These amounts include investments by the Trustees’ and employees’ immediate family members as well as investments through retirement and deferred compensation plans.

Exclusion under Commodity Exchange Act

The fund has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term “commodity pool operator” under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), and therefore is not subject to registration or regulation as a pool operator under the CEA.

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Financial statements

These sections of the report, as well as the accompanying Notes, preceded by the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, constitute the fund’s financial statements.

The fund’s portfolio lists all the fund’s investments and their values as of the last day of the reporting period. Holdings are organized by asset type and industry sector, country, or state to show areas of concentration and diversification.

Statement of assets and liabilities shows how the fund’s net assets and share price are determined. All investment and non-investment assets are added together. Any unpaid expenses and other liabilities are subtracted from this total. The result is divided by the number of shares to determine the net asset value per share. (For funds with preferred shares, the amount subtracted from total assets includes the liquidation preference of preferred shares.)

Statement of operations shows the fund’s net investment gain or loss. This is done by first adding up all the fund’s earnings — from dividends and interest income — and subtracting its operating expenses to determine net investment income (or loss). Then, any net gain or loss the fund realized on the sales of its holdings — as well as any unrealized gains or losses over the period — is added to or subtracted from the net investment result to determine the fund’s net gain or loss for the fiscal year.

Statement of changes in net assets shows how the fund’s net assets were affected by the fund’s net investment gain or loss, by distributions to shareholders, and by changes in the number of the fund’s shares. It lists distributions and their sources (net investment income or realized capital gains) over the current reporting period and the most recent fiscal year-end. The distributions listed here may not match the sources listed in the Statement of operations because the distributions are determined on a tax basis and may be paid in a different period from the one in which they were earned.

Financial highlights provide an overview of the fund’s investment results, per-share distributions, expense ratios, net investment income ratios, and portfolio turnover in one summary table, reflecting the five most recent reporting periods. In a semiannual report, the highlights table also includes the current reporting period.

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Trustees and Shareholders
Putnam Premier Income Trust:

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Putnam Premier Income Trust, including the fund’s portfolio, as of July 31, 2010, and the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended. These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform our audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2010 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers or by other appropriate auditing procedures. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Putnam Premier Income Trust as of July 31, 2010, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Boston, Massachusetts
September 22, 2010

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The fund’s portfolio 7/31/10

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