Methane (CH₄) has significant absorption bands at wavelengths of 1.7, 2.3, 3.3 and 7.6 µm which absorb incoming solar ‘shortwave’ (SW) radiation and cause a radiative forcing (RF) of climate. This letter presents a comprehensive quantification of CH₄ SW RF using a narrow-band radiative transfer model to calculate spatially and monthly resolved estimates of the direct CH₄ SW effect and its impact on longwave (LW) RF via stratospheric temperature change. This significantly extends previous assessments. Calculations include satellite measurements of CH₄ distribution, spectrally-varying surface albedo and absorption of solar mid-infrared radiation by methane’s 7.6 µm band. These factors substantially influence the SW effect; all-sky CH₄ SW tropopause instantaneous RF is significantly smaller than previous estimates at 0.002 W m^-2 (±25%). In total, the CH₄ SW effect enhances CH₄ LW-only RF by 7% from 0.574 W m^-2 to 0.613 W m^-2 for a 750-1800 ppb perturbation.