Jason Roberts made the most of a defensive error to hand Blackburn their fifth successive win at Newcastle.
The substitute picked up a long ball after eluding the weak challenges of Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson to slot the ball past Tim Krul.
Morten Gamst Pedersen gave Rovers the lead when he took advantage of a Cheik Tiote mistake in the area to fire in.
Newcastle levelled the scores after the break when Andy Carroll headed in his seventh league goal of the season.
The equaliser had sparked a Magpies fightback, and having lost most of the 50-50 challenges in the first half Chris Hughton's side began winning them.
However Newcastle's defence, that had looked impenetrable at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, was anything but against Blackburn and they paid the price for two costly errors.
The first mistake came after three minutes. Tiote has looked assured with the ball at his feet since joining this season and has become a fans' favourite, but there were widespread groans from the Magpies faithful when the ball got caught up between his feet inside the area, allowing Pedersen to pounce and drill an angled drive past Krul.
That alertness from the Norwegian was prevalent among all his Blackburn team-mates during the first half.
They did what Newcastle had done to Arsenal on Sunday - won the first and second balls.
Pedersen came close to doubling his tally, when his strike from outside the area appeared to deflect off the arm of Newcastle centre-back Williamson in the area and wide for a corner.
The discipline Hughton's men showed in north London had by now been punched out of them.
The seemingly foolproof tactic of playing the diagonal ball to Carroll and Shola Ameobi was easily read by Blackburn's three centre-halves, Gael Givet, Ryan Nelsen and Chris Samba.
So when Newcastle equalised two minutes after the restart, it somewhat surprising that it came from a diagonal ball into the area.
What was more surprising was that man-of-the-moment Carroll was given all the space in the world to come in from the right and head past Paul Robinson. The defending would have left Rovers boss Sam Allardyce fuming.
Newcastle had improved tenfold, although Joey Barton's commitment to the cause could have seen him leave the field had referee Michael Jones spotted him thrusting his hand into Pedersen's chest, after the Rovers man had provoked him with his shoulder.
A fairer tussle led to Roberts's winner. The Blackburn forward, whose chances in the first team have been limited this season, out-jumped Coloccini from Robinson's clearance then brushed aside Williamson before slotting past Krul.
After three wins on the spin, the defeat brought Newcastle crashing back down to earth.
For Allardyce it was a sweet victory on his first return to St James' Park as a manager, having been relieved of the position two years ago.
Line Ups:
Newcastle United: 26-Krul, 02-Coloccini, 03-Jose Enrique, 04-Nolan, 06-Williamson, 07-Barton, 09-Carroll, 12-Simpson, 18-Gutierrez, 23-Ameobi, 24-Tiote SUBS USED: 10-Routledge, 30-Ranger
Blackburn Rovers: 01-Robinson, 04-Samba, 05-Givet, 06-Nelsen, 07-Emerton, 09-Kalinic, 12-Pedersen, 23-Hoilett, 27-Salgado, 28-Jones, 39-Chimbonda SUBS USED: 08-Dunn, 30-Roberts
Todays Other Scores:
Aston Villa 3-2 Blackpool: AV-Downing, Delfouneso, Collins BP-Harewood, Campbell
Chelsea 1-0 Fulham: CH-Essien
Everton 1-1 Bolton Wanderers: EVE-Beckford BW-Klasnic
Manchester City 0-0 Manchester United
West Ham United 2-2 West Bromwich Albion: WH-Parker, Piquionne WBA-Odemwingie, Pablo
Wigan Athletic 1-1 Liverpool: WA-Rodallege LI-Torres
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Arsenal: Chamakh (2)
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