UK Singles Chart records and statistics


The UK Singles Chart was first compiled in 1969. However the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. For example, the BBC compiled its own chart based on an average of the music papers of the time; many songs announced as having reached number one on BBC Radio and Top of the Pops prior to 1969 may not be listed here as chart-toppers since they do not meet the legacy criteria of the Charts Company.

Number one hits

Most number ones

The following is a list of all the acts who are on eight or more UK number one songs with an individual credit.
Simply playing or singing on a single without credit will not count, or the top positions would almost certainly belong to session musicians such as Clem Cattini who is reported to have played drums on over 40 number ones.
TotalArtist
21Elvis Presley
17The Beatles
14Cliff Richard
14Westlife
13Madonna
12The Shadows
12Take That
10Calvin Harris
10Eminem
9ABBA
9Spice Girls
9Rihanna
9Ed Sheeran
8The Rolling Stones
8Oasis

Most weeks at number one by artist

Most weeks at number one by single

The record for most non-consecutive weeks at number one is 18 by Frankie Laine's "I Believe" in 1953. It spent nine weeks at number one, dropped down for a week, returned to number one for six weeks, dropped down for a further week and returned to number one for a third time for three weeks.
The longest unbroken run at number one is " I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams, which spent 16 consecutive weeks in 1991.
Below is a table of all singles that have spent 10 or more weeks at the top of the charts:
PositionArtistSingleYearWeeks
1Frankie Laine"I Believe"*195318 weeks
2Bryan Adams" I Do It for You"199116 weeks
3Wet Wet Wet"Love Is All Around"199415 weeks
3Drake "One Dance"201615 weeks
5Queen"Bohemian Rhapsody"*1975/76 & 1991/9214 weeks
5Ed Sheeran"Shape of You"*201714 weeks
7Slim Whitman"Rose Marie"195511 weeks
7Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee "Despacito"*201711 weeks
7Tones and I"Dance Monkey"201911 weeks
10David Whitfield"Cara Mia"195410 weeks
10Whitney Houston"I Will Always Love You"199210 weeks
10Rihanna "Umbrella"200710 weeks

Note: Songs denoted with an asterisk spent non-consecutive weeks at number one.

Self-replacement at number one

Since the inception of the UK Singles Chart in 1952 only six acts have replaced themselves at the top of the UK charts with exactly the same billing :
In addition, Ariana Grande is the first female artist to replace herself, and the first artist to replace herself at Number 1 for two consecutive weeks.

Most consecutive number ones from chart debut

became the first British music act and girl group to have their first six singles reach number one on the UK singles chart between 1996–1997 with "Wannabe" in July, 1996 to "Too Much" in December, 1997.
Westlife became the first music act, group, male group and pop band to have their first seven singles to reach number one from 1999 to 2000. With this, Westlife broke an unexpected record of the most consecutive number-one singles in the UK, having their first seven singles debut at the top and became the fastest number one music act - their 23 months beating Elvis Presley's previous record of three years. and 1966.

Lowest selling number one

The lowest weekly sale for a number one single is 17,694 copies held by Orson's "No Tomorrow" in 2006.
The addition of downloads to the UK charts meant that singles could reach number one with no physical copy being released. The first single to achieve this was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" in early 2006. Since 2014, audio streaming has been included in the calculation of chart position, so it is now possible for a single to reach number one without selling any copies. In the week ending 24 September 2015, "What Do You Mean?" by Justin Bieber became the first number one with over half of its chart sales made up of streaming points, with sales of 30,000 and 36,000 points from 3.6 million streams.
Since the incorporation of streaming into the singles chart, the Official Charts Company have continued to compile a sales only chart. In week ending 27 April 2017 "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles became the first number one in the sales only chart to sell less than "No Tomorrow" by Orson, with 16,686 copies.

Longest/Shortest song to reach number one

In terms of a song's running length, "All Around the World" by Oasis at 9 minutes and 38 seconds is the longest song to reach No.1. "What Do You Want?" by Adam Faith at 1 minute 35 seconds is the shortest.

Non-English language number-ones

Source:

Acts to occupy the top two

In addition, in the final week that Justin Bieber was at No. 1 and No. 2 with "Love Yourself" and "Sorry", "What Do You Mean" was at No. 3. For the first three weeks that Ed Sheeran was at No. 1 and No. 2 with "Shape of You" and "Galway Girl", "Castle on the Hill" was at No. 3, and for the first of these three weeks Sheeran's "Perfect", "New Man" and "Happier" were at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 respectively.

Most weeks

Weeks on chart by single

Top 100: "Mr Brightside" by The Killers

Top 75: "My Way" by Frank Sinatra

Top 40: "My Way"
Top 100: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran

Top 75: "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi

Top 40: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran

Sales

Fastest selling singles

The fastest selling single in chart history is "Candle in the Wind 1997" by Elton John which sold 1.55 million copies in its first week.
The fastest selling debut single is "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen" by Will Young, which sold 1.11 million copies in its first week on sale. Publicity had built up due to the televised talent contest Pop Idol with 8.7 million people phoning in to vote for the finalists.
The fastest selling single by a girl group is the Spice Girls "2 Become 1" which sold over 462,000 copies during its first week on sale and over 763,000 copies in a fortnight. In total, the single sold over 1.2 million copies to date.
The fastest number one single music act and band is Westlife with its first seven consecutive number one singles and fourteen number one singles in total. They are also the second music act to have the longest string of number ones in UK history.

Biggest-selling singles artists

Artists with references have been updated as the original list was published by the Official Charts Company during 2012. This means that positions on this list may not be 100% accurately reflected as most of the artists are still active and releasing new singles. This includes all singles and in all formats. All singles with collaborations are counted several times on the list.
  1. Madonna
  2. Rihanna
  3. Michael Jackson
  4. Beyoncé
  5. The Beatles
  6. Elton John
  7. Cliff Richard
  8. Queen
  9. Elvis Presley
  10. David Bowie
  11. ABBA
  12. Ariana Grande
  13. Paul McCartney
  14. Kylie Minogue
  15. The Rolling Stones
  16. Rod Stewart
  17. Take That
  18. Stevie Wonder
  19. Oasis
  20. Eminem
  21. Whitney Houston
  22. Spice Girls
  23. George Michael
  24. Robbie Williams
  25. Bee Gees
  26. U2
  27. Shakin' Stevens
  28. Britney Spears
  29. Lady Gaga
  30. Status Quo
  31. Boyzone
  32. Blondie
  33. The Black Eyed Peas
  34. Boney M
  35. Slade
  36. Westlife
  37. Celine Dion
  38. UB40
  39. Olivia Newton-John
  40. Mariah Carey
  41. Tom Jones

    Outside number one

Acts to peak across the entire top ten

Biggest selling non-number one

The record is held by Wham! with their 1984 Christmas release, "Last Christmas" / "Everything She Wants", which peaked at number two, being kept off the top by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". It has sold 1.77 million copies following first week sales of half a million. In December 2017, a year after George Michael's death, fans tried to get "Last Christmas" to number one, but again it peaked at number two.
The biggest selling single to peak at number three is New Order's "Blue Monday", which has sold over a million copies. However, it garnered its total sales via two further remixes of the track, meaning its one million sales are attributed over all three releases. The biggest selling release to peak at number three is Ed Sheeran's "The A Team", which has sold over 1,067,000 copies since its 2011 release. The biggest selling single never to make the top 5 is "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol, which peaked at number 6 and has sold more copies than "The A Team". The biggest selling single not to reach the top 10 is "Numb" by Linkin Park which never charted higher than No. 14.

Simultaneously charting songs and singles

First to...

Downloads grew steadily in popularity after first being integrated into the chart in 2004. In early September the UK Official Download Chart was launched, and a new live recording of Westlife's "Flying Without Wings" was the first number-one. The first number one to chart without ever receiving a UK physical release was Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" in June 2008. As of 2012, very few songs are given a physical release, and almost the entire chart is released solely on digital download.
On 22 June 2008, both songs in the top two were there on downloads alone:
  1. "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay
  2. "Closer" by Ne-Yo
On 31 August 2008, the top three were download-only at the time:
  1. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
  2. "Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz
  3. "Disturbia" by Rihanna
On 1 March 2009, the top four were all download-only:
  1. "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson
  2. "Love Story" by Taylor Swift
  3. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
  4. "Dead and Gone" by T.I.
By 13 February 2010, the whole top 9 consisted of download-only songs:
  1. "Fireflies" by Owl City
  2. "Under Pressure " by Jedward
  3. "If We Ever Meet Again" by Timbaland
  4. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Glee Cast
  5. "Empire State of Mind Broken Down" by Alicia Keys
  6. "Replay" by Iyaz
  7. "Starstrukk" by 3OH!3
  8. "One Shot" by JLS
  9. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey