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 (only from 1952 to 1960) 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.
The following is a list of all the acts who are on eight or more UK number one songs with an individual credit (meaning, the main artist or named separately as a featured artist – being part of a group does not count towards an individual's total).[1]
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.[2]
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.
Ed Sheeran is the only artist to ever have multiple songs spend 10 or more weeks at the top of the charts, achieving the feat with both "Shape of You" in 2017 and "Bad Habits" in 2021.
Below is a table of all singles that have spent 10 or more weeks at the top of the charts:
Note: Songs denoted with an asterisk (*) spent non-consecutive weeks at number one.[3]
Biggest climb to number one
The single with the biggest climb to number one is "Marvin Gaye" by Charlie Puth featuring Meghan Trainor, which climbed from number 90 on the week ending 20 August 2015.[4]
The biggest climb to number one within the top 40 goes to "So What" by Pink, which climbed from number 38 on the week ending 11 October 2008.[5]
Biggest drop from number one
The biggest drop from number one within the top 100 is to number 97. "Three Lions" by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds returned to number one for a third non-consecutive week on the week ending 19 July 2018, but in the following week it experienced a large drop after England's loss at the semifinals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[6] However, two singles have since fallen completely out of the chart after a week at number one: "Last Christmas" by Wham! on the weeks ending 14 January 2021 [7] and 12 January 2023,[8] and "Merry Christmas" by Ed Sheeran and Elton John on the week ending 13 January 2022.[9]
Longest climb to number one
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey reached number one on its 104th non-consecutive week on the chart, debuting on the week ending 10 December 1994 and peaking on week ending 17 December 2020.[10]
The longest climb to number one in a consecutive chart run is 19 weeks, achieved by Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud", which debuted on the week ending 5 July 2014 and peaked on the week ending 8 November 2014.[11]
In terms of overall surpassed time, the record is held by "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush, which first charted on the week ending 17 August 1985 and reached number one on the week ending 23 June 2022, almost 37 years since its first appearance on the chart.[12]
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 (as opposed to featured credits or backing credits, for example 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows' and 'The Shadows' have had back to back number ones on four occasions):
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.[14]
Songwriters with the most number one singles
The following have writing credits on at least 11 UK number one singles. Double A-sides and EPs count as one single rather than separate songs, and songs that have been number one for multiple artists are included as separate singles.
The Beatles had 11 consecutive number ones with official releases on Parlophone between 1963 ("From Me to You") and 1966 ("Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby"), though releases of archive material from their previous record company also charted during this time.
Spice Girls 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 and 1997 with "Wannabe" in July 1996 to "Too Much" in December 1997.
Acts with the most songs to debut at Number 1 on the Official singles chart. Westlife claim the most Number 1 debuts on the Official Singles Chart, with all 14 of their chart-toppers landing there in their first week.[17]
The Beatles have the longest time span of number one singles with 60 years between their first "From Me to You" in May 1963 and their last "Now and Then" in November 2023.
Elvis Presley has the longest time span of number one singles for a solo artist, with over 47 years between his first number one "All Shook Up" in June 1957 and his most recent, the reissue of "It's Now or Never" in January 2005.
Kate Bush has the longest time span of number one singles for a female artist, with 44 years between her first number one "Wuthering Heights" in April 1978 and her second and most recent "Running Up That Hill" in June 2022.
Kate Bush has the longest gap between two number ones for a solo artist, with 44 years between her first "Wuthering Heights" in April 1978 and her second "Running Up That Hill" in June 2022.
The lowest weekly sale for a number one single is 17,694 copies held by Orson's "No Tomorrow" in 2006.[18]
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 (if it were only available on streaming services). 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.[19]
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, prompting a change in chart rules so that only 3 of an artist's songs can appear in the chart at one time. When Harry Styles occupied the top two he was also at No. 3 with "Music for a Sushi Restaurant".[22]
The Chart Double: Simultaneously having number one on both the Singles Chart and Album Chart
Kate Bush is the oldest female artist to reach number one. She was age 63 years, 343 days when her 1985 single "Running Up That Hill" spent its third and final week at number one on the week ending 7 July 2022.
Jimmy Osmond is the youngest artist to reach number one. He was age 9 years, 252 days when "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" first reached number one on the week ending 23 December 1972.
Helen Shapiro is the youngest female artist to reach number one. She was age 14 years, 323 days when "You Don't Know" first reached number one on the week ending 16 August 1961.
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 (it sold 658,000 on the first day of release, 13 September 1997).[24]
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.[25] Publicity had built up due to the televised talent contest Pop Idol with 8.7 million people phoning in to vote for the finalists.[26]
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.[27]
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 (solo, duets and as featuring artists) and in all formats (vinyl, cassette, CD, digital). All singles with collaborations are counted several times on the list.
Based on purchases alone, the record is held by Oasis with their 1995 single, "Wonderwall", with 1.55 million copies sold. The song spent a week at number two behind "I Believe" by Robson & Jerome. [39] Including streaming data, the record is held by "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, which peaked at number 10 in 2004 and has been certified 9x Platinum for 5.4 million units.[40]
Based on purchases, the biggest selling single to peak at number three is New Order's "Blue Monday", which has sold over a million copies.[41] 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.[42] 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".[43] The biggest selling single not to reach the top 10 is "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri with physical sales of 844,000 and a peak of number 11.[44]
"Hallelujah" charted in the same week in December 2008 with three artists (Alexandra Burke at No. 1, Jeff Buckley at No. 2, Leonard Cohen at No. 36). It is also the second time in UK single chart where different versions hold the top two spots (the first being Singing the Blues).[46]
On 8 January 2016 Justin Bieber became the first artist in history to hold the top three positions in the UK Official Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as "Love Yourself", "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" charted at positions one, two and three simultaneously.[52]
The first song to have four separate spells at number one with the same artist line-up was "Three Lions" by Baddiel & Skinner and The Lightning Seeds. The original 1996 version had two one-week stints in 1996, while the 1998 re-work had one three-week spell at the top. The 2018 FIFA World Cup propelled it to a record-breaking fourth outing at the top in July 2018.[53]
The first week when all the Top 10 singles (actually Top 12) stayed at the previous week's positions (other than Xmas or other "frozen" charts) occurred on 7 June 2019.[54] This is only true of the combined sales and streaming chart; in the sales only chart, only the top two positions were static and there was a new entry.[55]
On 29 July 2021 Little Mix became the first girl group in history to spend 100 weeks inside the UK singles chart Top 10.[56]
Downloads
Downloads grew steadily in popularity after first being integrated into the chart in 2005. In early September 2004, the UK Official Download Chart was launched, and a new live recording of Westlife's "Flying Without Wings" was the first number-one.[57] 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 and, since 2014, streaming.
On 22 June 2008, both songs in the top two were there on downloads alone:[58]
^This record was previously held by D-Block Europe, who surrendered their claim to The 1975 by reaching No.6 with "Overseas", their 31st hit, with their run of 30 hits failing to reach the top 10 an all time record.
^"Download chart waits for youth: while its beginnings may be modest, the new rundown has an important future ahead". Music Week. 11 September 2004. ISSN0265-1548.
