UK Singles Chart records and statistics

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.

The longest unbroken run at number one is "(Everything I Do) 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:

Note: Songs denoted with an asterisk (*) spent non-consecutive weeks at number one.[3]

Since the inception of the UK Singles Chart in 1952 only five acts have replaced themselves at the top of the UK charts with exactly the same billing (as opposed to any named artist, for example 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows' and 'The Shadows' have had back to back number ones on four occasions):

• The Beatles — "I Want to Hold Your Hand" replaced "She Loves You" (12 December 1963)
• John Lennon — "Woman" replaced "Imagine" (7 February 1981)
• Elvis Presley — "One Night/I Got Stung" replaced "Jailhouse Rock" (22 January 2005)
• Justin Bieber — "Love Yourself" replaced "Sorry" (10 December 2015)
• Ariana Grande — "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" replaced "7 Rings" (21 February 2019); "7 Rings" replaced "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" (28 February 2019)[4]

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.[5]

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.

Westlife became the first music act, group, male group and pop band to have their first seven singles ("Swear It Again", "If I Let You Go", "Flying Without Wings", "I Have a Dream / Seasons in the Sun", "Fool Again", "Against All Odds" & "My Love") to reach number one from 1999 to 2000.[6] 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. (The Beatles had ten consecutive number ones with official releases on EMI between 1963 (From Me To You) and 1966 (Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby). This period however saw releases of archive material from their previous record company).[7]

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.[8]

The lowest weekly sale for a number one single is 17,694 copies held by Orson's "No Tomorrow" in 2006.[9]

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.[10]

In terms of a song's running length, "All Around the World" by Oasis (1998) 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 (1959) is the shortest.[11]

• "Je t'aime... moi non-plus" – Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (French – 11 October 1969 for one week)
• "Chanson D'Amour" – The Manhattan Transfer (French/English – 12 March 1977 for three weeks)
• "Begin the Beguine" – Julio Iglesias (Spanish/English – 5 December 1981 for one week)
• "Rock Me Amadeus" – Falco (German/English – 10 May 1986 for one week)
• "La Bamba" – Los Lobos (Spanish – 1 August 1987 for two weeks)
• "Sadeness (Part I)" – Enigma (French/Latin/English – 19 January 1991 for one week)
• "The Ketchup Song (Aserejé)" – Las Ketchup (Spanish/English – 19 October 2002 for one week)
• "We No Speak Americano" – Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP (Neapolitan/English – 31 July 2010 for one week)
• "Loca People" - Sak Noel (Spanish/English - 2 October 2011 for one week)
• "Gangnam Style" – Psy (Korean/English – 6 October 2012 for one week)
• "Despacito" – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (Spanish/English – 18 May 2017 for eleven non-consecutive weeks)

Source:[12]

• The Beatles
  • "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" (three weeks in December 1963)
  • "Hello Goodbye" and "Magical Mystery Tour" (three weeks in December 1967)
• John Travolta — "Summer Nights" (with Olivia Newton-John) and "Sandy" (one week in November 1978)
• John Lennon — "Imagine" and: "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"; "Woman" (both January 1981)
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood — "Two Tribes" and "Relax" (two weeks in July 1984)
• Madonna — "Into the Groove" and "Holiday" (one week in August 1985)
• Justin Bieber
  • "Sorry" and "Love Yourself" (one week in November 2015); "Love Yourself" and "Sorry" (five non-consecutive weeks in December 2015 and January 2016)
  • "Cold Water" (with MØ & Major Lazer) and "Let Me Love You" (three weeks in August 2016)
  • "Despacito" (with Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee) and "I'm the One" (with DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Quavo & Chance the Rapper) (four weeks in May and June 2017)
• Ed Sheeran
  • "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill" (five weeks in January and February 2017); "How Would You Feel (Paean)" (one week in February 2017); "Galway Girl" (five weeks in March and April 2017)
  • "Perfect" and "River" (with Eminem) (three non-consecutive weeks in December 2017 and January 2018)
• Ariana Grande — "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" and "7 Rings" (one week in February 2019); "7 Rings" and "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" (one week in February 2019)

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.[13]

• Most weeks in the chart by a single:

Top 100: "Mr Brightside" by The Killers (253 weeks)
Top 75: "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran (125 weeks)
Top 40: "My Way" by Frank Sinatra (75 weeks)[14]

• Longest consecutive run in the chart by a single*

Top 100: "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi (100 weeks)
Top 75: "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi (99 weeks)
Top 40: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran (54 weeks)[15]

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).[16]

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.[17] Publicity had built up due to the televised talent contest Pop Idol with 8.7 million people phoning in to vote for the finalists.[18]

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.[19]

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.[7]

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.

1. Madonna (28,345,000)
2. Rihanna (27,100,000)
3. Michael Jackson (26,995,000)[20]
4. Justin Bieber (25,325,000)
5. Beyoncé (22,870,000)[21]
6. The Beatles (22,100,000)[22]
7. Elton John (21,635,000)
8. Cliff Richard (21,500,000)
9. Coldplay (15,720,000)
10. Queen (12,800,000)[22]
11. Elvis Presley (12,205,000)
12. David Bowie (12,000,000)[23]
13. ABBA (11,300,000)[22]
14. Ariana Grande (10,700,000)
15. Paul McCartney (10,200,000)
16. Kylie Minogue (10,100,000)
17. The Rolling Stones (10,100,000)[22]
18. Westlife (9,800,000)[24]
19. Rod Stewart
20. Take That
21. Stevie Wonder
22. Oasis (9,079,000)[22]
23. Eminem
24. Whitney Houston
25. Spice Girls (8,500,000)[22]
26. George Michael
27. Robbie Williams
28. Bee Gees (7,600,000)[22]
29. U2 (7,500,000)[22]
30. Shakin' Stevens
31. Britney Spears
32. Lady Gaga (7,357,000)[25]
33. Status Quo (7,200,000)[22]
34. Boyzone (7,100,000)[22]
35. Blondie (7,037,000)[22]
36. The Black Eyed Peas (7,034,000)[25]
37. Boney M (6,859,000)[25]
38. Slade (6,856,000)[25]
39. Celine Dion
40. UB40 (6,600,000)[25]
41. Olivia Newton-John
42. Mariah Carey
43. Tom Jones

The record is held by Maroon 5 with their 2011 single, "Moves Like Jagger", with 1.55 million copies sold. The song peaked at number two for seven weeks. [27] The record was formerly held by Wham! for their 1984 Christmas release, "Last Christmas" / "Everything She Wants", until it finally charted at the top spot in 2021.

The biggest selling single to peak at number three is New Order's "Blue Monday", which has sold over a million copies.[28] 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.[29] 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".[30] The biggest selling single not to reach the top 10 is "Numb" by Linkin Park which never charted higher than No. 14.

• "Unchained Melody" is the only song to have four versions by different artists charting in the Top 20 at the same time (Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young and Liberace in June 1955).[31]
• "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).[32]
• "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" charted for 3 different artists (The Jackson 5 at No. 30, Bruce Springsteen at No. 48 and Michael Buble at No. 82) on 28 December 2018.[33]
• "White Christmas" also charted by three different artists (Bing Crosby at No. 31, Gwen Stefani at No. 62 and Glee Cast featuring Chris Colfer & Darren Criss at No. 98) on 28 December 2018.[33]

• Most top 75 hits without reaching No.1: Glee Cast (100)
• Most top 75 hits without reaching Top 10: Super Furry Animals and Thunder (21 each)
• Most No 11 hits without reaching Top 10: Lethal Bizzle (3)[34]
• Most Top 75 hits without reaching Top 40: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (8)

• 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.[35]
• 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.[36]

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.[37] 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:[38]

1. "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay
2. "Closer" by Ne-Yo

On 31 August 2008, the top three were download-only at the time:[39]

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:[40]

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. (feat. Justin Timberlake)

By 13 February 2010, the whole top 9 consisted of download-only songs:[41]

1. "Fireflies" by Owl City
2. "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" by Jedward (feat. Vanilla Ice)
3. "If We Ever Meet Again" by Timbaland (feat. Katy Perry)
4. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Glee Cast
5. "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" by Alicia Keys
6. "Replay" by Iyaz
7. "Starstrukk" by 3OH!3 (feat. Katy Perry)
8. "One Shot" by JLS
9. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey