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For the purposes of calculating sales, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence.[1] The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2004 and streaming in 2014.
The best-selling single in the UK is "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997", a double A-side released by Elton John following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Since September 1997, the single has sold over 5.4 million copies in the UK.[2]
Sales of singles have been monitored and charted in the UK since 1952, when Percy Dickins of New Musical Express (NME) telephoned around 20 record stores and aggregated their best-selling singles into a hit parade. Dickins published this Top 12 chart in NME on 14 November 1952.[3][4]
The highest-selling single by a solo female artist is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey – released in October 1994, it has combined sales of over 4 million in the UK.[5]
The best-selling single not to top the UK Singles Chart is "Mr Brightside" by The Killers, which reached number 10 in 2004.[6] When streaming is taken into account, "All of Me" by John Legend, which has over 2.1 million combined sales, is the highest-selling single not to have topped the charts.[5]
The highest-selling single (paid-for purchases) in the 21st century is "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, which has sold 1.93 million;[7] it overtook "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" by Will Young in 2015.[8]
The most streamed song is "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran with over 200 million streams (2 million equivalent sales) from 2017. Twenty other songs have been streamed over 100 million times, including two more by Ed Sheeran.[5]
Until June 2014, only a paid download or a purchase of a physical single counted as a sale. Based on this definition, these are the 50 best-selling singles in the UK. Positions are current as of 8 November 2023[update].[9]
From 2014 streaming has counted towards sales (sometimes called "combined sales" or "chart sales") at the rate of 100 streams equal to one download or physical purchase, although the singles chart no longer uses this ratio. In September 2017, the OCC changed their definition of a 'million seller' to include streaming.[5] These are the 50 biggest selling songs based on combined physical, download and streaming sales, as at September 2017.
| No. | Single | Artist | Record label[lower-alpha 1] | Chart peak[lower-alpha 1] |
Released[lower-alpha 1] | Sales | Streaming equivalent | Combined sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" / "Candle in the Wind 1997" | Elton John | Rocket | 1 | 1997 | 4,935,936 | 15,472 | 4,950,898 |
| 2 | "Do They Know It's Christmas?" | Band Aid | Mercury | 1 | 1984 | 3,802,066 | 140,993 | 3,943,060 |
| 3 | "Last Christmas" / "Everything She Wants" | Wham! | 1 | 1984 | 1,931,000 | 1,253,026 | 3,184,026 | |
| 4 | "Shape of You" | Ed Sheeran | Asylum/Atlantic | 1 | 2017 | 754,754+ | 2,241,667 | 3,006,404[10] |
| 5 | "Bohemian Rhapsody" | Queen | 1 | 1975 | 2,540,604 | 254,430 | 2,795,034 | |
| 6 | "Uptown Funk" | Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars | 1 | 2014 | 1,647,310 | 1,076,160 | 2,723,470 | |
| 7 | "Happy" | Pharrell Williams | 1 | 2013 | 1,921,805 | 707,851 | 2,629,657 | |
| 8 | "Thinking Out Loud" | Ed Sheeran | 1 | 2014 | 1,219,184 | 1,302,119 | 2,521,302 | |
| 9 | "One Dance" | Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla | 1 | 2016 | 553,973 | 1,791,007 | 2,344,981 | |
| 10 | "Rather Be" | Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne | 1 | 2014 | 1,283,122 | 935,575 | 2,218,697 | |
| 11 | "Sorry" | Justin Bieber | 1 | 2015 | 724,188 | 1,443,719 | 2,167,907 | |
| 12 | "All of Me" | John Legend | 2 | 2014 | 1,259,708 | 896,418 | 2,156,126 | |
| 13 | "You're the One that I Want" | John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John | 1 | 1978 | 2,072,035 | 82,897 | 2,154,932 | |
| 14 | "Relax" | Frankie Goes to Hollywood | 1 | 1983 | 2,066,230 | 82,092 | 2,148,322 | |
| 15 | "Mull of Kintyre" / "Girls' School" | Wings | 1 | 1977 | 2,086,183 | 1,066 | 2,087,249 | |
| 16 | "Love Yourself" | Justin Bieber | 1 | 2015 | 718,549 | 1,340,666 | 2,059,215 | |
| 17 | "Rivers of Babylon"/"Brown Girl in the Ring" | Boney M. | 1 | 1978 | 2,032,656 | 6,164 | 2,038,820 | |
| 18 | "Someone Like You" | Adele | 1 | 2011 | 1,644,597 | 351,772 | 1,996,369 | |
| 19 | "Wonderwall" | Oasis | 2 | 1995 | 1,502,270 | 493,671 | 1,995,940 | |
| 20 | "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord" | Boney M. | 1 | 1978 | 1,885,274 | 91,725 | 1,976,999 | |
| 21 | "Wake Me Up!" | Avicii | 1 | 2013 | 1,483,346 | 484,035 | 1,967,381 | |
| 22 | "She Loves You" | The Beatles | 1 | 1963 | 1,922,275 | 31,099 | 1,953,374 | |
| 23 | "Take Me to Church" | Hozier | 2 | 2013 | 934,466 | 1,017,851 | 1,952,317 | |
| 24 | "Blurred Lines" | Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams | 1 | 2013 | 1,667,615 | 284,004 | 1,951,619 | |
| 25 | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" | Bryan Adams | 1 | 1991 | 1,848,154 | 90,382 | 1,938,536 | |
| 26 | "Love Is All Around" | Wet Wet Wet | 1 | 1994 | 1,898,790 | 38,951 | 1,937,741 | |
| 27 | "Believe" | Cher | 1 | 1998 | 1,826,573 | 101,020 | 1,927,593 | |
| 28 | "Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)" | Omi | 1 | 2014 | 861,086 | 1,057,439 | 1,918,526 | |
| 29 | "I Just Called to Say I Love You" | Stevie Wonder | 1 | 1984 | 1,874,225 | 38,303 | 1,912,528 | |
| 30 | "Despacito (Remix)" | Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber | 1 | 2017 | 566,425 | 1,334,174 | 1,900,599 | |
| 31 | "Barbie Girl" | Aqua | 1 | 1997 | 1,844,310 | 52,936 | 1,897,247 | |
| 32 | "Eye of the Tiger" | Survivor | 1 | 1982 | 1,650,293 | 223,045 | 1,873,338 | |
| 33 | "Unchained Melody" / "White Cliffs of Dover" | Robson Green & Jerome Flynn | 1 | 1995 | 1,867,755 | 4,214 | 1,871,969 | |
| 34 | "I Want to Hold Your Hand" | The Beatles | 1 | 1963 | 1,810,829 | 47,899 | 1,858,728 | |
| 35 | "Hello" | Adele | 1 | 2015 | 948,618 | 906,431 | 1,855,050 | |
| 36 | "What Do You Mean?" | Justin Bieber | 1 | 2015 | 533,581 | 1,320,256 | 1,853,837 | |
| 37 | "Let Her Go" | Passenger | 2 | 2012 | 1,243,336 | 589,019 | 1,832,354 | |
| 38 | "Get Lucky" | Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams | 1 | 2013 | 1,471,356 | 349,989 | 1,821,344 | |
| 39 | "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" | Will Young | 1 | 2002 | 1,795,213 | 1,874 | 1,797,087 | |
| 40 | "Imagine" | John Lennon | 1 | 1975 | 1,714,351 | 76,141 | 1,790,492 | |
| 41 | "Gangsta's Paradise" | Coolio featuring L.V. | 1 | 1995 | 1,585,504 | 202,542 | 1,788,045 | |
| 42 | "I Will Always Love You" | Whitney Houston | 1 | 1992 | 1,642,360 | 140,962 | 1,783,322 | |
| 43 | "Don't You Want Me" | The Human League | 1 | 1981 | 1,637,503 | 144,273 | 1,781,776 | |
| 44 | "I'll Be Missing You" | Puff Daddy & Faith Evans | 1 | 1997 | 1,663,303 | 106,331 | 1,769,634 | |
| 45 | "Cheap Thrills" | Sia | 2 | 2015 | 517,082 | 1,247,640 | 1,764,721 | |
| 46 | "Moves like Jagger" | Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera | 2 | 2011 | 1,536,041 | 207,813 | 1,743,854 | |
| 47 | "Somebody That I Used to Know" | Gotye featuring Kimbra | 1 | 2011 | 1,515,527 | 212,192 | 1,727,719 | |
| 48 | "Mr. Brightside" | The Killers | 10 | 2004 | 967,180 | 750,991 | 1,718,170 | |
| 49 | "Pompeii" | Bastille | 2 | 2013 | 959,693 | 749,011 | 1,708,704 | |
| 50 | "7 Years" | Lukas Graham | 1 | 2015 | 653,657 | 1,054,211 | 1,707,868 |
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