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. 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 The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

released by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

following the

death of Diana, Princess of Wales In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...

. Since September 1997, the single has sold over 4.93 million copies in the UK. Sales of singles have been monitored and charted in the UK since 1952, when Percy Dickins of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' (''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. The highest-selling single by a solo female artist is "

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

" by

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

– released in October 1998, it has sold over 2.4 million copies in the UK. The best-selling single not to top the UK Singles Chart is " Moves Like Jagger" by

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

and Christina Aguilera, which spent seven weeks at number two in 2011 and has sold 1,536,041 copies. It replaced " Last Christmas" by Wham! on 1 January 2021 when this reached number one, 36 years after its release in December 1984. When streaming is taken into account, both are beaten by " All of Me" by John Legend, which has over 2.1 million combined sales. The highest-selling single (paid-for purchases) in the 21st century is "

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

" by

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

, which has sold 1.93 million; it overtook " Anything Is Possible" / " Evergreen" by Will Young in 2015. 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.

Best-selling singles based on paid-for purchases

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. Sales positions are current .

Best-selling songs based on combined sales

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. These are the 50 biggest selling songs based on combined physical, download and streaming sales, as at September 2017.

Notes

References

External links

Official UK Singles Top 100
at the Official Charts Company {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2013 British music industry

Best-selling singles based on paid-for purchases

Best-selling songs based on combined sales

See also

Notes

References

External links