List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom
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The definition of a million-selling
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
, as regarded by the
Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
(OCC), has changed in line with new technology for music consumption. Originally only physical record sales were counted since the start of the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in November 1952. Digital downloads of a
track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
were included from 2004 onwards and from 2014 onwards BPI-certified awards (
Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...
) and the weekly charts include
audio streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
. In 2017, the OCC included streaming in their definition of a million-seller and published a full list of the 311 songs which had achieved this. Certified awards can also include shipments (sales to trade). The OCC and ''
Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' regularly announce when a record becomes a million seller.


History

In 1959, British periodical '' Disc'' introduced an initiative to present a Gold record to singles that sold more than 1 million units. Information about when a record was classified Gold by ''Disc'' is "not well documented", and the awards relied on record companies correctly compiling and supplying sales information. This led to errors, such as
The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...
' instrumental "
Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
" and
The Archies ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
' "
Sugar, Sugar Sugar, Sugar is a song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim (singer), Andy Kim. It was originally recorded by the Archies – a fictional band of studio musicians linked to the 1968–69 US Saturday morning TV cartoon ''The Archie Show'', inspire ...
" incorrectly being awarded a gold disc in January 1970. Such inaccuracies led to the instigation of an official classification system. In April 1973, the
British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
(BPI) began classifying singles and albums by the number of units sold. The highest threshold is "
Platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
" and was then awarded to singles that sold more than 1 million units. For singles released after 1 January 1989, the number of sales required to qualify for Platinum, Gold and Silver records was dropped to 600,000 units (Platinum), 400,000 units (Gold) and 200,000 units (Silver). In February 1987, the BPI introduced multi-Platinum awards so that if a single sold 1,200,000 units it was classified as double Platinum, 1,800,000 units as triple Platinum, etc. Digital downloads have been counted towards singles sales from 2004 onwards: the first single to achieve a million digital sales was "
I Gotta Feeling "I Gotta Feeling" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fifth studio album ''The E.N.D.'' (2009). It was written by the group members with the song's producers David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. The song was rel ...
" by
the Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim Hil ...
. Additionally,
audio streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
has been included in the official chart and BPI awards since 30 June 2014, at a rate of 100 streams representing one unit sale; however, the OCC still compiles a 'sales' (only
chart
In 1963,
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' song "
She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded by English rock band the Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record i ...
" became the best-selling single of all time in the UK. This record was broken in 1977 when
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
's subsequent band
Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
surpassed it with "
Mull of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...
", which also became the first song to sell 2 million copies in the UK. In 1984, Band Aid released the charity-record "
Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...
" in response to the famine in Ethiopia; it sold 1 million copies in the first week and soon became the best-selling single. This record was broken in 1997, 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 ...
, when
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 ...
released "
Candle in the Wind 1997 "Candle in the Wind 1997", also known as "Goodbye England's Rose" and "Candle in the Wind '97", is a song by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, a re-written and re-recorded version of their 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" ...
", a re-write of the Marilyn Monroe tribute released in 1973. Selling more than 650,000 copies on its first day on sale and more than 1.5 million in its first week, it quickly became the UK's best-selling single. It was classified by the BPI as 9× Platinum (5.4 million) in October 1997, but more recent reports by the OCC put its total sales at 4.93 million.


Million-selling singles (paid-for sales)

The following list is restricted to paid-for sales since the inception of a UK chart in 1952. Unless stated otherwise, sales figures from the OCC are correct as of 19 September 2017. At this date, the OCC started recording million-sellers using combined sales (including streaming), but published the paid-for sales figures as well. , 178 singles have sold 1 million copies in the UK. Of these, 112 were originally released in the 20th century (70 of them selling 1 million before the year 2000) and the remainder were released between 2000 and 2014. The most recently released single to become a million-seller is "
Uptown Funk "Uptown Funk" is a song by British record producer Mark Ronson from his fourth studio album, ''Uptown Special'' (2015), featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released as the album's lead single on 10 November 2014 via dow ...
" by
Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...
featuring
Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical s ...
, which was released in December 2014 and passed a million sales ten weeks later in February 2015.
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
's " White Christmas" is the earliest release: originally 1942, although only sales from 1952 onwards are counted. The year in which the most million-sellers were released is 2011, with fifteen; while a record 40 releases in the 2010s have sold a million copies. Although "Brown Girl in the Ring" was listed as the B-side, it received extensive airplay, which caused the single to peak in the charts for a second time.


Artists with the most million-selling singles

Twenty-five artists have had at least two million-selling singles in the UK (if
John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...
and
Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...
are counted as one artist), but only six artists have had more than two:
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, who have six;
Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
, who has four (including one as a featured artist);
Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...
,
Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical s ...
,
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 ...
and
Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...
, who all have three (including one for Mars as a featured artist and two for Williams as a featured artist). * Includes featured performances * Duets


Songs with one million combined sales

This is a list of singles which have reached a million combined sales when streaming is taken into account (100 streams equivalent to one download or physical sale). In addition to those 175 listed above, at least 137 songs have achieved one million combined sales, according to a list published by the OCC in September 2017. Nineteen of these were released before 2000 and twenty-seven in 2015. The most combined sales (and only song with over 2 million streaming equivalent sales) without a million traditional sales, is "
Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album '' ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The dancehall and R&B-infused ...
" by
Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
. In the full list of 312 songs with combined sales of over a million, Rihanna features as a named artist on 10 and Sheeran features on 9. Since the publication of the 'millionaires' by the Official Charts Company in September 2017, many other songs have been revealed as 'millionaires' through announcements on their website as well as the announcement by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) of BPI Brit Certified Awards. Songs which have been awarded a 2× Platinum award have combined sales in excess of 1.2 million copies. The following songs have achieved a multi-platinum certification from the BPI since September 2017:


See also

*
List of best-selling singles in the United Kingdom 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 ...
*
List of most streamed songs in the United Kingdom In June 2014, the Official Charts Company (OCC) started including audio streams in the official UK Singles Chart, recognising their importance as an indicator of current popular trends and tastes in music. From this point onward, the popularity ...
*
List of Platinum singles in the United Kingdom awarded before 2000 ''See also List of Platinum singles in the United Kingdom awarded since 2000, List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom.'' On 1 April 1973 the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) launched the Certified Awards scheme for singles and ...
*
List of Platinum singles in the United Kingdom awarded since 2000 In the United Kingdom, singles are certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) when they pass 600,000 units as measured by the Official Charts Company. Since July 2013, this has been automatically applied by the BPI as a single ...


Footnotes


References

{{featured list Million-selling