The UK Singles Downloads Chart is a weekly music chart that ranks the most-downloaded singles in the United Kingdom. During the 2000s, the chart was compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British music industry, and was based solely on non-subscription music downloads from selected online music stores. [1] [2] It was compiled using weekly sales from Sunday to Saturday, and was published each Wednesday afternoon, so as not to clash with the Sunday evening announcement of the UK Singles Chart. [2]
The chart was founded in September 2004 as the UK Official Download Chart, with the first single to top the chart being a live version of "Flying Without Wings" by Irish boy band Westlife. [3] By the end of the decade, 109 further singles had topped the chart. The most downloaded single of the 2000s was "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. [4] Released in 2009, the song was downloaded 779,000 times, and topped the chart for three weeks. "Just Dance", also by Gaga, and "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon were the third and second highest selling downloads of the decade respectively. [4] The single that spent the longest time at number one was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, which spent 11 weeks at the top and became the UK's 18th best-selling download of the 2000s. [2] [4]
The most successful artist of the decade was Barbadian singer Rihanna, who featured on five different number-one singles for a total of 13 weeks. The most successful record label was Universal Music Group; with an artist roster that included Rihanna, The Black Eyed Peas and U2, Universal spent 110 weeks at number one with 40 different singles. The final number one of the 2000s was "Killing in the Name", a 1993 single by American rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, which was pushed to the top of the chart as a result of an online campaign to prevent Joe McElderry, the 2009 winner of the X Factor , from reaching number one. [5] "Killing in the Name" sold over 500,000 copies in one week, making it the UK's fastest-selling digital download of all time. [6]
Before the inauguration of the download chart, only sales of physical formats—such as CD, vinyl and cassette tape—contributed towards a single's position on the UK music charts. From the late 1990s onwards, these sales began to significantly decline. [7] By the start of 2004, they had dropped to their lowest level in over 35 years, with singles needing to sell only 35,000 copies to reach number one. [8] One year later, a limited edition re-release of "One Night" / "I Got Stung" by Elvis Presley topped the chart with 22,000 copies, making it the lowest selling number-one single at that time. [9] Conversely, the music download market was growing considerably: during the same 2004–05 period, sales of downloads grew by 743%, and overtook physical sales in December 2004. [10] [11] The following year, the UK's online music revenue reached €42.1 million. [12]
"The [first download chart] proved that for the moment online purchases need to exist in their own separate bubble, if only until stunts such as Westlife releasing a live version of a five year old song as an online exclusive cease to have any meaningful impact."
— UK chart commentator James Masterton [13]
As a result of this growth, the OCC were commissioned in 2004 to compile a new music chart based solely on the UK's download sales, which was initially sponsored by Coca-Cola. [14] A "sample" download chart was trialled for 10 weeks, with the first number one being "Bam Thwok" by American rock band Pixies. [15] [16] After this ten-week period, the UK Official Download Chart was launched on 1 September 2004, with Westlife achieving the first official number one. [17] The group topped the chart with a live version of their 1999 single "Flying Without Wings", a move that UK chart commentator James Masterton branded a "stunt". [13]
By 2007 the UK had become Europe's largest consumer of online music, with almost 78 million tracks being downloaded that year – by the end of the decade this figure had nearly doubled. [12] [18] Sales of downloaded singles were finally incorporated into the UK Singles Chart in April 2005 [7] [19] – as of February 2015 [update] , the UK Official Download Chart continues to be published each week by the OCC, under the name the UK Singles Downloads Chart. [20]
No. | nth single to top the UK Official Download Chart |
---|---|
N/A | Reached number one on an unofficial, "sample" download chart [15] |
re | Return of a single to number one |
‡ | Most-downloaded single of the decade [4] |
Contents |
---|
2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010s → |
Contents |
---|
2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010s → |
Fifteen different artists spent seven or more weeks at the top of the UK Official Download Chart during the 2000s. The totals below include only credited performances, and do not include appearances on charity ensembles such as Band Aid 20 or The X Factor Finalists.
Artist | Number-one singles [lower-alpha 3] | Weeks at number one [lower-alpha 3] |
---|---|---|
The Black Eyed Peas | 4 | 7 |
Dizzee Rascal | 3 | 7 |
Gnarls Barkley | 1 | 11 |
Jay-Z | 2 | 9 |
Peter Kay [lower-alpha 4] | 2 | 7 |
Lady Gaga | 3 | 7 |
Leona Lewis | 3 | 11 |
Madonna | 2 | 11 |
Rihanna | 5 | 13 |
Scissor Sisters | 1 | 7 |
Shakira | 2 | 8 |
Sugababes | 2 | 8 |
Take That | 2 | 7 |
U2 | 2 | 10 |
Kanye West | 3 | 7 |
Nine different record labels released chart-topping singles during the 2000s.
Record label | Number-one singles [lower-alpha 3] | Weeks at number one [lower-alpha 3] |
---|---|---|
Beggars Group | 1 | 1 |
Dirtee Stank | 3 | 7 |
EMI | 12 | 34 |
FDM Records | 1 | 3 |
Ministry of Sound | 2 | 4 |
Sony BMG | 31 | 65 |
Universal Music Group | 40 | 110 |
V2 Records | 1 | 2 |
Warner Music Group | 19 | 53 |
During the 2000s, the UK Official Download Chart was compiled by the OCC using data from the following music download websites: [23]
Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 after 14 years and later reunited in 2018.
"Flying Without Wings" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 18 October 1999 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album (1999). It is the band's fourth-best-selling single on both paid-for and combined sales in the United Kingdom as of January 2019.
The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday.
The Official Charts Company is a British inter-professional organisation that compiles various official record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
"Brandy", later called "Mandy", is a song written by Scott English and Richard Kerr. It was originally recorded by English in 1971 and reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart.
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, 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 2005 and streaming in July 2014.
This is a summary of 2006 in music in the United Kingdom including the official single and album charts.
"Queen of My Heart" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released on 5 November 2001 as the first single from their third studio album, World of Our Own (2001). It was released as a double A-side single with "When You're Looking Like That" in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Irish boy band Westlife have released twelve studio albums, sixteen video albums, one live album, three karaoke albums, thirty-eight singles, twenty-one promotional singles, nine compilation albums and fifty-four music videos. Formed on 3 July 1998, the group was made up of singers Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden. The band was signed under Simon Cowell, Clive Davis, and Jordan Jay and under record labels' BMG, S Records, Arista Records, Sony BMG, Syco Music, Sony Music Entertainment and RCA Records from 1998 to 2012 and currently on Universal Music Group and Virgin EMI Records from 2018. The last four members remained active until their last live concert performance in the Europe's third largest stadium Croke Park on 23 June 2012 and have reunited on 3 October 2018 for new music and tour. Based on the British Phonographic Industry certifications, the group have sold more than 32 million records and videos in the United Kingdom alone across their 20-year career–8.8 million singles, 12.5 million albums and 1.5 million videos. Their biggest selling album is their first Greatest Hits compilation, followed by Coast to Coast, with seven of their albums selling one million copies or more. Their biggest selling video is "Where Dreams Come True", which has sold 240,000 copies to date.
The Official Classical Singles Chart was a record chart based on downloads and streaming of classical music in the United Kingdom. Each week's chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) and was first published on Monday afternoon on their official website. The chart ran for 140 weeks from 2012 to 2015, during which time a total of 23 singles by 22 artists reached number one. The most successful artist was the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, who topped the chart with three singles for a total of 54 weeks, while the most successful record label was Decca Records, which spent 89 weeks at number one with six singles. Einaudi's track "I Giorni" from his album of the same name spent 51 weeks at number one, longer than any other single. In January 2013, following the release of Einaudi's album In a Time Lapse, singles by the pianist accounted for 13 of the Top 20 on the Official Classical Singles Chart. Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, described him as one of the chart's "biggest and most consistent stars".
The UK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts on behalf of the British music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The chart was introduced in April 2006 to coincide with the OCC's decision to include sales of album downloads in the UK Albums Chart. The first album to top the download chart was This New Day by Embrace.