Number-one singles
| † | Best-selling single of the year [11] |
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| ‡ | Best-selling single of the decade [11] |
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| UK singles chart number ones |
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| UK singles chart |
| Other charts |
| Related |
The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1969 there was no official singles chart; [1] [2] [3] however, The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources as New Musical Express (NME) before 10 March 1960 and Record Retailer from then until 15 February 1969 when Retailer and the BBC jointly commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the charts. [1] [4] The choice to use Record Retailer as the canonical source for the 1960s has been contentious because NME (which continued compiling charts beyond March 1960) had the biggest circulation of periodicals in the decade and was more widely followed. [1] [2]
As well as the chart compilers mentioned previously, Melody Maker , Disc and Record Mirror all compiled their own charts during the decade. Due to the lack of any official chart the BBC aggregated results from all these charts to announce its own Pick of the Pops chart. [1] One source explains that the reason for using the Record Retailer chart for the 1960s was that it was "the only chart to have as many as 50 positions for almost the entire decade". [3] The sample size of Record Retailer in the early 1960s was around 30 stores whereas NME and Melody Maker were sampling over 100 stores. [1] In 1969, the first BMRB chart was compiled using postal returns of sales logs from 250 record shops. [4]
In terms of number-one singles, The Beatles were the most successful group of the decade having seventeen singles reach the top spot. [5] The longest duration of a single at number-one was eight weeks and this was achieved on three occasions: "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley in 1960; "Wonderful Land" by The Shadows in 1962 and "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies in 1969. The Beatles' song "She Loves You" became the best-selling single of all time in 1963, a record it held until 1977 when band member Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, surpassed it with "Mull of Kintyre". [6] "She Loves You" was the best-selling song of the decade and one of fourteen songs believed to have sold over one million copies in the 1960s. [7] [8] [9]
| † | Best-selling single of the year [11] |
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| ‡ | Best-selling single of the decade [11] |
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| Contents |
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The following artists achieved three or more number-one hits during the 1960s.
| Artist | Number ones | Weeks at number one |
|---|---|---|
| The Beatles | 17 | 69 |
| Elvis Presley | 11 | 44 |
| The Rolling Stones | 8 | 18 |
| Cliff Richard | 7 | 20 |
| The Shadows | 5 | 16 |
| Frank Ifield | 4 | 17 |
| The Everly Brothers | 3 | 12 |
| Gerry and the Pacemakers | 3 | 11 |
| Sandie Shaw | 3 | 9 |
| Manfred Mann | 3 | 7 |
| Roy Orbison | 3 | 7 |
| The Searchers | 3 | 7 |
| The Kinks | 3 | 5 |
| Georgie Fame | 3 | 4 |
The following record labels had five or more number ones on the UK Singles Chart during the 1960s.
| Record label | Number ones |
|---|---|
| Columbia | 35 |
| Parlophone | 23 |
| Decca | 22 |
| Pye/Pye International | 19 |
| RCA | 17 |
| CBS | 7 |
| London | 7 |
| HMV | 7 |
| Philips | 7 |
| Fontana | 5 |
The Shadows instrumental, "Apache", is the oldest 1960s release to be awarded a gold record but not the first to actually receive the award. [14] The awarding of seventeen[ according to whom? ] gold records to records released in the 1960s is documented and, notably, five were awarded to releases by The Beatles. Although The Righteous Brothers first released "Unchained Melody" in August 1965 it had more success after being re-released in the 1990s reaching number one and selling over one million copies. [15]
| Artist | Song | Year of millionth sale [7] [8] [16] |
|---|---|---|
| The Shadows | "Apache" | 1963 |
| Elvis Presley | "It's Now or Never" | 1960 |
| Acker Bilk | "Stranger on the Shore" | 1962 |
| Cliff Richard and The Shadows | "The Young Ones" | 1962 |
| Frank Ifield | "I Remember You" | 1962 |
| The Beatles | "She Loves You" | 1963 |
| The Beatles | "I Want to Hold Your Hand" | 1963 |
| The Beatles | "Can't Buy Me Love" | 1964 |
| The Beatles | "I Feel Fine" | 1964 |
| Ken Dodd | "Tears" | 1965 |
| The Seekers | "The Carnival Is Over" | 1965 |
| The Beatles | "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" | 1965–66 |
| Tom Jones | "Green, Green Grass of Home" | 1966 |
| Engelbert Humperdinck | "Release Me" | 1967 |
| Engelbert Humperdinck | "The Last Waltz" | 1967 |
| Cliff Richard | "Congratulations" | 1968 [17] |
| The Archies | "Sugar, Sugar" | 1970. [18] |
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.
Until 15th February 1969, there was no officially compiled chart.
This disc was a chart topping disc for six weeks and a million seller by 1963 in Britain
In Britain the disc (RCA label) was No 1 for eight weeks and sold over a million there
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