Last updated Having been streamed over 200 million times, "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran is the UK's most streamed song ever.
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 of a single or album track can be measured by both sales (which include paid downloads) and streams on officially recognised subscription and ad-funded on-demand services.[1][2] Although the OCC added these figures to the chart in July 2014, they started compiling them in May 2012 through the Official Audio Streaming Chart. They are taken from on-demand audio streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Deezer and Tidal, all of which are members of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).[3]
The Official Charts Company, also referred to as Official Charts is a British inter-professional organisation that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, including the UK Singles Chart, the UK Albums Chart, the UK Singles Downloads Chart and the UK Album Downloads Chart, as well as genre-specific and music video charts. The OCC produces its charts by gathering and combining sales data from retailers through market researchers Millward Brown, and claims to cover 99% of the singles market and 95% of the album market, and aims to collect data from any retailer who sells more than 100 chart items per week.
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb "to stream" refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner; the term refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself, and is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it.
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.
As of September 2017, the most streamed song in the UK is "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran, with over 200 million streams.[4] In June 2016, "Sorry" by Justin Bieber became the first song to pass 100 million streams.[5] By September 2016, it had been joined by two other Bieber songs: "Love Yourself" and "What Do You Mean?" as well as "One Dance" by Drake (the first song to achieve 100 million streams in a calendar year).[6]
"Shape of You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released as a digital download on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album ÷ (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill".
Edward Christopher Sheeran, is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor. He attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford as an undergraduate from the age of 18 in 2009. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, +, was released in September 2011. It topped the UK and Australian charts, reached number five in the US, and has since been certified seven-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.
"Sorry" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album, Purpose (2015). Written by Bieber, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Sonny Moore, and Michael Tucker; the song was produced by Skrillex and BloodPop. It was released on October 22, 2015, as the second single from the album. A dancehall-pop, tropical house and moombahton song, "Sorry" contains in its instrumentation "brassy horn bleats", warm island rhythms and a dembow riddim beat. Lyrically, "Sorry" is a plea for a chance to apologize to a lover, with Bieber asking forgiveness and a second chance to redeem himself.
"Shape of You" is also the song with the most streams in one week in chart week ending 16 March 2017 with 14.2 million, beating its own previous best of 13.4 million in the week ending 19 January 2017. "Castle on the Hill", also by Sheeran, is the only other song to get more than 10 million streams in a week (with 11.07 million).[7]
"Castle on the Hill" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released as a digital download on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album ÷ (2017), along with "Shape of You". "Castle on the Hill" was written and produced by Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco. The song refers to Framlingham Castle in Sheeran's home town.
History
"Sorry" by Justin Bieber (pictured) was the first song with over 100 million streams in the UK.
In July 2014, the OCC announced that "Pompeii" by Bastille was the most streamed song in the UK with 26.6 million streams.[3] "Cheerleader" by OMI was the most streamed song of 2015 with 71.7 million[8] and "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne was the most streamed song in 2014 with just short of 40 million.[9]
Bastille is a British band formed in 2010. The group began as a solo project by lead vocalist Dan Smith, but later expanded to include keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson and drummer Chris Wood. The name of the band derives from Bastille Day, which is celebrated on 14 July, the date of Smith's birthday.
"Cheerleader" is a song recorded by Jamaican singer Omi. The track was written and produced by OMI and Clifton Dillon, Mark Bradford, and Ryan Dillon. OMI first began developing the song in 2008, when he created its melody. It was refined over several years alongside famed Jamaican producer Clifton Dillon. It was first recorded with veteran session musicians Sly and Robbie and Dean Fraser. Released as a single on independent label Oufah, the song saw success in Jamaica, where it topped the charts, and also attracted airplay in Hawaii and Dubai. Ultra contacted two disc jockeys to produce remixed versions of the original song. The label and song's producers preferred one remix, produced by a young German DJ, Felix Jaehn, that eschewed much of the song's original instrumentation for a tropical-flavored deep house rendition, prominently featuring a trumpet, a conga beat, and piano. A remix extended play was released in May 2015 by Ultra, which began to first see commercial success that fall.
"Rather Be" is a song by the English electronic music group Clean Bandit. It features vocals by Jess Glynne. The track was released on 17 January 2014 as the fourth single from the group's debut studio album, New Eyes (2014). It was co-written by band members Jack Patterson and Grace Chatto, along with Jimmy Napes and Nicole Marshall, and produced by Patterson and Chatto. Warner Music Group released a number of official remixes for download, with DJs such as All About She and Cash Cash.
The record for most streams in a week has been broken many times since 2012 when the OCC started measuring it as streaming levels have continued to grow. In 2013, "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk was the first song to achieve 1 million streams in a week,[10] "Uptown Funk" broke the 2 million streams barrier at the end of 2014[11] and in April 2015, "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth passed 3 million streams.[12] In November 2015, "Hello" by Adele almost doubled the record to 7.32 million streams and, in the same week, Bieber also passed 4 million with "Sorry".[13]
"Get Lucky" is a song by French house music duo Daft Punk, featuring vocals by Pharrell Williams and co-written by the duo, Williams, and Nile Rodgers. It is the lead single from Daft Punk's fourth studio album, Random Access Memories. Before its release as a single, "Get Lucky" was featured in television advertisements broadcast during Saturday Night Live, after which Rodgers and Williams announced their involvement in the track. Small excerpts also appear throughout the promotional video series The Collaborators.
Daft Punk are a French electronic music duo formed in Paris in 1993 by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, and had success in the years following, combining elements of house music with funk, techno, disco, rock, and synthpop. They have worn ornate helmets and gloves to assume robot personas in most public appearances since 1999 and rarely grant interviews or appear on television. The duo were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter, the head of Ed Banger Records.
"See You Again" is a song recorded by American rapper Wiz Khalifa, featuring American singer Charlie Puth. The track was commissioned for the soundtrack of the 2015 action film Furious 7 as a tribute to actor Paul Walker, who died in a single-vehicle accident on November 30, 2013 in Valencia, California. Later on, the song was included as a bonus track on the international release of Puth's debut album, Nine Track Mind. The artists co-wrote the song with its co-producers, DJ Frank E and Andrew Cedar, with additional production from Puth and mixing provided by Manny Marroquin. "See You Again" was released on March 10, 2015, as the soundtrack's lead single in the United States.
In the week ending 4 October 2014, "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor became the first single ever to reach the UK top 40 on streams alone before it was available to buy[10] and in the week ending 13 December 2014, "Thinking Out Loud" became the first song to reach number one despite selling less than Union J's "You Got It All", the number-two song, due to streaming.[14][15]
"All About That Bass" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Released by Epic Records on June 30, 2014, in select markets, it was taken from her debut extended play, Title, and debut major-label studio album of the same name from 2014 and 2015 respectively, serving as the lead single from both. The song was released for streaming in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2014, but did not become available for digital download until September 28, 2014. Trainor co-wrote "All About That Bass" with its producer Kevin Kadish; it is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and retro-R&B song that draws influences from various musical genres including hip hop, country, soul and rock and roll. Lyrically, it discusses positive body image.
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor is an American singer-songwriter. Interested in music from a young age, Trainor wrote, recorded, and produced three independently released albums between 2009 and 2011.
Union J are a English boy band consisting of members JJ Hamblett, Jaymi Hensley, and Josh Cuthbert. The band formed in 2011, originally as a trio known as Triple J, consisting of Cuthbert, Hamblett and Hensley. They auditioned for the ninth series of the British television music competition The X Factor where they met Shelley who joined the band at the judges' request. They finished fourth and were subsequently signed to Sony Music subsidiary RCA Records. Their debut single "Carry You" was released in June 2013. Their self-titled debut studio album followed in October 2013 and peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
During 2015, streaming grew with an 80 percent increase in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2014, with 59 songs being streamed more than 10 million times[16] and 17 more than 20 million times.[17] In total 53.7 billion songs were streamed in the UK in 2015, equating to almost 2,000 songs played in each UK household.[18]
In December 2016, the OCC announced that streaming had grown from 275 million per week in 2014 to 990 million and, consequently, the formula for converting streams to sale equivalents in the singles chart would be changed from 100:1 to 150:1 from January 2017.[19] Additionally, in June 2017, it was decided that after a record has spent at least 10 weeks on the chart, any track which has declined for three consecutive weeks will see its streams:sales ratio change from 150:1 to 300:1, in an attempt to accelerate their disappearance from the chart.[20]
The UK Singles Chart was first compiled in 1969. However the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. For example, the BBC compiled its own chart based on an average of the music papers of the time; many songs announced as having reached number one on BBC Radio and Top of the Pops prior to 1969 may not be listed here as chart-toppers since they do not meet the legacy criteria of the Charts Company.
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 UK Music Charts are a collection of charts that reflect the music buying habits of people within the United Kingdom. The majority of them are produced by the Official Charts Company.
The Official Audio Streaming Chart is a music chart based on plays of songs through audio streaming services in the United Kingdom. It features data from both premium and ad-supported services. It is compiled weekly by the Official Charts Company (OCC), and was initially published both on their official website OfficialCharts.com, and in the magazine Music Week.
"Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, recorded for his second studio album, × (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the US on 24 September 2014 as the album's third single.
"What Do You Mean?" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album Purpose (2015). The song was released on August 28, 2015, as the album's lead single by Def Jam. Written by Bieber, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd and Mason Levy, the song was produced by MdL and co-produced by Bieber. "What Do You Mean?" is a pop and tropical house song, with its instrumentation consisting in light flourishes of panpipes, looped vocal samples, piano chords, fervent synths, bass and "slick beat" elements with the sound of a clock ticking, while Bieber uses a smooth, soulful vocal. Lyrically, "What Do You Mean?" describes not being able to figure out the opposite sex.
The Official Albums Streaming Chart is a music chart based plays of an album's songs through audio streaming services in the United Kingdom. Introduced on 1 March 2015, it coincided with the Official Charts Company's decision to incorporate streaming data into the UK Albums Chart. The Official Albums Streaming Chart uses the same streaming sources as the Official Audio Streaming Chart to measure how many times albums have been streamed each week.
"Love Yourself" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album Purpose (2015). The song was released first as a promotional single on November 9, 2015, and later was released as the album's third single. It was written by Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco and Bieber, and produced by Blanco. An acoustic pop song, "Love Yourself" features an electric guitar and a brief flurry of trumpets as its main instrumentation. During the song, Bieber uses a husky tone in the lower registers. Lyrically, the song is a kiss-off to a narcissistic ex-lover who did the protagonist wrong.
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