List of best-selling singles of the 21st century in the United Kingdom

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Having sold over 1.9 million copies, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is the best-selling single in the UK since 2001 based on paid-for sales Pharrell Williams 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.jpg
Having sold over 1.9 million copies, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is the best-selling single in the UK since 2001 based on paid-for sales

The UK Singles Chart is a music chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom. [2] Since 2005, the chart has been based on the sales of both physical and digital singles, initially on the condition that the single was available in both formats. In 2007, the rules were changed so that legal downloads of all songs, irrespective of whether a physical copy was available, were eligible to chart [3] and since July 2014, streaming has been included. [4]

Contents

Best-selling singles based on paid-for sales

This is a list of the sales of records released from 1 January 2001 onwards; sales for this period of records released before 2001 are not included. With sales of over 1,920,000, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is the best-selling single in the UK since January 2001. Will Young's double A-side single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which has sold over 1,790,000 million copies, is the second-biggest seller, followed by "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Williams in third. The top five is completed by "Uptown Funk" at four and "Someone Like You" by Adele in fifth. As of September 2017, 62 singles released in the 2000s have sold over 1 million copies. [5]

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 best-selling singles in the UK since 2001. Sales positions are current as of 17 September 2017. [5]

No.SingleArtistReleased [lower-alpha 1] Traditional sales [lower-alpha 2] Chart
peak [lower-alpha 1]
1"Happy" Pharrell Williams November 20131,921,8051
2"Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" Will Young February 20021,795,2131
3"Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams May 20131,667,6151
4"Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars December 20141,647,3101
5"Someone like You" Adele January 20111,644,5971
6"Moves Like Jagger" Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera August 20111,536,0412
7"Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra January 20121,515,5271
8"Wake Me Up" Avicii June 20131,483,3461
9"I Gotta Feeling" The Black Eyed Peas September 20091,477,7781
10"Get Lucky" Daft Punk featuring Pharrell WilliamsApril 20131,471,3561
11"It Wasn't Me" Shaggy February 20011,428,2041
12"We Found Love" Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris 20111,415,4161
13"Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon 20081,386,1711
14"Call Me Maybe" Carly Rae Jepsen 20121,358,6311
15"(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay 20051,354,4781
16"Unchained Melody" Gareth Gates 20021,345,8501
17"Just the Way You Are (Amazing)" Bruno Mars 20101,331,6841
18"Impossible" James Arthur 20121,310,1691
19"Hallelujah" Alexandra Burke 20081,310,0171
20"Gangnam Style" Psy 20121,304,4371
21"Titanium" David Guetta featuring Sia 20121,300,5661
22"Party Rock Anthem" LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock 20111,284,3351
23"Rather Be" Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 20141,283,1221
24"All of Me" John Legend 20131,259,7082
25"Love the Way You Lie" Eminem featuring Rihanna20101,258,7632
26"Let Her Go" Passenger 20131,243,3362
27"Price Tag" Jessie J featuring B.o.B 20111,228,3711
28"Thinking Out Loud" Ed Sheeran 20131,219,1841
29"Can't Get You Out of My Head" Kylie Minogue 20011,195,2291
30"Do They Know It's Christmas?" Band Aid 20 20041,184,3961
31"Poker Face" Lady Gaga 20091,180,3771
32"Only Girl (In the World)"Rihanna20101,162,4601
33"Starships" Nicki Minaj 20121,162,0651
34"Chasing Cars" Snow Patrol 20061,159,0996
35"We Are Young" fun. featuring Janelle Monáe 20121,145,1951
36"Counting Stars" OneRepublic 20131,132,5261
37"Crazy" Gnarls Barkley 20061,131,1841
38"The A Team" Ed Sheeran 20111,118,8253
39"Use Somebody"Kings of Leon20081,115,3922
40"Bleeding Love" Leona Lewis 20071,114,5961
  1. 1 2 Dates and chart peaks are those given by the OCC. [6]
  2. ↑ The sales are those given by the OCC as of 17 September 2017. [5]

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 biggest selling songs based on combined physical, download and streaming sales. As of September 2017 there were nine over 2 million and 185 over a million combined sales from the 2000s Century. [5] In October 2017, "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran became the first song from the 2000s Century to achieve 3 million combined sales.

PositionSongArtistPeakYearSalesStreaming equivalentCombined sales
1"Shape of You" Ed Sheeran 12017754,754+2,121,706+3,006,404 [7]
2"Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars 120141,647,3101,076,1602,723,470
3"Happy" Pharrell Williams 120131,921,805707,8512,629,657
4"Thinking Out Loud" Ed Sheeran 120141,219,1841,302,1192,521,302
5"One Dance" Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla 12016553,9731,791,0072,344,981
6"Rather Be" Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 120141,283,122935,5752,218,697
7"Sorry" Justin Bieber 12015724,1881,443,7192,167,907
8"All of Me" John Legend 220141,259,708896,4182,156,126
9"Love Yourself"Justin Bieber12015718,5491,340,6662,059,215
10"Someone Like You" Adele 120111,644,597351,7721,996,369
11"Wake Me Up!" Avicii 120131,483,346484,0351,967,381
12"Take Me to Church" Hozier 22013934,4661,017,8511,952,317
13"Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell 120131,667,615284,0041,951,619
14"Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)" Omi 12014861,0861,057,4391,918,526
15"Despacito (Remix)" Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber12017566,4251,334,1741,900,599
16"Hello"Adele12015948,618906,4311,855,050
17"What Do You Mean?"Justin Bieber12015533,5811,320,2561,853,837
18"Let Her Go" Passenger 220121,243,336589,0191,832,354
19"Get Lucky" Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams120131,471,356349,9891,821,344
20"Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" Will Young 120021,795,2131,8741,797,087
21"Cheap Thrills" Sia 22015517,0821,247,6401,764,721
22"Moves Like Jagger" Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera 220111,536,041207,8131,743,854
23"Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra 120111,515,527212,1921,727,719
24"Mr. Brightside" The Killers 102004967,180750,9911,718,170
25"Pompeii" Bastille 22013959,693749,0111,708,704
26"7 Years" Lukas Graham 12015653,6571,054,2111,707,868
27"We Found Love"Rihanna120111,415,416288,5331,703,948
28"Sex on Fire"Kings of Leon120081,386,171315,9311,702,103
29"Waves"(Robin Schulz remix) Mr Probz 12013933,555757,4021,690,957
30"Castle on the Hill"Ed Sheeran22017478,7161,192,6071,671,322

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Moss, Liv (19 June 2015). "Official Biggest Selling Singles of the decade so far revealed". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  3. ↑ Swash, Rosie (8 January 2007). "Old songs return to brave new singles chart". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Kreisler, Lauren (22 June 2014). "UK's Official Singles Chart to include streaming data for first time". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Copsey, Rob (19 September 2017). "The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Jones, Alan (14 October 2017). "Official Charts Analysis: Post Malone secures second week atop singles chart" . Music Week . Retrieved 14 October 2017.
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