The
UK Singles Chart is a weekly
record chart compiled by the
Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. As of 10 July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday with the chart-date given as the following Thursday.[2] Before this, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart date given as the following Saturday. During the 2010s, a total of 242 songs reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Joe McElderry was the first artist to top the chart in the decade, when "
The Climb" replaced "
Killing in the Name" by
Rage Against the Machine. The final number-one of the decade was the novelty song "
I Love Sausage Rolls" by
LadBaby.
Digital downloads made up the majority of music sales at the start of the decade. In 2011, singles sales hit an all-time high, a record that was then surpassed in 2012. From July 2014, as download sales began to decline,[3]audio streaming began to be counted at a rate of 100 streams equivalent to a sale, later increased to 150 streams,[4] and later still to 300 streams once a song had spent a certain time on the charts and its consumption had declined.[5]
The following singles were all number one in the
United Kingdom during the 2010s.[6][7]
Since April 1973, the
British Phonographic Industry has been classifying singles by the number of units shipped or by sales. The highest threshold is "
Platinum record" and is currently awarded to singles that have shipped or sold over 600,000 units.[16][17][d] From July 2014, BPI certifications (along with the Official Singles Chart) include audio streaming at 100 streams equal to one unit; these are referred to as 'combined sales' or 'chart sales'. So for example, "
All of Me" by
John Legend was certified double Platinum (1,200,000 combined sales) in October 2014 and became a million-seller in January 2015.[19]
A. ^ The
Calvin Harris and
Dua Lipa song "
One Kiss" was jointly released by
Sony Music and
WMG as the record featured Columbia Records artist Harris[20] and Dua Lipa, signed to WMG's Warner Brothers label.[15]
B. ^ These totals do not include the instances when parent company
Warner Music (WMG) is listed with group labels Atlantic or
East West Records.
other notes
^In 2010, the best-selling single of the year was "
Love the Way You Lie" by
Eminem featuring
Rihanna, which entered the chart on 27 June and peaked at number two.
^
abcdThe artist, single, date of reaching number one and number of weeks at number one are those given by the
Official Charts Company.
^The record labels are those given by the OCC.[11]
^The number of sales required to qualify for Platinum, Gold and Silver discs was dropped in 1989 from the former thresholds of Silver (250,000 units), Gold (500,000 units), and Platinum (1,000,000 units) to the current thresholds of Silver (200,000 units), Gold (400,000 units), and Platinum (600,000 units).[16][18]