Drake had a 15-week run at the top of the UK Singles Chart in 2016 with "
One Dance", featuring
Wizkid and
Kyla, the longest number-one since
Wet Wet Wet's "
Love Is All Around" in 1994. He then spent a further 14 weeks at the top in 2018 with "
God's Plan", "
Nice for What" and "
In My Feelings", the former of which made him the only artist in UK chart history to have two songs spend at least nine weeks at number one.[1]
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]
Number-one singles
Lady Gaga reached number one with "
Telephone" (featuring
Beyoncé) in 2010 and "
Shallow" (a duet with
Bradley Cooper) in 2018.B.o.B achieved his first and second chart-topping singles in 2010 with "
Nothin' on You" and "
Airplanes". He then scored a third in 2011 with "
Price Tag", a collaboration with
Jessie J.Tinie Tempah achieved his first number-one single in 2010 with "
Pass Out", topping the charts again with "
Written in the Stars" and "
Not Letting Go", and as a featured artist on "
R.I.P.", "
Tsunami", "
Crazy Stupid Love" and "
Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)".Rihanna broke her own record in 2013 by becoming the first female artist to have number-one singles in seven consecutive years. The singles include "
Only Girl (In the World)" (2010), "
We Found Love" (2011), "
Diamonds" (2012) and "
The Monster" (2013).Adele achieved her first number-one single in February 2011 with "
Someone Like You", which became the year's biggest seller; having spent five weeks at the peak and sold over 1 million copies. The singer later broke records with her comeback single "
Hello", which reached the number one spot in November 2015, staying there for three weeks.Canadian singer
Carly Rae Jepsen achieved her first number-one single in 2012 with the international hit "
Call Me Maybe", which spent four consecutive weeks at the summit.Gary Barlow achieved his fourteenth number-one single with "
Sing"—whilst also becoming the first artist in 2012 to have the UK number-one single and album in the same week.[8]Belgian-Australian singer
Gotye held the number-one spot for five weeks in 2012 with the year's biggest selling international hit "
Somebody That I Used to Know", which featured
Kimbra.Florence and the Machine scored their first UK number-one single with "
Spectrum (Say My Name)" in 2012, spending three weeks at number one.Girl group
Little Mix became the first band to win The X Factor in 2011 and scored four number ones in the decade, with a cover of the
Damien Rice song "
Cannonball" in 2011, "
Wings" in 2012, "
Black Magic" in 2015 and "
Shout Out to My Ex" in 2016.The X Factor boy band
One Direction had a number-one single three years in a row with "
What Makes You Beautiful" in 2011, "
Little Things" in 2012, and "
One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)" in 2013, as well as their fourth UK number-one single, and first as a four-piece, "
Drag Me Down" in 2015.Pharrell Williams scored three number-one hits in 2013 after producing and being featured on the songs "
Get Lucky" by
Daft Punk, "
Blurred Lines" by
Robin Thicke, which also featured
T.I., and his own song "
Happy", which also topped the year end chart in 2014.Sam Smith scored two solo number ones in 2014 with "
Money on My Mind" and "
Stay with Me", after featuring on "
La La La" by
Naughty Boy which topped the charts in 2013. In 2015, Smith scored fourth and fifth number-ones with "
Lay Me Down" and "
Writing's on the Wall", the theme for the James Bond film Spectre. Smith scored a further two number ones in 2017 and 2018 with "
Too Good at Goodbyes" and "
Promises", a collaboration with
Calvin Harris.Calvin Harris achieved the joint most number ones in the 2010s decade, with eight; his collaboration with
Rihanna on "
We Found Love" in 2011, "
Sweet Nothing" in 2012, "
Under Control" in 2013, "
Summer" and "
Blame" in 2014, "
Feels" in 2017, and "
One Kiss" and "
Promises" in 2018. "One Kiss" was the best selling single of 2018.Jess Glynne made chart history in 2015, scoring her fifth number one in just 18 months; the fastest for a British female artist in the UK. In 2018, she broke the record for most number ones for female artist, with seven, breaking
Cheryl's record of five number ones.Justin Bieber achieved his first three number one singles in 2015, with "
What Do You Mean?", "
Sorry", and "
Love Yourself", for a total of thirteen weeks at number one. Bieber was also featured on the number one singles "
Cold Water" in 2016, and "
I'm the One", and "
Despacito (Remix)" in 2017. He attained his seventh number one of the decade in 2019 with "
I Don't Care", a collaboration with
Ed Sheeran.Danish band
Lukas Graham reached number one in February 2016 with "
7 Years", which became the first UK chart-topper by an act from Denmark since
Aqua's "
Turn Back Time" back in 1998.Ed Sheeran scored eight number ones throughout the decade, including a 14-week run at the top of the chart in 2017 with "
Shape of You", the best-selling single of that year. His other number ones included "
Perfect", which spent 6 weeks at number one in 2017 and 2018 and earned Sheeran his first
Christmas number one, and "
I Don't Care", which held the top spot for 8 weeks in 2019.Luis Fonsi spent eleven non-consecutive weeks at number one in 2017 with "
Despacito", the longest-running foreign language number one in UK chart history.[9]Taylor Swift earned her first ever UK number one single with her hit song "
Look What You Made Me Do" in 2017, which topped the charts for two consecutive weeks.
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]