Friday, November 11, 2022

UK Official Charts: 70th Anniversary

NOW!

70 Years of the Official Singles Chart

In 2022, the UK Official Charts celebrates its 70th anniversary. In honor of the event, the NOW That’s What I Call Music! series released a five-disc box set gathering 100 of the chart’s 1400+ chart toppers over the last 70 years. The track order of the set is erratic, so I’ve redone the list here in chronological order. The dates indicate when the song hit #1 on the UK Official Charts.

Check other lists based on charts, sales, and airplay here.

11/4/1952: Al Martino “Here in My Heart”
1/16/1953: Jo Stafford “You Belong to Me”
4/24/1953: Frankie Laine “I Believe”
11/25/1955: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock”
2/17/1956: Dean Martin “Memories Are Made of This”
7/20/1956: Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”
1/24/1958: Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock”
7/3/1959: Bobby Darin “Dream Lover”
5/7/1960: The Everly Brothers “Cathy’s Clown”
11/2/1963: Gerry & the Pacemakers “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
2/29/1964: Cilla Black “Anyone Who Had a Heart”
10/10/1964: Roy Orbison “(Oh) Pretty Woman”
10/24/1964: Sandie Shaw “Always Something There to Remind Me”
11/21/1964: The Supremes “Baby Love”
2/6/1965: The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
3/13/1/1965: Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual”
8/28/1965: Sonny & Cher “I Got You Babe”
4/30/1966: Dusty Springfield “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”
10/29/1966: The Four Tops “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)”
11/19/1966: The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
3/29/1969: Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
4/19/1969: Desmond Dekker & the Aces “The Israelites”
9/16/1970: Freda Payne “Band of Gold”
10/9/1971: Rod Stewart “Maggie May”
1/27/1973: Sweet “Blockbuster”
3/4/1973: Slade “Cum on Feel the Noize”
6/16/1973: Suzi Quatro “Can the Can”
1/26/1974: Mud “Tiger Feet”
12/7/1974: Barry White “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything”
3/22/1975: Bay City Rollers “Bye Bye Baby”
6/28/1975: 10cc “I’m Not in Love”
11/29/1975: Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”
9/4/1976: Abba “Dancing Queen”
12/4/1977: Paul McCartney & Wings “Mull of Kintyre”
2/4/1978: Althia & Donna “Utpown Top Ranking”
5/13/1978: Boney M “Rivers of Babylon”
2/3/1979: Blondie “Heart of Glass”
3/17/1979: Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”
1/19/1980: “Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)”
3/22/1980: The Jam “Going Underground”
1/10/1981: John Lennon “Imagine” (released in 1971, recharted and hit #1 in the wake of Lennon’s murder)
5/9/1981: Adam & the Ants “Stand and Deliver”
9/5/1981: Soft Cell “Tainted Love”
12/12/1981: The Human League “Don’t You Want Me?”
5/29/1982: Madness “House of Fun”
7/17/1982: Irene Cara “Fame”
8/7/1982: Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come on Eileen”
3/26/1983: Duran Duran “Is There Something I Should Know?”
4/30/1983: Spandau Ballet “True”
6/4/1983: The Police “Every Breath You Take”
9/3/1983: UB40 “Red Red Wine”
9/24/1983: Culture Club “Karma Chameleon”
1/28/1984: Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax”
3/24/1984: Lionel Richie “Hello”
12/15/1984: Band Aid “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
8/29/1987: Rick Astley “Never Gonna Give You Up”
6/24/1989: Soul II Soul “Back to Life (How Ever Do You Want Me)”
3/30/1991: Chesney Hawkes “The One and Only”
10/17/1992: Tasmin Archer “Sleeping Satellite”
12/5/1992: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”
10/23/1993: Meat Loaf “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”
6/4/1994: Wet Wet Wet “Love Is All Around”
4/8/1995: Take That “Back for Good”
1/27/1996: Babylon Zoo “Spaceman”
3/2/1996: Oasis “Don’t Look Back in Anger”
6/8/1996: Fugees “Killing Me Softly”
7/27/1996: Spice Girls “Wannabe”
11/1/1997: Aqua “Barbie Girl”
1/17/1998: All Saints “Never Ever”
2/21/1998: Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On”
8/15/1998: Boyzone “No Matter What”
10/31/1998: Cher “Believe”
1/9/1999: Steps “Tragedy”
8/12/2000: Robbie Williams “Rock DJ”
10/21/2000: U2 “Beautiful Day”
9/29/2001: Kylie Minogue “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”
7/23/2005: James Blunt “You’re Beautiful”
11/12/2005: Westlife “You Raise Me Up”
4/8/2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
11/3/2007: Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love”
6/28/2008: Coldplay “Viva La Vida”
10/11/2008: Pink “So What”
11/1/2008: Girls Aloud “The Promise”
8/8/2009: Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling”
12/19/2009: Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”
9/24/2011: One Direction “What Makes You Beautiful”
2/11/2012: David Guetta with Sia “Titanium”
10/6/2012: Psy “Gangnam Style”
9/14/2013: Katy Perry “Roar”
10/19/2013: Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball”
12/20/2014: Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk!”
7/23/2015: Little Mix “Black Magic”
12/14/2017: Ed Sheeran with Beyoncé “Perfect”
7/5/2018: George Ezra “Shotgun”
3/7/2019: Lewis Capaldi “Someone You Loved”
2/13/2020: The Weeknd “Blinding Lights”
11/5/2020: Ariana Grande “Positions”
1/21/2021: Olivia Rodrigo “Drivers License”
4/8/2021: Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”
10/21/2021: Elton John with Dua Lipa “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)”