UK's Top 60 Best Selling Singles Acts Ever

[Verisimilitude]

The Official Singles Charts' biggest selling artists of all time revealed!

04/06/2012

By Lauren Kreisler

The Official Charts Company today unveils the Diamond Dozen – the 12 artists who have sold more than 10m singles in the history of the UK ‘s Official Singles Chart.

This definitive list of chart royalty is published to coincide with the Diamond Jubilee of both Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the UK’s Official Singles Chart - both celebrating 60 glorious years of heritage in 2012 – the list forms part of a BBC Radio 2 show running from 2pm till 5pm on Bank Holiday Monday (June 4).

In November 1952, five months after Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, the first ever Official Singles Chart was published in the New Musical Express. To mark this joint Jubilee, the Official Charts Company has compiled the definitive list of the biggest singles artists of all time, to be counted down by BBC Radio 2's Tony Blackburn in a special Jubilee Bank Holiday Monday show.

The list reveals The Beatles at the top, having sold the most chart singles over the past 60 years in the UK, followed by Elvis Presley and Sir Cliff Richard – all three have sold more than 20m singles in the UK. The Top 5 is completed by Madonna (on 17.6m) and Michael Jackson (15.3m).

Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company, adds, “The Diamond Dozen, from the Beatles to Kylie, with Rihanna, Madonna, Elvis and Bowie in between, is truly the cream of music makers over the past six decades years. Over the past 60 years, the Official Singles Chart has provided the musical soundtrack to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s reign – and these artists have been her entertainers.”

Full list with sales figures (artists with featured appearances on songs have those sales excluded from their totals):

01 THE BEATLES 21.9m
02 ELVIS PRESLEY 21.6m
03 CLIFF RICHARD 21.5m
04 MADONNA 17.6m
05 MICHAEL JACKSON 15.3m
06 ELTON JOHN 14.8m
07 QUEEN 12.6m
08 ABBA 11.2m
09 DAVID BOWIE 10.6m
10 RIHANNA 10.4m
11 PAUL McCARTNEY 10.2m
12 KYLIE MINOGUE 10.1m
13 ROLLING STONES 9.9m
14 ROD STEWART 9.9m
15 TAKE THAT 8.9m
16 STEVIE WONDER 8.9m
17 OASIS 8.9m
18 EMINEM 8.6m
19 WHITNEY HOUSTON 8.4m
20 SPICE GIRLS 7.9m
21 GEORGE MICHAEL 7.8m
22 ROBBIE WILLIAMS 7.5m
23 BEE GEES 7.5m
24 U2 7.4m
25 SHAKIN' STEVENS 7.3m
26 BRITNEY SPEARS 7.2m
27 STATUS QUO 7.2m
28 LADY GAGA 7.2m
29 BOYZONE 7.0m
30 BLONDIE 7.0m
31 SLADE 6.9m
32 THE BLACK EYED PEAS 6.8m
33 BONEY M 6.8m
34 WESTLIFE 6.8m
35 CELINE DION 6.6m
36 BEYONCE 6.6m
37 UB40 6.6m
38 OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN 6.6m
39 MARIAH CAREY 6.6m
40 TOM JONES 6.3m
41 MADNESS 6.1m
42 THE POLICE 6.1m
43 WHAM! 5.9m
44 PHIL COLLINS 5.8m
45 DIANA ROSS 5.7m
46 THE JAM 5.7m
47 BRYAN ADAMS 5.6m
48 PET SHOP BOYS 5.6m
49 DAVID GUETTA 5.6m
50 ADAM ANT 5.5m
51 DURAN DURAN 5.4m
52 FRANK SINATRA 5.4m
53 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD 5.3m
54 PRINCE 5.3m
55 KATY PERRY 5.2m
56 WET WET WET 5.1m
57 THE EVERLY BROTHERS 4.9m
58 THE SHADOWS 4.9m
59 PINK 4.9m
60 COLDPLAY 4.8m

[Keelzit]

Rihanna :o :'( :o and @ her already passing Kylie

Surprised that Britney is so much higher than P!nk and Bey.

[bornfearless2000]

Rihanna is huge in UK .

[josh]

Does it also include all her features? And it's not gonna be a dozen for much longer with 2 artists at 9.9 million haha

[Enigma.]

Elton John would be #12 or 13 without Candle in the Wind 97 so one single can sometimes make a big difference.

[Verisimilitude]

Jun 5, 2012 7:59:37 GMT -5 josh said:

Does it also include all her features? And it's not gonna be a dozen for much longer with 2 artists at 9.9 million haha

No, it doesn't. Including all of her features, she would rank at #7 with an extra 3+ million.

[Deleted]

The funniest thing about this list is that you have the usual suspects at the top, The Beatles, Elvis, and then you have Cliff Richard nearly tied with Elvis for #3! Most Americans would probably go Cliff who? LOL Because he really didn't make any kind of an impact on this side of the Atlantic but he's always been huge in England.

It's very interesting to see the similarities and the differences between the top artists in the U.K. and the U.S. so thanks.

[Deleted]

Such a shame most Americans will never get to experience Cliff roller skating around Milton Keynes singing "Wired For Sound".

[HolidayGuy]

The digital age obviously has had a huge impact for newer acts- especially Nos. 10 and 55.

Too bad a similar list can't be compiled for the USA, given that exact sales tracking didn't occur until 1991. But, a list from 1991-present would be nice to see.

[Enigma.]

Jun 5, 2012 9:17:07 GMT -5 @backintime said:

Such a shame most Americans will never get to experience Cliff roller skating around Milton Keynes singing "Wired For Sound".

Such a shame relief most Americans will never get to experience The Millennium Prayer

[kingofpain]

LOL Cliff had a good run in the late 70's to mid 80's here... he had a somewhat brief chart career (albeit miniscule compared to his success in the UK). 9 top 40 singles in the US (3 went top 10) spanning the 50's - 80's, plus an additional 10 songs that also made the Top 100.

Devil Woman, We Don't Talk Anymore, Wired for Sound, Suddenly... I still love those songs, albeit I wouldn't call him a recurrent favorite on the golden classics stations here. If I'm lucky, I'll hear them on Sirius XM on the 70's channel.

[Deleted]

The only one of his songs I even remotely remember is "Devil Woman."

That's probably a good thing. ;)