What is the biggest selling song never to reach number 1?
The Killers' 2003 hit "Mr. Brightside" is the biggest-selling song never to reach number one in the UK, overtaking Oasis' "Wonderwall" in 2024. It has achieved over 5.57 million combined sales and streams, making it the third-biggest song of all time in the UK while peaking at only number 10.
What is the best-selling single never to reach number 1?
Mr Brightside: The Killers' hit becomes the biggest song never to top charts. It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this? It's a question that has rung out across dancefloors for more than 20 years.
Despite the popularity of the song, Common People was beaten to number one by former Soldier Soldier actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn and their rendition of Unchained Melody and White Cliffs of Dover.
What is the highest selling single song of all time?
The Guinness World Records named the holiday single "White Christmas" (1942) by Bing Crosby as the best-selling single worldwide. According to Guinness, "White Christmas" sold over 50 million copies. The single is known as the "best-selling single of all time".
The longest-running UK Number 1 song ever is Frankie Laine's "I Believe" (1953), with 18 non-consecutive weeks at the top, while Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (1991) holds the record for the longest unbroken run at 16 consecutive weeks. More recently, Drake's "One Dance" (2016) and Wet Wet Wet's "Love Is All Around" (1994) both spent 15 consecutive weeks at Number 1, showing how hard it is to beat these older records in the streaming era, notes BBC News.
The only person to refuse a Grammy is Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor, who declined the award in 1991 for Best Alternative Music Performance for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, protesting the music industry's "false and destructive materialistic values" and commercialism. She rejected the award and didn't attend the ceremony, standing firm on her principles against the perceived superficiality of major awards.
There's even a dispute over the exact title. Yet “It's a Small World,” also known as “It's a Small, Small World” and “It's a Small World (After All),” is very likely the most played song in music history — nearly 50 million times.
The biggest-selling single of all time in the UK is "Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John, with over 4.9 million physical copies sold after Princess Diana's passing in 1997, followed by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". It's also the fastest-selling single, moving 1.55 million copies in its first week.
The "biggest" number one song depends on the metric, but Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is the best-selling single ever (50+ million), while Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" is the biggest-selling single since charts began (33 million). For chart performance, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" holds the record for most weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (22 weeks).
The most sampled song of all time is "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons, primarily for its iconic six-second drum break, known as the "Amen Break," which has been used in thousands of hip-hop, electronic, and pop tracks, from N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" to Futurama's theme. Other highly sampled songs include "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins and "Change the Beat" by Beside, featuring its famous vocoder line.
Elvis Presley holds the overall record for the most UK number-one singles with 21, followed by The Beatles with 18, while Madonna has the most for a female solo artist (13), and The Beatles have the most for a group (18). Cliff Richard also features high on the list, with many hits across his career.
What did Paul McCartney say was the best song ever written?
Paul McCartney called The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" the "greatest song ever written," saying it reduces him to tears and is a brilliant, innovative love song that showcases Brian Wilson's genius. While he's often hesitant to name a favorite he wrote (sometimes mentioning "Here, There and Everywhere"), he holds "God Only Knows" in extremely high regard as a masterpiece that influenced music profoundly.
On whether McCartney eventually warmed up to Ono, Lennon stated in the interview, “You can quote Paul, it's probably in the papers, he said it many times at first he hated Yoko, and then he got to like her.
Perhaps unsurprisingly — considering stadiums full of fans have been chanting the lyrics at sporting events for years — Queen's 1977 anthem "We Are the Champions" claimed the title of "catchiest song of all time" based on Pawley and Müllensiefen's analysis.
