"Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John is the best-selling single in the UK. The best-selling single in the UK is "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997", a double A-side released by Elton John following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
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".
In terms of a song's running length, "All Around the World" by Oasis (1998) at 9 minutes and 38 seconds is the longest song to reach No. 1. "What Do You Want?" by Adam Faith at 1 minute 35 seconds (1959) is the shortest.
The most streamed song of all-time on Spotify is Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, with 4,998,517,605 streams as of August 30, 2025. Other top tracks include Shape of You, Starboy, Someone You Loved, As It Was, and many more.
This list shows the twenty-seven artists with the most number ones on the UK singles chart. American singer-actor Elvis Presley has most number one singles with twenty-one.
What is the biggest selling 12 inch single in the UK?
"Blue Monday" is the best-selling 12-inch single in history. In the United Kingdom, it has sold 1.16 million copies in all formats, including the 1988 and 1995 re-releases. Sales of the original 1983 12-inch release account for the bulk of the total, at over 700,000 copies.
Written during World War II, “White Christmas” offered wartime audiences a dream of peace and nostalgia. To this day, it's the best-selling single of all time, with more than 50 million copies sold.
What is the lowest selling number one single in the UK?
Orson's No Tomorrow sold just 17,694 copies – still to this day, the lowest ever weekly sales for a track to reach the top of the charts in a pre-streaming era.
What is the biggest selling British album of all time?
The best-selling album in the United Kingdom is Greatest Hits, a compilation album by the British rock band Queen that was first released in 1981. As of July 2022, it has sold more than seven million copies, of which approximately 124,000 have been from downloads.
What is the biggest selling single in the UK not to reach number 1?
The Killers' Mr Brightside has overtaken Oasis's Wonderwall to become the biggest single to have never reached number one in the UK. The crowd-pleasing classic of student nights and cover bands only peaked at number 10 - but has remained a popular earworm for years.
According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.
Who is the youngest artist to have a number one hit?
Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, when he was 13, making him the youngest solo artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s.
What is the highest selling single in UK chart history?
"Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John is the best-selling single in the UK. The best-selling single in the UK is "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997", a double A-side released by Elton John following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
"Blue Monday" is a song written by Dave Bartholomew, first recorded in 1953 by Smiley Lewis and issued as a single, in January 1954, on Imperial Records (catalog # 5268). The single, with a slow-rocking beat, features an instrumental electric guitar solo by Lewis.
