After going through a ropey period during the mid 80s, the single sparked back into life during the early 90s. Records by Bryan Adams and Whitney Houston sold a million, with efforts by Blackbox, the Righteous Brothers, Right Said Fred, Queen, Snap! and Meat Loaf shifted over 800,000 copies each. Coming into 1994, the million sellers list stood as follows:
(Note: figures above include sales for significant re-releases of "You're The One..." (ca 50,000) in 98 and "Imagine" (ca 45,000) in 99.)
The year started quietly, with Mariah Cantsing's ear-splitting cover of "Without You" ruling the roost for the spring. Everything burst into life on May 9, when Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around
hit the record stores. The Troggs cover was featured in the new Huge Grant movie, "Four Weddings And A Funeral", and was expected to pick up decent sales, and perhaps give the Glasgow lads their first top 10 hit in a couple of years. Slightly overperforming, "Love Is All Around" debuted at #4, got held off the top slot by the Manchester United Football Club (!) and assumed #1 on May 29. It sold, and sold, and sold, keeping records by Big Mountain and All-For-One off the top. The latter group's "I Swear" got stuck in the runner-up position for seven weeks, the longest consecutive stay to date. Things got a bit silly in mid August, when challenges by Let Loose and Kylie Minogue faltered, and TOTP presenter Jarvis Cocker pulled on a t-shirt declaring "I Hate Wet Wet Wet." According to their publicity, the band were getting mightily annoyed with this record, and promised to delete it on September 5. Curiously, that day also saw the next million seller released, and the week gave the Wets their biggest seven day sale. "Love Is All Around" was finally removed from the top slot on September 11, but enough copies were in circulation to see it complete 20 weeks in the top 10, and briefly return to the top 40 over Christmas. Total sales: 1,783,827, and position 9 on the all-time best sellers.
The one that followed: Saturday Night
, by Danish lass Whigfield. This had been the Silly Dance of the summer in the Med, and became the first act to debut at #1. It remained on top for four weeks, in the top three for a further four, and seventeen weeks in the 40. By the time she left, the follow up single had already gone top 10, and two comedy knock-offs had troubled the lower reaches of the list. 1,092,250 sales is the 43rd best seller of all time.
But wait, there's more! The third single from Celine Dion's album "The Color Of My Love" was Think Twice
. No one expected much from it, and when it entered at #50 on 23 October, that looked like the end of that. Two weeks later, though, the single climbed into the top 40, and began to have legs. Four weeks later, the second top 10 place of Dion's career was in the bag, but this was only the beginning. The record continued to climb, just a place or two per week, before settling in at #2 behind Rednex's novelty "Cotton Eyed Joe" from January 8, 95. And there she stayed, until a second cassette single was released. The sales boost allowed Celine to capture the #1 slot on Jan 29, where she stayed for seven weeks. The 21 weeks from debut to final week at #1 tied the record with Frank Ifield's "I Belive," set in 1953. Fourteen weeks in the top 10, 25 in the top 40. 1,234,982 sales is the 31st biggest seller to date.
Fantastic Facts: Wets replaced at #1 by Whigfield... both in the top 40 for seven weeks... Celine and Whigfield co-charted from Nov 6 to Jan 1 95, with Wet Wet Wet joining the pair for the last fortnight.
Take That's Back For Good
didn't quite shift a million. New Order's seminal Blue Monday
did manage to sell its millionth copy during 95, finishing with a total score of 1,001,400.
The first appearance of Simon Cowell came this year, with not one but two million sellers for Robson Greene and Jerome Flynn. The actors had been singing on their television show, "Soldier Soldier", and were head-hunted by the future "Pop Idle" svengali. Coming out on May 8, the record shifted 750,000 copies within two weeks, and finished with seven weeks at #1, 14 in the 40, 1,843,201 copies sold, and position 8 on the all-time best sellers list. The 50s revivalists returned on October 30 with covers of "I Believe" and "Up On The Roof." Four weeks at the top, nine in the 10, but just two more falling down the rungs. 1,093,972 copies was - by then - only sufficient for #46 amongst the all-time top sellers.
Also around in the autum was Coolio's biggest hit. "Fantastic Voyage" had just missed the 40 in summer 94, but there was no mistaking the haunting Gangsta's Paradise
. A surefire chart-topper from its release on October 16, it "only" spent two weeks at number one, then a further three in the runner up position. It came within 75 sales of recapturing the top slot from Robson & Jerome. Seven weeks in the top three, and seventeen in the top 20, by which time the follow up single had been and gone. 1,246,306 sales put it at #31 on the all time list.
More! More! More! "Wonderwall" came within a few thousand of shifting a million, but has yet to make it. "Free As A Bird," the first new Beatles song for 25 years, was expected to shift squillions over Christmas, but didn't because it was rubbish. Michael Jackson had no qualms about passing himself off as the new Jesus Christ, and took Earth Song
to the head of the list for six weeks over Christmas. Thanks to Jarvis Cocker's one-man protest at Mr Facelift's antics, the track rebounded into the top 20 in February, aggregating 15 weeks in the top 40. He's also responsible for the track making this list: 1,036,821 is the total sale, enough for 49th place on the list.
Fantastic Feats Coolio and R&J simultaneously charted for all of the duo's run, from 5 Nov to 14 Jan 96... They were joined by Jacko from 3 Dec until Coolio's last chart on 18 Feb... Coolio and R&J held down the top two places for three weeks from 12 Nov... both shuffled down one place to make way for Jacko, meaning the top 3 on 3 Dec all sold a million...
Oh, how we needed a new pair of jeans after all that fun. Babylon Zoo's commercial soundtrack, Spaceman
, provided the promo tool, and shifted a quarter of a million in the first week after release on January 15. Sadly for fans of the spaced-out short, the single itself had been sped up, and sounded like early-form Suede when slowed down. That didn't stop the track from spending five weeks at the top; nor from exiting like a scalded cat when the joke was up, posting just four positions between 2 and 40. One minor hit single later and it was as good as over. 1,098,860 total sale, the 45th best seller to date.
"Ooh ... Aah ... Just A Little Bit" sold 900,000 copies in losing Eurovision, but couldn't quite go the extra mile. "Three Lions" sold over 400,000 copies in both 96 and 98, but these are two different songs and don't aggregate to a million. The next seven digit seller was the second single for seminal US group The Fugees. Lauren, Wyclef and Pras remade Killing Me Softly With His Song
in their own inimitable style, and found themselves with the biggest hit of the year. Five weeks atop the chart, another four in runner-up position, and then out in just six more weeks. A total of 1,268,157 gave the highest sale in 1996, and the 31st best seller to date.
Up to this point, every act whose first week on chart had been at #1 went on to sell a million copies of that single. The streak was broken when the Fugees were toppled by Gary Barlow's "Forever Love". The former Take That frontman outsold all comers in the week beginning July 8, but his aggregate sale barely registered in the top 40 of the year. Two places lower, perching just below the Fugees, an act that would shift a million. The Spice Girls had arrived, took the top slot one week later, and held on tight for seven weeks. Northern, Dykey, Bimby, Dimby and Red had arrived, and brought a refreshing blast to the hit parade. Wannabe
stuck around for 18 weeks in the top 40, and we sensed the fun was just beginning. "Say You'll Be There" came after a new chart topper for the Fugees, and immediately before the last release from Robson & Jerome - none of these moved a million. The Spices' third release, Two Become One
did shift seven figures, spending three weeks atop the chart and 15 weeks on the 40. "Wannabe" shifted a total of 1,269,841 units, not overcoming the Fugees total until summer 97; "Two Become One" 1,072,073. Positions 31 and 51 respectively.
Useless stats: Babylon and Jacko co-charted from Jan 21 to Mar 10. Fugees and "Wannabe" were together from July 14 to Sept 8, and held the top two slots on Jul 21 and 28. The best seller list around May 97:
1997 looked like it was going to be a quiet year for million sellers. Seven different number ones in the first seven weeks of the year indicated that nothing was selling like hot cakes. The first indication that we would get a biggie this year came on June 16, with the release of the Biggie Smalls tribute single. The Notorious BIG had been shot dead in New York three months before, and his close friend Puff Daddy had bought the riff from a Police number to form the basis of a memorable tribute. I'll Be Missing You
ruled the roost for six weeks, spent another six in the top 10, and another six in the nether reaches of the 40. 1,409,688 sales, position 22 on the all-time ranking, and a strong bet for best seller of the year.
Or not. Elton John launched "The Big Picture" with the majestic ballad Something About The Way You Look Tonight
. After he performed a reworking of "Candle In The Wind" at a friend's funeral a week before release, he decided to add that to the single and donate all proceeds to his friend's memory. The public took this noble gesture to heart, and bought over 600,000 copies when the single went on sale on September 13. Another million the following week, past 3 million by the end of October, and it's still selling to this day. Five weeks atop the charts, another 11 weeks floating between positions 2 and 11, then out in four more weeks. Official sales figures of 4,864,611 don't include copies sold outside normal record industry vendors, a phenomenon that also afflicted the Band Aid record some years before. The best seller of all time.
And while you're in there, why not buy some of these... Once Elton assumed the top, every Number One for five months would either sell a million itself, or be by the Spice Girls. First on the million list was Danish band Aqua. Their novelty Barbie Girl
entered at #2 behind "Spice Up Your Life", only to take the top slot for the following four weeks. Twelve weeks in the top 10, then four weeks cluttering up various positions from 30 to 39, by which time the follow-up had already vacated the top slot. 1,722,418 in total sufficed to deny Puffy the #2 slot for the year, and take the 14th best seller of all time.
Anyone for a Perfect Day
? Lou Reed's anthem to heroin use was subverted for a BBC promotional film in which lots of great recording stars (and Heather Small) perform a line or two from the track. Thanks to the unique way in which it got blanket airplay on BBC television, it spent two weeks at the top from release on Nov 17, then came back for a further frame after the promo was heavily repeated over Christmas. Seven weeks in the top three, 1,548,538 copies sold, and 15th best seller. This total doesn't include a re-promotion with additional tracks and the promo film in 2000 - that single shifted less than 8000.
From one BBC product to another, as Teletubbies Say Eh-Ho
shifted a million to juvenile students and intelligent two year olds. I really can't write anything more utterly ridiculous than the concept of four overgrown creatures in dayglow suits romping around in fields. Another Simon Cowell concept, but still a better bet than Westlife. Two weeks at #1 from the Dec 1 release, just nine in the top 40. We await the follow-up single from this one-hit wonder - but what a hit! 1,107,235 copies sold, the 51st best seller to date.
Caught behind all three of these was the All Saints' biggest hit, Never Ever
. Entering at #3 following its Nov 10 release, the Saints slipped to #6, climbed back to #4, then came into that quiet week after New Year to snatch the #1 slot with the lowest weekly sale of their 9 on chart. 13 weeks in the top 5, 20 in the 40 all told. 1,254,604 copies put them 37th on the pile.
How many million sellers can you handle at once?:
One: 22 June (Puff Daddy)
Two: 14 Sep - 12 Oct (Puff & Elton)
Three: 19 Oct (add in Aqua)
Two: 26 Oct - 9 Nov (Puffy goes)
Three: 16 Nov (the All Saints join us)
Four: 23 - 30 Nov (Perfect Day begins)
Five: 7 Dec - 25 Jan 98 (in come the Tubbies)
Four: 1 Feb (Elton's gone...)
Three: 8 Feb (so have the Tubbies)
Four: 15 Feb (joined by Céline...)
Two: 22 Feb - 8 Mar (Aqua, Perfect Day go)
Three: 15 - 29 Mar (Run DMC enters)
Two: 6 Apr - 7 June (just Céline and Run)
One: 14 June (Run DMC alone)
The top two contained million sellers on 23 Nov (PDay & Aqua). The top three on 7 and 14 Dec was Tubbies - PDay - Aqua, with All Saints at #4 for the second week. With Elton at #10, that week's chart had five million sellers in the top 10, a feat repeated two weeks later (Tubbies 2, PDay 3, All St 4, Aqua 7, Elton 10). Both tens also contained Robbie Williams' "Angels" and Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn", both records shifting more than 900,000. PDay held off the All Saints on 4 Jan 98.
Into 1998, and the second million seller for Canadian chanteuse Céline Dion. The love theme to Kate Winslet's "Titanic" picture was My Heart Will Go On
, a ballad of extreme, unremitting sappiness, even by Dion's standards. Released on Feb 9, just in time for Valentine's day, it sold a quarter of a million in a week, returned to the top slot two weeks later, spent nine weeks in the top three, and shifted 1,312,551 copies. Enough for position 35 on the all-time list.
Céline's second run at the top came to an end after one week. It's Like That
. Run DMC's career was suddenly and unexpectedly resurrected by New York mixer Jason Nevins. Six weeks at the top, eight in the 40, and in those fevered days, that's enough for a 1,119,905 sale and position 45 on the list to date.
When Jim Steinmann and Andrew Lord Webber got together to write "Whistle Down The Wind", there was only one man who could possibly make a decent fist of the musical's power ballad, No Matter What
. For some reason, the Webby was tempted by Irish teen sensations of the moment Boyzone, who recorded a wimpish version of the track. Meat Loaf's far superior version emerged as a b-side the following year. Boyzone still managed to rule the roost for three weeks, and were still running strongly when their record was removed from the charts by trickery after 15 weeks. 1,074,192 (position 59) includes the sales lost by this sleight of hand.
Cher had blown hot and cold since her career revival in 1988: 1991's "Shoop Shoop Song" had been followed by lacklustre performances, and the last single from the concept "It's A Man's World" album failed to break the top 50. For the latest return, Cher took a simple tune, added a vocoder, and captured the dance zeitgeist of the moment. She saw off all comers for seven weeks from Oct 25, and stuck in the 40 for another fourteen. The total sale of 1,672,108 was the year's biggest, and qualified for position 15 in the all-time list. This, along with "Wannabe", "I'll Be Missing You", "Something About The Way You Look Tonight", "My Heart Will Go On", "...Baby One More Time" and "It Wasn't Me" topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic.
Double millions: Cher joined Boyzone for their last four weeks, from Oct 25... she gained the company of Britney Spears for four weeks from Feb 21 99. The list after these eventful two years:
Once again, 1999 started with a fast turnover of chart toppers. The first to spend as many as two weeks on top came out on 15 Feb, and was backed with *that* video. ...Baby One More Time
introduced Britney Spears to an unsuspecting world. She shifted more than 400,000 copies in the first week, spent eight weeks in the top 10, then hung around for another ten weeks lower down the 40. 1,450,154 was the total sale, the 23rd biggest to date.
There were many decent sellers through 99, but nothing quite managed to break the million sales mark before the end of the year. Except... Eiffel 65's Blue (Da Ba Dee)
sold the heartbreaking total of 998,000 and change on its UK release. It had, however, managed to hit the weekly top 40 on import sales, and those count towards this listing. A grand total of 1,023,526 squeaks a place at 65 on the all time chart. Official release was on September 13, the start of three weeks of domination, and 17 on the top 40.
For much of 2000, it looked as though we weren't going to get a million seller. Records were regularly shifting half a million, but there seemed to be an unpassable brick wall at about 750,000 copies. Who do you need to blast through a brick wall? A builder! Bob The Builder, to be precise. This six-inch high construction worker, scouted by the ubiquitous Simon Cowell, was a firm favourite amongst the under-five crowd, and they are able to nag their parents into buying anything if it'll shut them up. Thus, Can We Fix It?
saw off the risible challenge of Eminem to assume the Christmas number one slot. He stayed there for three weeks, and made just 11 in the top 40. Those eleven included the lucrative holiday period, and he made 1,008,777 sales, putting him 66th on the all-time listings.
Bob overlapped for three weeks with a record charting on import alone. Shaggy's It Wasn't Me
was a simple tale of cheating men getting caught and trying to cover their tracks. This was the biggest hit of his amazing career, shifting 1,180,708 copies, the 47th best seller. The official release on 26 Feb sent the record to #1, but only for one week. He promptly spent six weeks in the runner-up position, mostly behind the next record. Sixteen weeks for the official release, plus those three on import.
Keeping Shaggy off the top was Hera'sey, the group created by the POPSTARS programme. Their first single, Pure And Simple
, sold 548,196 copies in six days from 12 Mar. The single topped the listings for three weeks, but slumped out within twelve weeks of entry - all these weeks were shared with Shaggy, and the two were 1 and 2 on 25 Mar and 01 Apr. Because the single hadn't sold as well as expected at full price, Hera'sey returned to the top 40 in July as the price was cut to 49p - barely 10% of the regular price. This sleight of hand boosted the total sale to 1,078,434, the 62nd best seller. The three follow-up singles barely beat 100,000 sales before the group split in October 02. They had sold almost half of all the singles they would ever sell in one week.
Kylie Minogue's biggest hit came in autumn 2001, when Can't Get You Out Of My Head
spent four weeks at the top from 23 Sep. She spent 18 weeks on the top 40, and came back for two more in March. Her last week overlapped with the next million seller. 1,037,235 copies worked out of the stores, the 66th biggest seller to date.
Which brings us to the terrible twins of 2002 pop. Will Young and Gareth Gates had been the winner and runner-up on POP IDLE, the televised talent show that concluded in February. Will was given the dubious honour of recording a new Cathy Dennis song, Anything Is Possible
, and a Westlife cast-off, Evergreen
. Such was the promotional power of the show that he sold 1,108,659 copies of the single in just six days from 25 Feb - already outperforming any other Simon Cowell single. His three weeks on top were ended only by the release of Gareth's Unchained Melody
on 18 Mar; this sold a "mere" 850,000 and change, the first of four weeks at the summit. Will made 12 weeks in the 40, The Annoying One went one week further. The overlap is Mar 24 - May 12 and May 26. Both records continues selling into the autumn; by the beginning of September, Will had sold 1,779,938, the 12th best seller of all time, and requiring a highly probable 10,000 on catalogue to secure an all-time top ten place. Gareth had settled at 1,318,714, the 38th best seller of all time, and less than 3000 copies from advancing past Jennifer Rush.
(Footnote: Dec 10, 2002: BBC Radio 1 confirms that Gareth has passed both Jennifer Rush for 37th place; ITV indicated three days previously that Will had the "eleventh" best seller of all time, strongly suggesting he's passed Wet Wet Wet. Full figures for 2002 should be available in January, and I'll revise the list below in their light.)
That Million Sellers List In Full:
Update, 20 April 2004: Unofficial figures put Will Young at somewhere just over 1.784 million sales, which would put him ahead of the Wets but far enough behind Boney M. Gareth finished at around 1.330 million, confirming 37th place. The biggest seller in 2003 was the Black Eyed Peas' Where Is The Love
, selling merely 625,000 copies. Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl
sold about 5000 copies in 95, 837,000 in 96, and at least 270,000 so far this year. Very provisionally, 1.112 million puts him ahead of the Teletubbies for 59th place.
Update, 13 February 2005: The first million seller to be released in nearly three years, Band Aid Ill's Do they know it's Christmas
has dropped out of the top 75. It had sold 1.06 million by the end of 2004, and our best estimate is that it's sold around 70,000 copies this year. Further catalogue sales will probably lift the tune above Soft Cell for position 57. Without a re-promotion later in the year, we don't think it'll have enough legs to beat Shaggy for the third best seller of the decade.
Update, 3 January 2006: Tony Christie's re-release of (Is this the way to) Amarillo
sold 1,100,233 during 2005, and I estimate about 50,000 on first release in late 1971. though I vaguely remember an unsuccessful re-release in the late 80s. That puts Christie roughly on a par with Soul and Glitter around position 55. The situation is further complicated by Band Aid Ill's exclusion from the charts a year after its original release. It officially sold less than 31,000 copies during the year, but this would have ignored the three weeks before Christmas. At a guess, it will sell perhaps 50,000 copies over and above last year's total. (This contradicts and supercedes last year's update.) The relevant bit of the chart now looks like this:
Update, 4 January 2007: One million seller during 2006, Shayne Ward's That's my goal
, (1,074,000) which sold almost 600,000 in the last ten days of 2005, and passed the million mark some time in the early summer. The year's biggest seller, Crazy
by Gnarls Barkley, sold 819,953. 2006's X-Factor winner, Leona Lewis, had 699,330 sales of A moment like this
in the final ten days of the year.
Further details of cataloge sales for the other 2000s singles are now available, and it is probably time to give a comprehensive list. Will Young has moved past Wet Wet Wet for the 11th best-selling single of all-time, but hasn't yet managed the extra thousand sales to pass Boney M for a place in the top ten. Gareth Gates moves past Jennifer Rush for position 37. Band Aid Ill put on just 4000 copies this year, enough to move past both Whigfield and Robson and Jerome. There was also a re-release of Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody
, which I believe sold around 11,500 copies. Wham!'s Last Christmas
appeared in the top ten downloads over the festive period, indicating at least 20,000 copies sold; I have credited these to the song, pushing it ahead of Britney Spears.