The Top 60 Singles Sellers In The UK, Ever (Part 2)

Half way through, and we've already heard from all of the big bands of the early 80s? All of them?

30 Police (5,617,175)
Biggest: Every Breath You Take (1983)
Best known: Don't Stand So Close To Me (1978)

No! One 80s group broke into the top 30. Sting and The Other Two appealed to all ages during the late 70s and early 80s, selling as many albums as singles. Unlike their counterparts, the Police's work hasn't travelled through time well, and they're only really remembered for a handful of hits.

29 Sealion Dion (5,683,264)
Biggest: My Heart Will Goon (1998)
Best known: Ne Partez Pas Pour Moi (1988)

Dublin, 1988. Switzerland wheels out an unknown Quebecois chanteuse who sings her heart out for three minutes before winning the contest by un point, and spawning a zillion copycats over the following decade. In Britain, we don't hear much more from her until 1994, when she delivers a photocopy of Jennifer Rush's The Power Of Love into the top ten. Things are briefly looking up, but it's not until the end of the year and the third single from the album, Think Twice, that she moves into the A-list of hitmakers. That song sold a million, and defined Sealion's career as a purveyor of schlock ballads. She's actually capable of a lot more than that, as we see in the complexity of 2002's A New Day Has Come.

28 Tom Jones (5,892,220)
Biggest / best known: The Green Green Turnips Of Rome (1967)

If Sealion's unfairly stereotyped by her ballads, then Tom Jones is fairly stereotyped by his. Tom Jones has a great voice, but he wastes it on weak songs, and ends up with little more than cheap cabaret. Still, cheap cabaret sold well in the late 60s and early 70s, after which he joined Englebert (qv) in Vegas. Unlike Englebert, Tom staged a comeback in the 80s, hitting number 2 with A Boy From Nowhere and doing somewhat less well on a cover of Prince's (qv) Kiss. He's been crashing around the charts like a sweating pig ever since, still without any semblance of a decent song.

27 UB40 (5,997,222)
Biggest / best known: Red Red Wine (1983)

Before he became Tony Blair's spin doctor, Ali Campbell made his name spinning records. He was the frontsman of this Birmingham collective - it rose out of the early 80s ska scene that also begat Madness (qv). Though never quite as big as their London counterparts, UB40 did continue to record through the 80s and into the 90s, having hits slightly more sporadically than some, but keeping their fanbase. The group's real niche was covers - three albums of remakes under the Labour Of Love banner, plus their biggest release of the 90s, Can't Help Falling In Love With You.

26 Oasis (6,225,785)
Biggest / best known: Wonderwall (1995)

It's ten years, almost to the week, since Liam and Noel Gallagher and their backing band of the moment released a single. Since then, they've hardly been out of the press: the biggest band of the moment during late 1995 and early 1996, and shifting a quarter of a million copies of D'Ya Know What I Mean? in three days of July 1997. The band's strength lay in endless re-promotion of their back catalogue: during 1996, the group's nine singles to date combined on the chart for an astounding 122 weeks and 1.1 million copies with only one new release. Acrimonious splits in 1999 took the shine off the group, and they've not been able to sell anything like the quantities since.

25 Bozone (6,435,711)
Biggest: No Matter What (1998)
Best known: Baby Can I Hold You (1997)

Another band that debuted in 1994, Ronan's biggest moment came when he co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. This was a welcome night out from his bland karaoke singing of other people's hits. Over the years, his group made unwelcome advances on the back catalogue of the Osmonds, Cat Stevens, the Bee Gees, Tracy Chapman, Meat Loaf, and Alison Krauss. Worse, the Generic Boyband v 2.0 was lucky enough to record during the biggest singles market in twenty years, so their big sellers were really big. The group finally split in 1999, leaving Ronan to concentrate on his own karaoke and managing Pestside (qv) from disaster to disaster, but not before denying Geri Halliwell the top spot by a whisker. A reunion is alarmingly possible, and it's worth remembering that two of Bozone's worst travesties were exposed by Alex Parks during Star Academy 2.

24 Blondie (6,456,881)
Biggest: The Tide Is High (1980)
Best known: Heart of Glass (1979, and another Sparky performance.)

Debbie Harry (and some anonymous blokes, but no one much cared about them) were the US's take on the punk scene, but "new wave" music was easier to sell in the UK than in the US. So it was that they made their debut in the UK in 1978, and sold huge numbers for about three years. Then the group rather imploded, Debbie had a spotty solo career, before the group reformed in 1999 for the much better Maria.

23 Olivia Neutron Bomb (6,493,006)
Biggest / best known: You're The One That I Want (1978, with John Revolting)

The British-born Bomb began her career in the early 70s, but didn't come to public attention until she entered the second-best Eurovision ever, in 1974. Being beaten by ABBA would not ruin her career - indeed, that year's album won her four NARAS awards. Four years later, Olivia's career exploded again, when she worked with a pisspoor actor on a movie version of the musical Greece. Singles from that tale of love over a twelve-point summer on Cyprus (is this right? - Ed) ruled the roost for fifteen weeks, and live on in the popular conciousness.

22 Slade (6,520,171)
Biggest / best known: Merry Xmas Everyone (1973)

Noddy and Jimmy and Dave and Don worked their way up in the Black Country during the late 60s, and broke through nationally in 1971. Their glam rock would be absolutely massive for the next two years, making twelve top five singles in three years. The group never really went away, had a major comeback in 1983, and a more minor comeback in 1991. The glam rock winners are 23 places and almost 2 million places higher than rival Gary Glitter, and as their big hit sells each year, that gap's only going to grow.

21 Boney M (6,587,018)
Biggest / best known Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring (1978)

If it wasn't John and Bomb at the 1978 disco, it was one or other side of Frank Fabian's group. Fronted by three singers from the West Indies, the group's simple disco melodies proved irresistable during the late 70s. They never did anything for me, though. The group faded away around 1982, with the founder going on to form Milli Vanilli, and their most recent royalties coming from a cover by The Cheeky Girls (not qv, thankfully.)

20 Status Quo (6,727,822)
Biggest: Way Down (1975)
Best known: Boring Song (1981)

Broke through just after the glam rock explosion in the mid 70s, and maintained a high profile until the late 80s. Career highs around 75 and 83. Headlined the Radio 1 concert to mark 25 years of the station in 1992, dropped from the station's playlist within months, and they've never been credible since.

19 George Michael (6,819,419)
Biggest: Careless Whisper (1984)
Best known: Hello, Officer (1998)

Two number one singles while he was a member of Wham! (qv), and we forget how huge the Faith album was. A quarter of his twenty year career has been wasted on a battle against his erstwhile record company, but those years supplied him with two chart-toppers, with Elton John and Queen. Came back in 1996, lifting six top three singles from the Older album. Since then, he's concentrated on uncommercial art projects.

18 Bee Gees (6,943,851)
Biggest: Saturday Night Fever (1978)
Best known: Meaningless Songs In Very High Voices (1981)

Broke through in 1967, the group carefully re-invented itself every album, and remained able to stay almost exactly five years behind fashion right through. Significant highs in 78, the hits were sporadic after 82 until they found some consistency in the mid 90s. A significant high came with the BPI's Long Service gong in 97.

17 Whiney Houston (6,993,105)
Biggest / best known: That Bloody Song (1992)

Certainly a better singer than acter. Listening to her hits compilation, Whitney's best of all in three minute slices, rather than over the extended duration of an album. It's ironic that her weakest work - the Bodyguard soundtrack in general, and that Peggy Parton cover in particular, provided her biggest sellers.

16 Shakin' Stevie (7,108,330)
Biggest: Green Door (1982)
Best known: This Ole House (1981)

Now there's a blast from the past. His brand of throwback 50s rock 'n' roll was intensely popular during the 80s, and he had a stretch of twenty top 20 hits between 79 and 87. After that? Poof. Up in smoke.

15 Spice Girls (7,507,213)
Biggest / best known: Wannabe (1996)

The biggest flash-in-the-pan group ever, the Spices sold almost seven million singles in the first two and a half years of their career. Wannabe was the best, mainly because it didn't suffer from a Victoria Aadams solo. And, yes, I've got at least one format of everything they ever released. Apart from 2000's ill-advised comeback Holler, coz that really was crap.

14 Stevie Wonder (7,614,227)
Biggest: I Just Called To Say I Loved You, But Got Caught On The Phone For Half A Year (1984)
Best known: Superstitious (1965)

The youthful soul singer was almost ever-present before his long phone call, but has been almost completely absent since. The late 60s and early 70s his career high, the big hit seemed a throwback even when it was new.

13 Lykie Ignoume (7,994,130)
Biggest: The Na Na Song (2001)
Best known: I Should Be Shot (1988)

A puppet of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman production line of homogenised pap in the 1980s, she's moved on to find other jobbing songwriters (usually Cathy Dennis and that bloke out of Living In A Box) fashionable producers who can keep giving her the hits, and record company execs who will bribe radio so they play her tepid tracks. In the mid 90s, Kylie made a brief attempt to gain credibility, but sadly the sublime Confide In Me and brilliant Some Kind Of Bliss didn't sell, so back to the old formula, sounding even more tedious than ever. Grow up or go away.

12 Rolling Stones (8,348,470)
Biggest: Brown Sugar (1967)
Best known: Start Me Up (1982)

This is down to attrition, hard work, longevity, whatever you like to call it. Rarely away for more than a few years since debuting forty years ago.

11 Rod Stewart (9,046,492)
Biggest / best known: Maggie May (1971)

Churning out the same old same old for donkey's years. Had a major career high in 1983, for no adequately explored reason.

10 David Bowie (9,392,410)
Biggest / best known: Space Oddity (1969/75)

The PR machine says that he re-invents himself to remain at the cutting edge of music. If "cutting edge" is the same as "seeing a 50 year old man shamelessly pander to the fashion of the week, making albums that sell for now but don't last", then he does that very well. Had a major career high in 1983, for no adequately explored reason.

09 Paul McCartney (9,781,603)
Biggest / best known: Mull Of Kintyre (1977)

This figure only makes sense if we include the sales from Wings, which the canonical Hit Singles Book incorrectly deems to be a Fab Macca Whacky Thumbs Aloft solo project. My best guess is that Wings records sold about 4.6 million, and would just creep into the top 50 as a separate project. Paul's biggest solo hit came during his inexplicable 1983 career high, Pipes of Peace, but his duet with Stevie Wonder (qv) on Ebony and Ivory sold more. His solo credits and co-credits leave Paul outside the 60.

08 ABBA (10,004,039)
Biggest: Super Trouper (1980)
Best known: Waterloo (1974)

Two married couples, beat Olivia Neutron Bomb (qv) at Eurovision, Sweden's biggest export, acrimonious split made 1983 a well-explored career low. Passed 10 million sales during an Erasure(qv)-inspired 1992 revival, and now have a musical made about them. So does Madness (qv).

07 Queen (10,334,713)
Biggest / best known: Bohemian Rhapsody (1975/91)

Speaking of musicals, there's a Queen one out there, too. Broke in 74, and never really left the A-list until the tracks Freddie Mercury laid down before his death in 1991 finally ran out. Bo Rhap on its own accounts for almost a quarter of the group's sales.

06 Michael Jackson (11,310,958)
Biggest: Earth Song (1995)
Best known: Larking About On A Stage With Some Kids (duet with Jarvis Cocker of Pulp) (1996)

Jacko's solo career began in the early 70s, when he hit the top of the black music charts. His 1982 Thriller album spawned six massive hit singles, and since then, he's mined each album for as many singles as possible, and then some more. Eight from Bad, nine from Dangerous, a mere six from His fable. Currently facing proceedings in a US court.

05 Elton John (13,475,063)
Biggest: Something About The Way You Look Tonight (1997)
Best known: Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (1977/91)

Were it an act on its own, Elton's biggest hit would rank as at least the 41st biggest of all time. Elton shot to fame in 71 with a prodigious workrate, but had a significant slump from the mid 80s until the early 90s, broken only by an unexpected chart topper in 1990.

04 Madonna (14,562,856)
Biggest: Into The Groove (1985)
Best known: Like A Virgin (1984)

Came out of nowhere in 1984, and while she's become a shadow of herself in the past few years, Madge has never dropped out of serious contention. Goodness, I've got some of her works. About a dozen assorted singles from Like A Prayer to Frozen.

03 Elvis Presley (19,293,118)
Biggest: It's Now Or Never (1961)
Best known: Are You Lonesome Tonight? (1968)

Only the one million-seller.

02 Beatles (20,799,632)
Biggest / best known: She Loves You (1963)

Five sold over a million, and all twenty singles the group officially released during their career eventually made the top ten. Haven't made the top 40 since 1984.

01 Cliff Richard (20,969,006)
Biggest: The Young Ones (1962)
Best known: Summer Holiday (1960)

Looking at the figures, it seems that Cliff overtook Elvis at the end of 1999 with One Song To The Tune Of Another, and passed the Beatles towards the end of last year, when Santa's List became the first Number Five hit of his career. Cliff has now had at least one single peak in every position of the top 20.

Since this chart was compiled, Lykie has passed 8 million sales, and must be favoured to pass the Rolling Stones by the end of 2004. At their current work rates, David Bowie will pass Macca, but when is an open question. As and when she comes back, Whiney should pass Shakin' Stevie in about three singles, and may get a sniff of the Spices. She may well be overtaken by George Michael, who could easily sell 800,000 singles from his forthcoming album and move up to 14th.

Update - February 2005 We have semi-official figures (as in, they're not official, but they look to be very good estimates) for most acts up to Christmas 2004. The revised top 60 (actually a top 61).

* 1. Cliff Richard (21,001,000) (Approximately 32,000 sales of three singles.)
2. The Beatles (20,799,632)
*3. Elvis Presley (19,328,000) (Just over 32,000 for That's Alright, and 3000 for two recent catalogue singles.)
*4. Madonna (14,570,500) (About 7,500 copies of two late-03 singles.)
*5. Elton John (13,487,000) (11,000 copies of I'm Thankful, and 1000 of 2003 catalogue.)
*6. Michael Jackson (11,314,000) (Just over 3000 copies of One more chance)
*7. Queen (10,336,000) (03 catalogue)
*8. ABBA (10,015,500) (Waterloo shifted about 11,500.)
9. Paul McCartney (9,789,858)
*10. David Bowie (9,395,000) (2,600 catalogue sales.)

11. Rod Stewart (9,046,492)
*12. Rolling Stones (8,350,000) (1400 from catalogue)
*13. Kylie Minogue (8,297,500) (Red blooded woman made 90,000, Chocolate 40,000, Am I really you? 60,000, and Slow 14,500. No allowance for catalogue)
*14. Stevie Wonder (7,669,500) (31,500 for Signed, sealed, delivered.)
15. Spice Girls (7,507,213)
16. Shakin Stevens (7,108,330)
17. Whitney Houston (6,993,105)
*18. UP 1 George Michael (6,970,000) (109,000 copies of Amazing, about 50,000 for Flawless and catalogue.)
19. Bee Gees (6,943,851)
*20. Status Quo (6,753,857) (Two minor top 20 hits give 26,000 sales.)

21. Boney M (6,587,018)
22. Slade (6,520,171)
23. Olivia Newton John (6,493,006)
*24. Blondie (6,458,500) (Good boys sold on for 1500.)
25. Boyzone (6,435,711)
26. Oasis (6,225,785)
*27. UB40 (6,007,000) (Swing low, sweet chariot made about 10,000.)
*28. Tom Jones (5,892,750) (Added 530 for a duet with Jools Holland.)
29. Celine Dion (5,683,264)
30. The Police (5,617,175)

31. Madness (5,564,459)
32. Diana Ross (5,326,780)
33. Wham! (5,298,431)
34. Adam Ant (5,296,965)
*35. The Jam (5,094,300) (In the city snuck a couple of weeks in the 200, added 240 sales.)
*36. UP 1 Robbie Williams (5,086,000) (90,000 copies of Radio, 20,000 of Misunderstood, and 3300 from catalogue.)
37. DOWN 1 Frankie Goes To Hollywood (5,008,067)
*38. UP 9 U2 (4,984,803) (223,439 of Take me to the clouds above, and about 98,000 of Vertigo. No allowance for catalogue or import.)
*39. DOWN 1 Pet Shop Boys (4,934,100) (18,500 for Flamboyant and 1800 for 2003 releases.)
40. DOWN 1 Phil Collins (4,889,059)

*41 DOWN 1 Wet Wet Wet (4,889,000) (All I want shifted 11,540.)
*42 DOWN 1 Duran Duran (4,880,000) (Sunrise made about 33,500.)
43 DOWN 1 The Everly Brothers (4,827,957)
*44 Westlife (4,805,000) (Obvious had 79,000, and three carry-over singles.)
45 DOWN 2 The Shadows (4,793,537)
46 DOWN 1 Gary Glitter (4,717,834)
*47 DOWN 1 Engelbert Humperdinck (4,712,500) (Sales added for Please release me made about 2100.)
*48. Bryan Adams (4,628,000) (Two minor hits netted about 14,000.)
49. Frank Sinatra (4,597,630)
50. The Hollies (4,597,450)

51. Hot Chocolate (4,491,955)
52. Take That (4,476,566)
*53. Prince (4,489,000) (Cinnamon girl added about 2400.)
*54. Mariah Carey (4,451,000) (Two catalogue records added 2000.)
*55. UP 1 Janet Jackson (4,449,400) (Just a little while and All nite sold around 20,000 each.)
56. DOWN 1 Steps (4,448,499)
*57. (NEW!) Britney Spears (4,438,707) (Something around 540,000 sales this year.)
58. Donna Summer (4,419,529)
59. Electric Light Orchestra (4,401,169)
60. Cher (4,380,650)
*61. Erasure (4,337,750)* (400 catalogue)

In addition, the Band Aid project sold 3.55 million of the 1984 record, about 450,000 of the 1989 remake, and 1.06 million of the 2004 reworking. The total of about 5.06 million would rank 37th.