Latest Site News

[brian91]

Most Number 1s
This, possibly the most important record, is held by Elvis Presley. He has had 21 chart-toppers, 18 of them different songs (three titles have topped the chart on two distinctly separate chart runs as part of the series of re-issues to commemorate what would have been Elvis' 70th birthday in 2005)

Nov 1960
First act to have five number ones -
Elvis Presley All Shook Up (July 1957)
Jailhouse Rock (Jan 1958)
I Got Stung / One Night (Jan 1959)
A Fool Such As I (May 1959)
It's Now Or Never (Nov 1960)

Feb 2005
First act to have twenty-one number ones - Elvis Presley
It's Now Or Never (re-issue); therefore, still eighteen different songs.

Artist with Most Weeks at Number 1
It's Elvis Presley. He has topped the chart for a total of 80 weeks (as of w/e 5th Feb 2005).

Longest Span of Number 1 Singles
47 years, 6 months and 23 days. Held by Elvis Presley. His first number 1 was "All Shook Up" in 1957 (w/e 13th June). His most recent chart-topper was the re-issue of "It's Now Or Never" in 2005 (w/e 5th Feb).

First Artist To Enter At Number 1
Al Martino's "Here In My Heart" was the track to Top the first ever chart (Nov 1952) so, technically, this was the first track to debut at Number 1. But ignoring this, the first artist to enter at Number 1 in the established chart was Elvis Presley ("Jailhouse Rock", Jan 1958).

Fastest Hat-Trick of Number 1s
A one-a-week series of re-issued Elvis Presley singles in 2005 enabled him to have three different chart-toppers in just four weeks; ("Jailhouse Rock" w/e 15th Jan; "One Night" / "I Got Stung" w/e 22nd Jan; "It's Now Or Never" w/e 5th Feb).

Self-Replacement At Number One
Elvis Presley (Jan 2005) "Jailhouse Rock" replaced by "One Night" / "I Got Stung."

Posthumous Number 1s
Way Down Sep 1977
As 'Elvis vs JXL' - A Little Less Conversation Jun 2002
Jailhouse Rock (re-issue) Jan 2005
One Night / I Got Stung (re-issue) Jan 2005
It's Now Or Never Feb 2005


Best-Selling Artist
Cliff Richard has sold more singles than any other artist (21.0 million). The Beatles are the top group (20.8 million). Top female artist is Madonna (15.2 million).
Only five other acts have sold more than 10 million singles. They are Elvis Presley (20.0 million), Elton John (13.8 million), Michael Jackson (11.5 million), Queen (10.4 million) and Abba (10 million).

Most Weeks Spent on The Top 40
1041 by Elvis Presley (last there w/e 14th May 2005) (and 1277 in the top 75 - w/e 28th May 2005).

Longest Span of Hits
Most durable male artist is Elvis Presley on 49 years, 0 months and 2 days [2557 weeks] ("Heartbreak Hotel", w/e 12th May 1956 to the re-issue of "A Little Less Conversation", w/e 14th May 2005)

Longest Continuous Run in The Top 40 by an Artist
135 weeks by Elvis Presley. From July 1960 ("A Mess Of Blues") until Feb 1963 (when "Return To Sender" left the chart) - a total of 12 hits.

Most Top 40 Hits in One Year
The record for most new Top 40 hits in one year is held jointly by Elvis Presley (in 1957)

Most Simultaneous Top 40 Hits
7 - by Elvis Presley (on two occasions in Nov 1957). This feat is made all the more impressive by the fact that there was only actually a Top 30 at that time.
On week ending 2nd Nov 1957, Elvis held positions no. 4, 12, 16, 20, 21, 24, 26 with "Party", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "All Shook Up", "Trying To Get To You"), "Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do", "Loving You", and "Paralysed."
The folowing week he held positions 2, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25, 30 with "Party", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "Trying To Get To You", "All Shook Up", "Loving You", and "Paralysed."

Most Top 10 Hits
Elvis Presley has had most Top 10 hits (76 as of May 2005).

Most Hits Peaking At Number Two
Top male artist is Elvis Presley. He has peaked at no. 2 a record seventeen times (though eight of these were with posthumous re-issues of tracks which had previously risen to number 1)

Lowest-Selling Number One
Lowest selling No.1 in total since at least 1960 is the 2005 re-issue of Elvis Presley's "It's Now Or Never" (39,900 copies). This was, however, a limited edition single.

Global All-Time Top 10
We tried to resist this. We intended everyHit.com to cover purely British hit facts. But we give in! The Top 10 Best-Selling singles of all time in whole wide world are:

1. "Candle In The Wind '97" - Elton John (37 million)
2. "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby (30m)
3. "Rock Around The Clock" - Bill Haley and His Comets (17m)
4. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles (12m)
5= "Hey Jude" - The Beatles (10m)
5= "It's Now Or Never" - Elvis Presley (10m)
5= "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston (10m)
8= "Hound Dog" - Elvis Presley (9m)
8= "Diana" - Paul Anka (9m)
10= "I'm A Believer" - The Monkees (8m)
10= "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" - The Bryan Adams (8m)


Same Version Topping The Chart More Than Once
The one-a-week re-issue series commemorating what would have been Elvis Presley's 70th birthday in 2005 spawned a series of his old hits returning to the top spot. Each featured the original B side, though some CDs featured extra tracks. For this reason, they were all assigned new catalogue numbers. The full list of these (thus far) is:
"Jailhouse Rock" (1958 and 2005) "One Night" / "I Got Stung" (1959 and 2005) "It's Now Or Never" (1960 and 2005)


Shortest Chart Stay For A Number 1
In 2005, a commemorative limited re-issue of Elvis Presley's "It's Now Or Never" entered the chart at no. 1, spending a single week there before falling to no. 14, and then to 27 before leaving the chart. (The track had, though, previously spent 19 weeks in the Top 40 in 1960/1977.)
Initially, Elvis Presley's 2005 re-issue of "Jailhouse Rock" (a limited edition of, supposedly, 27,500 copies) spent just two weeks inside the Top 40. After a single week at the top, it fell to number 10 before disappearing out of the Top 40 altogether. This, momentarily, set a new record for the shortest chart stay for a no. 1 (2 weeks) but the record company gave in to public pressure though, making extra copies available to satisfy the demand of disgruntled fans. The single consequently returned to the Top 40 as a re-entry a fortnight later. (Of course, this track had also previously spent 22 weeks inside the chart in its original form.)

Album with Most Weeks At Number One (in total)
Top solo album is Elvis Presley's "G.I. Blues" (22 weeks) - though this is also a soundtrack.


Album with Most Weeks At Number One (consecutive)
Top solo album is Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" (17 weeks) - another soundtrack.

Longest Continuous Stay in The Album Chart by An Artist
Longest run in the Top 40 for a soloist is 171 weeks; Elvis Presley from "Elvis' Golden Records Volume 2" (16th Jun 1960) to "It Happened At The World's Fair (OST)" (19th Sep 1963).

Artist with Most Number 1 Albums
Top solo artist is Elvis Presley with 10

Artist with Most Top 10 Albums
Elvis Presley with 48 (as of Feb 2005)

Artist with Most Top 40 Albums
Elvis Presley has had 76 Top 40 albums (as of Nov 2005 plus a re-entry in Jan 2006)

Artist with Most Simultaneous Top 40 Albums
Elvis Presley. In the week ending 10th Sep 1977, shortly after his death, Elvis had twelve albums in the Top 40, occupying positions 1, 4, 7, 12, 14, 20, 21, 26, 27, 30, 37, 38.

Artist with Most Weeks at Number 1 in the Album Chart
Top solo artist is Elvis Presley with 62 weeks at the summit.

Artist with Most Weeks in the Album Top 40
Elvis Presley; 980 weeks (as of w/e 18th Feb 2006)

First Album To Enter At Number 1
the first to enter at Number 1 in the established chart was Elvis Presley's soundtrack to the film "Lovin' You" in Sep 1957. In those days there was only a Top 5 listing

Longest Span Of Album Chart-Toppers
Elvis Presley; 45 years, 11 months and 2 days. From "Elvis Is Back" (w/e 10th Nov 1956) to "Elv1s - 30 Number 1 Hits" (w/e 12th Oct 2002).

Longest Span Of Hit Albums
Elvis Presley; 49 years, 3 months and 15 days. From "Rock 'N' Roll" (w/e 3rd Nov 1956) to "Love Elvis" (w/e 18th Feb 2006).