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Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers License is the UK’s biggest song of 2021 so far following runaway success in the first half of the year that includes nine weeks at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart.

The US singer-songwriter's debut single has now tipped the 1 million chart sales mark (1.03m), including 123m streams. The track’s stint at the summit was the longest for a debut single in 15 years, since Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy in 2006.

At the time it first hit Number 1, Olivia told OfficialCharts.com: "I want to say thank you guys so much, it means the absolute world to me that you guys are listening to and loving Drivers License. Sending you all the love in the world."

Solidifying her place as the year’s biggest new artist, Olivia’s two other singles released this year also feature in the year-to-date Top 40: five-week Number 1 Good 4 U places at 10, while Top 5 hit Deja Vu is at 32.

In second place is another debut single, Wellerman, by Nathan Evans (713k). The Scottish postman-turned-viral-sensation scored a worldwide hit with his rendition of the sea shanty, securing two weeks at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart in March/April.

Dutch DJ Tiesto has the UK’s third biggest song with The Business (640k), which peaked at Number 3 in March and logged 22 weeks in the Top 40 between January and June. Close behind in fourth is Lil Nas X with Montero (Call Me By Your Name) (638k), which spent five weeks at Number 1 across April/May, while The Weeknd’s Save Your Tears completes the Top 5 (637k). The track made its Official Chart debut in January and has enjoyed Top 40 success all year, boosted by a remix featuring Ariana Grande released in April.

Other big hits this year featuring in the year-to-date Top 10 include club smash Friday by Riton, Nightcrawlers, Mufasa and Hypeman at 7 (629k), and Tion Wayne & Russ Millions’ Body at 8 (626k) – the UK’s first drill Number 1 in May and the second most-streamed song of the year on 92.5m plays.

Big breakout hits
As well as Olivia and Nathan, 2021 has seen several new artists enjoy big breakout success in the UK. Australian rapper/singer The Kid Laroi places at 9 on the year-to-date Top 40 with Without You (613k), while TikTok stars A1 & J1 are at 15 with their debut single Latest Trends.

More hits from newcomers this year include A Little Bit Of Love by singer-songwriter Tom Grennan (17), which became his first Top 10 single in April, plus Top 10 smash Get Out Of My Head by Irish DJ/producer Shane Codd (22), Heat Waves by Oxford band Glass Animals (26), and You Broke Me First by Canadian artist Tate McRae (39).

Dance tracks dominate
Club-friendly dance pop tracks make up around a quarter of the Top 40, including two entries for Joel Corry – 2020 chart-topper Head & Heart places at 12, followed by his latest hit Bed with Raye and David Guetta at 13. A dance mix of Travis Scott’s Goosebumps by HVME (18), ATB, Topic & A7S’ Your Love (9pm) (19), and Paradise by production trio Meduza ft. Dermot Kennedy (20) all rank within the Top 20 of 2021.

Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2021 so far
TITLE ARTIST PEAK
1 DRIVERS LICENSE OLIVIA RODRIGO 1
2 WELLERMAN NATHAN EVANS/220KID/BILLEN TED 1
3 THE BUSINESS TIESTO 3
4 MONTERO (CALL ME BY YOUR NAME) LIL NAS X 1
5 SAVE YOUR TEARS WEEKND 2
6 LEVITATING DUA LIPA 5
7 FRIDAY RITON/NIGHTCRAWLERS/MUFASA 4
8 BODY TION WAYNE & RUSS MILLIONS 1
9 WITHOUT YOU KID LAROI 2
10 GOOD 4 U OLIVIA RODRIGO 1
11 BLINDING LIGHTS WEEKND 1
12 HEAD & HEART JOEL CORRY FT MNEK 1
13 BED JOEL CORRY/RAYE/DAVID GUETTA 3
14 DON'T PLAY ANNE-MARIE/KSI/DIGITAL FARM 2
15 LATEST TRENDS A1 & J1 2
16 PEACHES JUSTIN BIEBER/CAESAR/GIVEON 2
17 LITTLE BIT OF LOVE TOM GRENNAN 7
18 GOOSEBUMPS TRAVIS SCOTT & HVME 8
19 YOUR LOVE (9PM) ATB/TOPIC/A7S 8
20 PARADISE MEDUZA FT DERMOT KENNEDY 5
21 KISS ME MORE DOJA CAT FT SZA 3
22 GET OUT MY HEAD SHANE CODD 6
23 CALLING MY PHONE LIL TJAY & 6LACK 2
24 LET'S GO HOME TOGETHER ELLA HENDERSON & TOM GRENNAN 10
25 SWEET MELODY LITTLE MIX 1
26 HEAT WAVES GLASS ANIMALS 19
27 ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN MASKED WOLF 12
28 MOOD 24KGOLDN FT IANN DIOR 1
29 STREETS DOJA CAT 12
30 ANYONE JUSTIN BIEBER 4
31 MY HEAD & MY HEART AVA MAX 18
32 DEJA VU OLIVIA RODRIGO 4
33 SOMEONE YOU LOVED LEWIS CAPALDI 1
34 34+35 ARIANA GRANDE 3
35 DANCE MONKEY TONES & I 1
36 AFTERGLOW ED SHEERAN 2
37 WATERMELON SUGAR HARRY STYLES 4
38 WHOOPTY CJ 3
39 YOU BROKE ME FIRST TATE MCRAE 3
40 RAPSTAR POLO G 3

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

As we pass the halfway mark of 2021, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour claims the UK’s biggest album of the year so far.

Six weeks after its release - three of which were at Number 1 - Olivia’s debut album Sour has racked up 170,000 chart sales, according to Official Charts Company data. The record is performing best on streaming, with 79% of its total figure comprising streaming equivalent sales, while the remaining 21% is made up of CD and cassette sales (18%) and downloads (3%). Sour is released on vinyl on August 20.

Sour has already celebrated several huge achievements, including the biggest opening week of 2021 so far (51,000 chart sales), and Olivia being the youngest solo artist to achieve the Official Chart Double, with her song Good 4 U also topping the singles chart that week.

Behind Olivia, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia remains a hugely popular following its release in 2020, placing second after racking up 143,500 chart sales this year (409k in total). A combination of hit singles Levitating and We’re Good, plus a deluxe Moonlight Edition of the record, have boosted its sales this year, holding a spot in the Top 10 every week since the last week of February.

Harry Styles’ Fine Line continues to enjoy success one-and-a-half years on from its release, currently the UK’s third biggest album of the year (109k), while Queen’s Greatest Hits (106k) ranks fourth as the band celebrate their 50th anniversary. Best-of albums dominate the year-to-date Top 40 – 12 in total - including two more in the Top 10: Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop (6) and Elton John’s Diamonds (9).

Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon completes the Top 5 with 104,000 chart sales in 2021. A second self-titled posthumous collection from the rapper arrives on July 16.

2021’s big pop albums
As well as Olivia, The Weeknd’s retrospective The Highlights, which debuted at Number 2 in February following his Super Bowl Half Time Show, places seventh, and Rag’n’Bone Man’s chart-topping Life By Misadventure is at 11 but and claims the most physically-purchased (CD and vinyl) album of the year to date.

Elsewhere, Justin Bieber’s latest album Justice, released in March, is 12th, and Little Mix’s 2020 album Confetti is at 18, enjoying continued success this year thanks to their BRIT Award win for Best Group, plus January’s Number 1 hit Sweet Melody and Top 10 title track.

Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club is at 32 after earning the US singer-songwriter her fifth Number 1 back in April, and soul-pop newcomer Celeste is at 33 with her chart-topping debut collection Not Your Muse.

Top rock albums
Flying the flag for rock are Foo Fighters, whose latest album Medicine At Midnight is at 13 after becoming their fifth UK Number 1 in February. Further down, indie-pop trio London Grammar rank at 34 with their chart-topping third album Californian Soil, just ahead of British rock duo Royal Blood, who place at 37 with Typhoons, which became their third consecutive Number 1 studio album in May.

Rap stars
While Pop Smoke claims the UK’s biggest rap album of 2021 so far, other popular rap records this year include posthumous Juice Wrld album Legends Never Die at 21, and debut mixtapes F**k Love from Australian rapper/singer The Kid Laroi at 22), and Wild Westby British star Central Cee at 24.

Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2021 so far
TITLE ARTIST PEAK
1 SOUR OLIVIA RODRIGO 1
2 FUTURE NOSTALGIA DUA LIPA 1
3 FINE LINE HARRY STYLES 2
4 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1
5 SHOOT FOR THE STARS AIM FOR THE MOON POP SMOKE 1
6 50 YEARS - DON'T STOP FLEETWOOD MAC 5
7 THE HIGHLIGHTS WEEKND 2
8 DIVINELY UNINSPIRED TO A HELLISH EXTENT LEWIS CAPALDI 1
9 DIAMONDS ELTON JOHN 5
10 DIVIDE ED SHEERAN 1
11 LIFE BY MISADVENTURE RAG'N'BONE MAN 1
12 JUSTICE JUSTIN BIEBER 2
13 MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT FOO FIGHTERS 1
14 EVERMORE TAYLOR SWIFT 1
15 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC 1
16 CURTAIN CALL - THE HITS EMINEM 1
17 TIME FLIES - 1994-2009 OASIS 1
18 CONFETTI LITTLE MIX 2
19 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO BILLIE EILISH 1
20 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA 1
21 LEGENDS NEVER DIE JUICE WRLD 1
22 F**K LOVE KID LAROI 10
23 HIGH EXPECTATIONS MABEL 3
24 WILD WEST CENTRAL CEE 2
25 AM ARCTIC MONKEYS 1
26 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS 1
27 POSITIONS ARIANA GRANDE 1
28 NUMBER ONES MICHAEL JACKSON 1
29 DUA LIPA DUA LIPA 3
30 FOLKLORE TAYLOR SWIFT 1
31 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS 1
32 CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB LANA DEL REY 1
33 NOT YOUR MUSE CELESTE 1
34 CALIFORNIAN SOIL LONDON GRAMMAR 1
35 GET TO KNOW BECKY HILL 20
36 LEGACY DAVID BOWIE 5
37 TYPHOONS ROYAL BLOOD 1
38 WITHOUT FEAR DERMOT KENNEDY 1
39 1 BEATLES 1
40 SINGLES MAROON 5 32

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Interesting that Body is the 2nd most streamed song of the year but only #8 in the YTDs. 92.5 million plays translating to about 620,000 chart sales (knocking off a few k for downloads) suggests that about 40% of its streams have been free ones.

I'd imagine that's because it's had a much higher proportion of its streams coming from YouTube compared to other big hits of the year - it was in the top 3 of the video streaming chart from its release week up until... last week when it mysteriously plummeted 2-62 (unsure if that's an OCC fuckup or if there is some legit reason its views fell off massively like what happened with 'Life Is Good')

lol even Maroon 5 top 40 with that flop GH that no one ever bought

I'd be more interested in seeing what albums have sold more physical copies, especially vinyls
does anyone really care about playlist streams

Vinyl sales continue to climb in the UK, and the best-selling of 2021 so far is Lana Del Rey's Chemtrails Over The Country Club, OfficialCharts.com can reveal.

Released in March, the record has sold 20,000 copies on wax to top the UK's Official year-to-date vinyl albums chart. 16,700 of those were bought in its first week, earning Lana the title of having the fastest-selling vinyl album of the century for a female act.

Sales of vinyl records continue to rise in the UK, with nearly 5 million vinyl albums purchased last year, up 11.5% on the previous 12 months. The upward trend looks set to continue this year, with many fans supporting their favourite acts by purchasing vinyl in the absence of gigs and touring as the UK eases out of lockdown.

Vinyl revenues are even expected to overtake those of CDs in 2021, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI)'s chief executive in response to a new report.

The UK's second best-seller on vinyl is Wolf Alice's Blue Weekend - a Number 1 in June - with 18.2k sales, while British rock duo Royal Blood complete the Top 3 with their chart-topping third album Typhoons on 15.8k.

While the majority of the top selling vinyl albums of 2021 were released this year, a handful of classics continue to prove hugely popular. Fleetwood Mac's 1977 record Rumours ranks fourth in the year-to-date chart, while Queen's Greatest Hits (11), Amy Winehouse's Back To Black (12), Nirvana's Nevermind (19), and Oasis' What's The Story Morning Glory (30) all place within the Top 40.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, Foo Fighters' chart-topping Medicine At Midnight is at 5, indie-pop band London Grammar place at 8 with their April Number 1 record Californian Soil, and Taylor Swift's Evermore, released on vinyl in May, rounds out the Top 10.

British singer-songwriter and poet Arlo Parks claims the best-selling debut album on vinyl so far this year with Collapsed In Sunbeams (13), closely followed by debut records W.L. by The Snuts (14) and Not Your Muse by Celeste (15).

Vinyl singles
Harry Styles claims the UK's best-selling vinyl single of the year so far with Watermelon Sugar, which was given a limited edition release on red vinyl back in February and topped the Official Vinyl Singles Chart, outselling the rest of the Top 40 combined that week.

Elsewhere, a 40th anniversary reissue of The Specials' Ghost Town is in second places, and Morrissey & David Bowie's Cosmic Dancer - a live duet recorded in 1991 - is at Number 3.

A vinyl release of Kylie Minogue's rework of Real Groove with Dua Lipa is at Number 4, and a 25th anniversary of football anthem 3 Lions by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds enters at 7.

Cassettes
The unlikely revival of the cassette continues this year, albeit with sales remaining small compared to the rest of the market. The best-selling of 2021 so far is Olivia Rodrigo's Sour - the UK's biggest album of 2021 - with 12,800 sales. Lana's Chemtrails Over The Country Club follows in second with 8,100 sales.

Other popular releases on cassette this year Demi Lovato's Dancing With The Devil - The Art Of Starting Over (3), the debut album from Easy Life Life's A Beach (6), and Pale Waves' Who Am I (10).

Official Top 40 best-selling vinyl albums of 2021 so far
TITLE ARTIST
1 CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB LANA DEL REY
2 BLUE WEEKEND WOLF ALICE
3 TYPHOONS ROYAL BLOOD
4 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC
5 MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT FOO FIGHTERS
6 FAT POP PAUL WELLER
7 BACK THE WAY WE CAME - VOL 1 NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING
8 CALIFORNIAN SOIL LONDON GRAMMAR
9 FINE LINE HARRY STYLES
10 EVERMORE TAYLOR SWIFT
11 GREATEST HITS QUEEN
12 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE
13 COLLAPSED IN SUNBEAMS ARLO PARKS
14 W.L. SNUTS
15 NOT YOUR MUSE CELESTE
16 ISLES BICEP
17 LOVELESS MY BLOODY VALENTINE
18 INTRUDER GARY NUMAN
19 NEVERMIND NIRVANA
20 LIFE'S A BEACH EASY LIFE
21 WHEN YOU SEE YOURSELF KINGS OF LEON
22 LIFE BY MISADVENTURE RAG'N'BONE MAN
23 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD
24 BRIGHT GREEN FIELD SQUID
25 NEW LONG LEG DRY CLEANING
26 AS THE LOVE CONTINUES MOGWAI
27 TYRON SLOWTHAI
28 SPARE RIBS SLEAFORD MODS
29 FOR THE FIRST TIME BLACK COUNTRY NEW ROAD
30 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS
31 COLLECTIONS FROM THE WHITEOUT BEN HOWARD
32 DADDY'S HOME ST VINCENT
33 POST HUMAN - SURVIVAL HORROR BRING ME THE HORIZON
34 THE STONE ROSES STONE ROSES
35 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
36 HARRY STYLES HARRY STYLES
37 ABBEY ROAD BEATLES
38 FOLKLORE TAYLOR SWIFT
39 FUTURE NOSTALGIA DUA LIPA
40 AM ARCTIC MONKEYS

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Official Top 10 best-selling vinyl singles of 2021 so far
TITLE ARTIST
1 WATERMELON SUGAR HARRY STYLES
2 GHOST TOWN SPECIALS
3 COSMIC DANCER MORRISSEY & DAVID BOWIE
4 REAL GROOVE KYLIE MINOGUE & DUA LIPA
5 ALL YOU'RE DREAMING OF LIAM GALLAGHER
6 KYOTO PHOEBE BRIDGERS
7 3 LIONS BADDIEL/SKINNER/LIGHTNING SEED
8 MOTHER DAVID BOWIE
9 NO TIME TO DIE BILLIE EILISH
10 DARK DAYS YARD ACT

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Official Top 10 best-selling cassettes of 2021 so far
TITLE ARTIST
1 SOUR OLIVIA RODRIGO
2 CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB LANA DEL REY
3 BLUE WEEKEND WOLF ALICE
4 DANCING WITH THE DEVIL - THE ART OF DEMI LOVATO
5 W.L. SNUTS
6 LIFE'S A BEACH EASY LIFE
7 WEIRD YUNGBLUD
8 POST HUMAN - SURVIVAL HORROR BRING ME THE HORIZON
9 SCALED AND ICY TWENTY ONE PILOTS
10 WHO AM I PALE WAVES

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

'The Business' being very lucky to still cling onto #3 at the time of the articles being written about the year to date chart if that is accurate