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Rihanna’s Official Top 40 biggest selling singles
30 January 2016
By Justin Myers

The charts are always a brighter place with our RiRi, and now, after what seems like the longest wait EVER, Rihanna is back, with her eighth album Anti.

As we wait to see whether it will be Rihanna’s fifth chart-topper, let’s take FourFive Seconds or so (well maybe a bit longer, eh?) and get to Work – we're counting down her bestselling singles in the UK.

1: We Found Love

Supported by what is arguably Rihanna’s most memorable video – featuring RiRi eating chips, getting wasted and smashing up a corner shop in Northern Ireland – the happy-sad brilliance of We Found Love went straight in at Number 1 on 9 October and stayed there for three weeks, before being toppled by Professor Green and Emeli Sandé. But it wasn’t over yet: We Found Love took a two-week break from the top spot only to snatch it back again and stay atop the Official Singles Chart for three more weeks!

Credit where it’s due: the song was written and produced by our very own Calvin Harris, who not only bagged a feature credit for his stellar work, he rocked up in the video too, DJing at what looks like the world’s smallest rave.

Sales: 1.39 million

ChartFact: Rihanna kept some big tunes off the top spot for those six weeks: Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 (two weeks), The Wanted's Lightning, Take A Chance On Me by JLS, Flo Rida’s Good Feeling and Olly Murs’ Dance With Me Tonight. She was finally deposed for a second time by the X Factor finalists’ cover of Wishing On A Star. Olly Murs was the only one of those tracks to actually go on to be Number 1.

2: Love The Way You Lie (with Eminem)

This team-up between two of the music world’s biggest names caught the public’s imagination, spending 14 straight weeks in the Top 10 upon release. Crucially, however, it never hit the big one, peaking at Number 2. That’s just the way it goes sometimes, eh?

Despite not reaching Number 1, Love The Way You Lie ended up as 2010’s biggest selling single, shifting over 850,000 copies in that year alone.

Sales: 1.22 million

ChartFact: Love The Way You Lie spent four weeks at Number 2, held off the top spot by Yolanda Be Cool’s We No Speak Americano, Flo Rida’s Club Can’t Handle Me, Roll Deep’s Green Light and Taio Cruz’s Dynamite. All classics.

3: Only Girl (In The World)

The follow-up to Love The Way You Lie was a change of direction for Rihanna. While she had flirted with dance music on songs like SOS, Only Girl (In The World) was the first time she got her hands in the air and went all-out dance. And it was the right move to make. Only Girl (In The World) – we love a song with a solid pair of brackets in the title – was actually beaten to Number 1 by Cheryl Cole’s Promise This in its first week of release. But you can’t keep RiRi down – she soon turfed Cheryl out,taking up residency for two weeks before JLS’s Love You More came along.

Rihanna made headlines when the farmer who owned the field featured in the video objected to our girl prancing around it in her scants.

Sales: 1.15 million

ChartFact: Only Girl (In The World) has the highest first-week sales of all Rihanna’s singles, shifting 126,000 copies in its first seven days. And still only went in at Number 2!

With Only Girl (In The World), Rihanna scored her second million seller in just seven weeks.

4: Diamonds

This Sia-penned track gave Rihanna her fourth record-breaking million-seller – only the Beatles have more than her. Spending a mere week at the top, Diamonds still managed 14 weeks in the Top 40 and was the 11th best selling single of 2012.

Sales: 1.07 million

ChartFact: Rihanna knocked Psy’s Gangnam Style off Number 1, much to many pop fans’ delight, and was chucked off the top by Swedish House Mafia’s Don’t You Worry Child, which is also a million-seller.

MORE: See the Official Singles Chart the week Diamonds went to Number 1

5: Umbrella

You could argue this is the track that really made the world take proper notice of Rihanna. Spending 10 straight weeks at Number 1 – fittingly, during one of the most miserable British summers ever – Umbrella was the second biggest selling single of the year. It was also RiRi’s first Number 1; seven more were on their way.

Sales: 853,400


ChartFact: Rihanna kept Maroon 5’s It Makes Me Wonder at Number 2 for two weeks – she’d keep Adam and co at bay again four years later with We Found Love. Other acts who found themselves at Number 2 getting poked in the eye by Rihanna’s brolly include Mutya Buena, White Stripes and Kate Nash for three weeks.

The rest of the Top 10
What’s My Name (6) was the first time Rihanna scored consecutive chart-toppers and has sold 847,800. It was the first of four Top 40 collaborations with Drake for RiRi – the latest, Work, is sitting at Number 13 after just a couple of days on sale.

Three is the magic number for S&M (7). The third single from Rihanna’s Loud album to make her Top 10 sellers, S&M was stuck at Number 3 for three weeks in 2011. It's sold 763,600
 and gave Rihanna her first consecutive run of four Top 3 hits. She’s not done it again yet.

Rude Boy (8) has notched up 703,300 sales and Rihanna’s collaboration with Mikky Ekko, Stay (9) is on 680,000 sales. Stay reached Number 4 on – you’ve guessed it – four different occasions, but never went any higher.

The Monster (10) was another collaboration with Eminem, and this time it went all the way to Number 1, with 676,500 sales. It’s Rihanna’s eighth and most recent chart-topper – just three of her Number 1 hits have not involved a featured artist.

Other notable entries
Obviously all Rihanna tunes are notable, but looking at RiRi’s Top 40, we can see that her debut single Pon De Replay, a Number 2 hit in 2005, comes in 28th, racking up 254,800 sales.

Her most recent Top 10 FourFive Seconds with Kanye and Paul McCartney, is already her 15th biggest seller, with 506,000 copies sold. Her 2008 Number 1 Take A Bow sits at Number 16 with 499,900 copies sold, while her chart-topping collaboration with Jay Z and Kanye West, Run This Town, comes in 22nd with over 401,000 sales.

Three songs that missed the Top 40 still make Rihanna's: Man Down (36), Hard (38) and Pour It Up (40)

Rihanna's full Official Top 40 biggest selling songs:

TITLE PEAK POSITION YEAR
1 WE FOUND LOVE (FT. CALVIN HARRIS) 1 2011 1,390,000
2 LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE (WITH EMINEM) 2 2010 1,220,000
3 ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD) 1 2010 1,150,000
4 DIAMONDS 1 2012 1,070,000
5 UMBRELLA (FT. JAY Z) 1 2007 853,400
6 WHAT'S MY NAME (FT. DRAKE) 1 2010 847,800
7 S&M 3 2010 763,600
8 RUDE BOY 2 2010 703,300
9 STAY (FT MIKKY EKKO) 4 2012 680,000
10 THE MONSTER (WITH EMINEM) 1 2013 676,500
11 WHO'S THAT CHICK (WITH DAVID GUETTA) 6 2010
12 TAKE CARE 9 2011
13 PRINCESS OF CHINA (WITH COLDPLAY) 4 2011
14 DISTURBIA 3 2008
15 FOURFIVE SECONDS 3 2014 506,000
16 TAKE A BOW 1 2008 499,900
17 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN 6 2012
18 RUSSIAN ROULETTE 2 2009
19 LIVE YOUR LIFE (WITH T.I.) 2 2008
20 DON'T STOP THE MUSIC 4 2007
21 UNFAITHFUL 2 2006
22 RUN THIS TOWN (WITH JAY Z & KANYE) 1 2009 401,000
23 ALL OF THE LIGHTS (WITH KANYE & DRAKE) 15 2011
24 SOS 2 2006
25 CALIFORNIA KING BED 8 2011
26 TE AMO 14 2010
27 SHUT UP AND DRIVE 5 2007
28 PON DE REPLAY 2 2005 254,800
29 FLY (WITH NICKI MINAJ) 16 2011
30 CHEERS (DRINK TO THAT) 15 2011
31 YOU DA ONE 16 2011
32 HATE THAT I LOVE YOU 15 2007
33 REHAB (WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE) 16 2008
34 CAN'T REMEMBER TO FORGET YOU (WITH SHAKIRA) 11 2014
35 TALK THAT TALK 25 2011
36 MAN DOWN 54 2011
37 WHAT NOW 21 2013
38 HARD (FT YOUNG JEEZY) 42 2010
39 BITCH BETTER HAVE MY MONEY 27 2014
40 POUR IT UP 43 2013

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