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[BillyH]

Musical formats have come and gone over the last 60-odd years, but I don't think a full 'first and last' list has ever been done in terms of number 1 singles and the formats they were released on - might seem a bit of an odd subject but it's something I find interesting!

Here's the beginnings of a list based on what I know (which is limited):

7" Vinyl
First: Easy (I think) - Al Martino - Here In My Heart (1952), officially the ever first #1 single, was available on this format. Although the older 10" 78rpm format was still going strong at the time, which goes into a whole level of gramophone record knowledge I'm no expert on.

Last: Complicated. Culture Beat - Mr Vain (1993) was definitely the first #1 not available on 7", which would make the 'last' up to that point Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own, but of course there have been plenty since, as my signed copy of La Roux - Bulletproof proudly confirms. With the continued vinyl 'revival' we may not have a definitive answer for this for some time.

12" Vinyl
First: Obviously 12" albums have been around for years, but the 12" single only arrived in the disco era when extended dance mixes became popular. I don't have an answer for this but presumably some kind of disco track in the late 1970s, I've seen the year 1977 stated around.

Last: Celine Dion - Think Twice (1995) was the first #1 single not available on vinyl in any form, but again there's been plenty since! Another with no obvious answer.

Cassette
First: The UK charts took years to add the cassette single as an official format. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power of Love (1984) was released on the format, but I believe it wasn't until 1989 when the format was included - Kylie Minogue - Hand On Your Heart (1989) would have got to #1 earlier had her cassette total been included in her sales tally. I added that fact to Wikipedia a few years ago, so presumably I read it somewhere!

Last: Fairly sure this is Elton John - Are You Ready For Love (2003) as Music Week stated this a few years back. Can't imagine any #1 singles released on the format after that. I've seen it stated before that Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats (1997) was the first, or at least one of the first #1s not available on cassette since the format became official, but don't quote me on that - could have some truth as 'Setting Sun' definitely had a cassette release.

CD
First: This has been positively stated to be Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (1987) which sounds right to me, at least officially.

Last: Oh boy. Well...Coldplay - Viva La Vida (2008) was the first #1 since '87 not to be given a CD single release, at least in the UK - it got one internationally, so if you count that then instead the milestone goes to Leona Lewis - Run later that year. Then a seriously long fizzle out of the format happened, you could still find plenty for 2009 and even 2010 releases but then things get very patchy.
The current week's Physical Singles Chart lists both Sam Smith - Writing's On The Wall and Little Mix - Black Magic as physical releases still in the chart, both from 2015. Could it be one of those? Surely there'll be some sort of charity or novelty release on the format in the future though...was the NHS choir track released on CD?

Digital download
First: Not counting the millions of 'illegal' mp3 uploads starting in the second half of the 1990s, the iTunes Store was launched in the UK on June 15th, 2004, and downloads were added to the chart on April 17th 2005. If we count that second date as official, the first new #1 single to include digital downloads from its first week would be Akon - Lonely (2005) - you could also count Tony Christie & Peter Kay - Is This The Way To Amarillo as being the #1 on the first combined physical/downloads chart, but most of its weeks were achieved with physical sales only.

Last: Ain't happened yet, unless I've missed some major milestone news.

Spotify
First: Spotify launched in 2008, but its data didn't become part of the UK charts until July 2014. Using the same rules as downloads above, that makes Ariana Grande feat Iggy Azalea - Problem (2014) the first official #1 single including streaming...that's obviously way later than when most actually first started using the service, but otherwise you might as well say it's Al Martino again as decades worth of former #1s are available to stream.

Last: Haha no.

Singles have also been released on Minidisc and (lol) 'USB', but I don't think either format lasted long enough to even have any #1s to their name.

Anyone able to shed some more light on any of the above, filling in the gaps or correcting what I have?