Katy Perry's biggest songs and albums revealed
08 February 2017 | By Rob Copsey
All the hits. Officially ranked.
It's almost nine years since Katy Perry scored her big breakthrough with I Kissed A Girl, a controversial (well, at the time, bless), worldwide-smashing debut that set her off on what has so far been a stellar, banger-packed pop career.
Since then, she's become pretty dependable for a chart smash, landing 20 Top 40 singles in the UK (including four Number 1s) and a pair of chart-topping albums.
To celebrate her long-awaited return (seriously, it's been more than three years since her last album), Official Charts reveals Katy's biggest hits in the UK. Before we get to the lists, let's take a look at the numbers behind some notable entries...
Roar
When it comes to overall sales, it's Roar that finishes top of the pile in the UK. Coming off the back of her hugely successful Teenage Dream album, anticipation for the lead single from her third full-length Prism was sky high, and the track shifted a not-too-shabby 179,500 in its opening week in September 2013.
It's one of Katy's two million-selling singles (more on the other one later), with sales to date of 1.1 million. It's also her second most streamed track, with just over 27 million plays across all services.
Dark Horse
KP's foray into trap takes the honour of being her most streamed song with 32.5 million plays to date in the UK. Dark Horse was originally put out as pre-album release 'promotional track' (i.e not a proper single) in September 2013 but was given the single treatment in early 2014, where it eventually peaked at Number 4.
Interestingly, Dark Horse is only her seventh biggest song when looking at pure sales, having sold 591,000 to date.
I Kissed A Girl
Katy's debut single proper was a worldwide smash back in the summer of 2008. The track reached Number 1 on its second week of release in the UK and hit the summit in another 17 countries. I Kissed A Girl is the singer's fifth best-seller (706,000 sales) and her 11th most-streamed (7.1 million plays). It's worth remembering it was released six years before we started counting streams in the charts.
Firework
This self-empowerment-anthem-to-end-all-self-empowerment-anthems was the third single from Katy's Teenage Dream album. Surprisingly, it didn't reach Number 1 in the UK, peaking at Number 3 in November 2010 (it was held off the top spot by Rihanna's Only Girl (In The World) and Take That's The Flood, amazing).
Thanks in part to its use as a soundtrack to anything inspirational since, Firework does lay claim to being Katy's longest-running hit on the Official Chart, racking up 68 weeks in the Top 100. It's also her second best-seller, second million seller (1.08 million) and third most streamed song, with 15.2 million plays.
If We Ever Meet Again
Special mention goes to Katy's often-forgotten-but-still-a-bop collaboration with Timbaland, released in 2010. The track peaked at Number 3 on the Official Singles Chart and is her 11th biggest song based on pure sales (434,000).
Albums
Of her three studio albums, Katy's most recent release Prism finishes in third (433,00). Interesting, given that some of her most successful singles have come from that album.
Her 2008 debut One of the Boys is her second biggest album (697,000) despite peaking at Number 11, and - you guessed it - Teenage Dream finishes on top with a not-too-shabby 1.3 million. For Katy die-hards, yes that does include the Complete Confection reissue. Unbelievably, the record spent just a single week at Number 1. Madness!
Below are Katy Perry's Official Top 20 best-selling singles in the UK (based on physical and downloads):
POS TITLE ARTIST CHART PEAK
1 ROAR KATY PERRY 1
2 FIREWORK KATY PERRY 3
3 CALIFORNIA GURLS KATY PERRY FT SNOOP DOGG 1
4 HOT N COLD KATY PERRY 4
5 I KISSED A GIRL KATY PERRY 1
6 STARSTRUKK 3OH3 FT KATY PERRY 3
7 DARK HORSE KATY PERRY FT JUICY J 4
8 TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY 2
9 ET KATY PERRY FT KANYE WEST 3
10 LAST FRIDAY NIGHT (TGIF) KATY PERRY 9
11 IF WE EVER MEET AGAIN TIMBALAND FT KATY PERRY 3
12 PART OF ME KATY PERRY 1
13 WIDE AWAKE KATY PERRY 9
14 THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY KATY PERRY 18
15 WAKING UP IN VEGAS KATY PERRY 19
16 UNCONDITIONALLY KATY PERRY 25
17 THINKING OF YOU KATY PERRY 27
18 BIRTHDAY KATY PERRY 22
19 THIS IS HOW WE DO KATY PERRY 33
20 PEACOCK KATY PERRY N/A
©2017 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
And these are Katy Perry's Top 20 most streamed tracks in the UK:
POS TITLE ARTIST CHART PEAK
1 DARK HORSE KATY PERRY FT JUICY J 4
2 ROAR KATY PERRY 1
3 FIREWORK KATY PERRY 3
4 THIS IS HOW WE DO KATY PERRY 33
5 THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY KATY PERRY 18
6 BIRTHDAY KATY PERRY 22
7 LAST FRIDAY NIGHT (TGIF) KATY PERRY 9
8 UNCONDITIONALLY KATY PERRY 25
9 TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY 2
10 CALIFORNIA GURLS KATY PERRY FT SNOOP DOGG 1
11 I KISSED A GIRL KATY PERRY 1
12 ET KATY PERRY FT KANYE WEST 3
13 HOT N COLD KATY PERRY 4
14 WIDE AWAKE KATY PERRY 9
15 RISE KATY PERRY 25
16 PART OF ME KATY PERRY 1
17 WHO YOU LOVE JOHN MAYER FT KATY PERRY N/A
18 IF WE EVER MEET AGAIN TIMBALAND FT KATY PERRY 3
19 STARSTRUKK 3OH3 FT KATY PERRY 3
20 THINKING OF YOU KATY PERRY 27
©2017 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
Combined sales:
Roar: 1,370,000
Firework: 1,232,000
Dark Horse: 916,000
I Kissed a Girl: 777,000
and the track shifted a not-too-shabby 179,500 in its opening week in September 2013.
Did Houdini write this?? Mentioned TWICE in the article!!
It's annoying they couldn't have given us a combined sales top 20, given that's what the chart uses these days.
This is my (albeit quite rough) guess at what Katy Perry's best sellers list looks like with streams:
01 1,375,000 | Roar [#1, 2013]
02 1,235,000 | Firework [#3, 2010]
03 915,000 | Dark Horse [#4, 2013]
04 885,000 | California Gurls (ft. Snoop Dogg) [#1, 2010]
05 775,000 | I Kissed a Girl [#1, 2008]
06 775,000 | Hot N Cold [#4, 2008]
07 650,000 | Teenage Dream [#2, 2010]
08 620,000 | Starstrukk (with 3OH!3) [#3, 2009]
09 560,000 | Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) [#9, 2010]
10 540,000 | E.T. (ft. Kanye West) [#3, 2010]
11 460,000 | The One That Got Away [#18, 2010]
12 460,000 | If We Ever Meet Again (with Timbaland) [#3, 2009]
13 430,000 | Part of Me [#1, 2012]
14 415,000 | Wide Awake [#9, 2012]
15 220,000 | This is How We Do [#33, 2013]
16 220,000 | Birthday [#22, 2013]
17 220,000 | Unconditionally [#25, 2013]
18 220,000 | Waking Up in Vegas [#19, 2008]
19 150,000 | Thinking of You [#27, 2008]
Those totals add up to 11,125,000. Music Week revealed last week that Katy has sold (including streams) 11,945,000 songs, leaving 820k for album tracks. When I add up the non-single album tracks (and her John Mayer collab), I get almost 30 songs. 820,000 sales divided by 30 songs equals ~27.5k per song. That seems reasonable given some songs (said John Mayer collab, 'Peacock') will have sold more and some will have sold less, then there's some songs from smaller releases I haven't even considered.
Powered by Invision Power Board
© Invision Power Services