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Posted by: liamk97 12th June 2015, 11:10 AM

The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles of the Millennium so far revealed
11 June 2015
By Rob Copsey

Pharrell Williams' has another accolade to add to his ever-growing list of achievements; Happy is officially the biggest selling single of the Millennium so far.

As the singer and producer gears up for his performance at this year’s Isle Of Wight Festival, OfficialCharts.com can confirm that Happy has now overtaken Will Young’s Pop Idol winner’s single Anything Is Possible/Evergreen as the best-selling single of the Millennium, according to a new countdown compiled by the Official Charts Company.

Happy has sold 1.81 million since it was released in June last year as part of the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack, and later as the lead single from the star’s second solo album G I R L.

Happy first hit Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart in January 2014 and has spent four non-consecutive weeks at the summit. Its highest sales week was on the third week of January in 2014, when it sold a combined total of 127,500.

Since its release, the track has racked up a weekly combined sales average of 21,000, spent 50 weeks in the Top 40 and is currently enjoying its 80th week in the Top 100. Click here to view its full, week-by-week chart history.

Pharrell makes a second appearance in the Top 5 best-selling singles of the Millennium so far at Number 3, as a guest feature on Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. The song, which was released in June 2013 and has sold 1.63 million, logged five weeks at Number 1 and was the best-selling single of that year.

Adele takes fourth place on the list with Someone Like You. The track, which has sold 1.57 million, spent five weeks at Number 1 following an emotional BRIT Awards performance in February 2011.

Completing the Top 5 is Maroon 5’s Christina Aguilera collaboration Moves Like Jagger. The song has shifted 1.5 million copies since its release in August 2011 and is one of a very small group of million-selling songs to have missed the top spot (it logged eight weeks at Number 2).

Notable entries further down the list (all 40 of which have sold over 1 million) are Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk, which spent seven weeks at Number 1 in 2014/2015, has sold 1.39 million copies to date, while three X Factor winner’s singles makes the Top 40: Alexandra Burke’s Hallelujah (17), James Arthur’s Impossible (18), Shayne Ward’s That’s My Goal (33).

The Official Biggest Selling Singles of the Millennium so far are:

1 HAPPY PHARRELL WILLIAMS
2 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG
3 BLURRED LINES ROBIN THICKE/TI/PHARRELL
4 SOMEONE LIKE YOU ADELE
5 MOVES LIKE JAGGER MAROON 5 FT CHRISTINA AGUILERA
6 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW GOTYE FT KIMBRA
7 I GOTTA FEELING BLACK EYED PEAS
8 GET LUCKY DAFT PUNK FT PHARRELL WILLIAMS
9 WAKE ME UP AVICII
10 UPTOWN FUNK MARK RONSON FT BRUNO MARS
11 IT WASN'T ME SHAGGY FT RIKROK
12 WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS
13 UNCHAINED MELODY GARETH GATES
14 SEX ON FIRE KINGS OF LEON
15 CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN
16 JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (AMAZING) BRUNO MARS
17 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE
18 IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR
19 GANGNAM STYLE PSY
20 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
21 PARTY ROCK ANTHEM LMFAO/LAUREN BENNETT/GOONROCK
22 TITANIUM DAVID GUETTA FT SIA
23 PRICE TAG JESSIE J FT BOB
24 LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE EMINEM FT RIHANNA
25 RATHER BE CLEAN BANDIT FT JESS GLYNNE
26 LET HER GO PASSENGER
27 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID 20
28 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD KYLIE MINOGUE
29 POKER FACE LADY GAGA
30 ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD) RIHANNA
31 ALL OF ME JOHN LEGEND
32 WE ARE YOUNG FUN FT JANELLE MONAE
33 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD
34 CRAZY GNARLS BARKLEY
35 BLEEDING LOVE LEONA LEWIS
36 PURE AND SIMPLE HEARSAY
37 CHASING CARS SNOW PATROL
38 THE A TEAM ED SHEERAN
39 USE SOMEBODY KINGS OF LEON
40 COUNTING STARS ONEREPUBLIC
© 2015 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Posted by: BillyH 12th June 2015, 11:37 AM

It's always the problem with these kind of lists, as looking at that without the knowledge of the huge changes the last 15 years have seen you'd assume that somehow songs released in the last four years were much more popular and loved than the entire decade previously.

If Happy were released in 2004 it would have sold about half a million, maybe just approaching a million on downloads. Whereas if something like Outkast's Hey Ya were released now we'd be seeing over 1.5 million with ease.

Posted by: ThePensmith 12th June 2015, 12:15 PM

True. But then again as you pointed out with the Outkast example, it's all relative to the time they came out. No one thought 10 years ago that downloads would catch on - or when they eventually did, that they'd be usurped. Now look what's happened! Makes you wonder what streaming will be usurped by in 10 years' time...

Great news for Pharrell though. I don't know if there'll be another record of his that ever comes close to the brilliance and success 'Happy' has now rightfully achieved (the what-I-call 'Kylie problem' which she had with pretty much everything post 'Can't Get You Out of My Head') but he can be proud that he's created a single which has straddled such a wide variety of audiences and appeal. It is, in every definition of the word, a career record, and they don't come in great supply these days.

Posted by: Eric_Blob 12th June 2015, 02:26 PM

This is true, it's difficult to compare songs across years (especially comparing, say, 2004 hits with 2012 hits). But looking solely from a sales perspective, it's interesting. I can't believe how much Happy has sold, it's quite surreal. I hope it passes 2 million one day but it'll probably take a long time.

This is honestly not a particularly good list of songs though. There are a few great songs like Uptown Funk, It Wasn't Me and Somebody That I Used to Know, but most of them are pretty MOR. I suppose they have to be if they're to sell this much!

Posted by: popchartfreak 12th June 2015, 02:51 PM

if the reports of the death of downloads are true as everyone rushes to streaming with the aim of never buying or owning or showing any fan loyalty forever more then we can eventually reach a point where the million sellers list is fixed permanently after a period where there are no new million sellers of records not yet released. I mean it's been, what, MONTHS since a current record hit a million actual sales. Crisis!

Or of course some people might still like buying music. There were no million sellers from 1968 until late 1973 at all. Or 1985 through 1990? Ups and downs...

Spotify has just hit 20million paid subscribers, apparently, worldwide. Itunes has a billion linked devices with their forthcoming streaming app. Watch out Spotify, eh...?

Posted by: Doctor Blind 12th June 2015, 05:17 PM

This is how they have moved since the last chart of the millennium (posted in May 2012)

01 NE HAPPY PHARRELL WILLIAMS
02 01 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG
03 NE BLURRED LINES ROBIN THICKE/TI/PHARRELL
04 02 SOMEONE LIKE YOU ADELE
05 06 MOVES LIKE JAGGER MAROON 5 FT CHRISTINA AGUILERA
06 30 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW GOTYE FT KIMBRA
07 04 I GOTTA FEELING BLACK EYED PEAS
08 NE GET LUCKY DAFT PUNK FT PHARRELL WILLIAMS
09 NE WAKE ME UP AVICII
10 NE UPTOWN FUNK MARK RONSON FT BRUNO MARS
11 05 IT WASN'T ME SHAGGY FT RIKROK
12 13 WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS
13 03 UNCHAINED MELODY GARETH GATES
14 09 SEX ON FIRE KINGS OF LEON
15 NE CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN
16 12 JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (AMAZING) BRUNO MARS
17 08 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE
18 NE IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR
19 NE GANGNAM STYLE PSY
20 07 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
21 16 PARTY ROCK ANTHEM LMFAO/LAUREN BENNETT/GOONROCK
22 63 TITANIUM DAVID GUETTA FT SIA
23 18 PRICE TAG JESSIE J FT BOB
24 19 LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE EMINEM FT RIHANNA
25 NE RATHER BE CLEAN BANDIT FT JESS GLYNNE
26 NE LET HER GO PASSENGER
27 10 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID 20
28 11 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD KYLIE MINOGUE
29 14 POKER FACE LADY GAGA
30 20 ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD) RIHANNA
31 NE ALL OF ME JOHN LEGEND
32 NE WE ARE YOUNG FUN FT JANELLE MONAE
33 15 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD
34 22 CRAZY GNARLS BARKLEY
35 21 BLEEDING LOVE LEONA LEWIS
36 17 PURE AND SIMPLE HEARSAY
37 38 CHASING CARS SNOW PATROL
38 34 THE A TEAM ED SHEERAN
39 32 USE SOMEBODY KINGS OF LEON
40 NE COUNTING STARS ONEREPUBLIC
© 2015 Official Charts Company.

We lose the following from the Top 40:

23 CAN WE FIX IT BOB THE BUILDER
24 WHEN WE COLLIDE MATT CARDLE
25 FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE CHERYL COLE
26 WHOLE AGAIN ATOMIC KITTEN
27 BAD ROMANCE LADY GAGA
28 HERO ENRIQUE IGLESIAS
29 GIVE ME EVERYTHING PITBULL/NE-YO/AFROJACK/NAYER
31 JUST DANCE LADY GAGA
33 FORGET YOU CEE LO GREEN
35 A MOMENT LIKE THIS LEONA LEWIS
36 ROLLING IN THE DEEP ADELE
37 GRENADE BRUNO MARS
39 RULE THE WORLD TAKE THAT
40 DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' JOURNEY

Posted by: liamk97 12th June 2015, 05:22 PM

Wow! That really puts into perspective how dominate the last few years have been if Gareth Gates fall 3-13, Tony Christie 7-20 and Bob the Builder 23-41+

Posted by: Jay ジ 13th June 2015, 05:09 AM

It feels quite strange to see that Will Young is not at #1 anymore! For years the thought of a single being able to come anywhere close to outselling 'Evergreen' was a pipe dream. I personally would have preferred Adele to have that honour rather than Pharrell with that song. I only ever liked it for a few weeks, but the overexposure made it become unbearable to listen to.

Posted by: Dircadirca 13th June 2015, 07:06 AM

Of course, it doesn't help in their case if they're evidently not selling much in the long run. One of my favourite things about these lists is comparing how the older songs shuffle around the list. Particularly of interest is that despite being from 2006, Chasing Cars managed to climb a spot!

Posted by: AntoineTTe 13th June 2015, 08:22 AM

Chasing Cars is a big trickle seller, as is Mr Brightside which will no doubt pass 1 million sales any year soon.