With Band Aid 30 looking to sell over 300,000 this week below are the other members of the "Quarter-Million Club" as I see it. Any additions or amendments, please let me know :). I only have data from 1995 onwards though....

 

1,546,688 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT / CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Elton John (2nd week)

1,108,659 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE / EVERGREEN, Will Young

1,067,000 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT / CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Elton John (3rd week)

850,535 UNCHAINED MELODY, Gareth Gates

750,000 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, Band Aid

742,180 THAT'S MY GOAL, Shayne Ward

658,000 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT / CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Elton John

576,046 HALLELULAH, Alexandra Burke

572,000 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT / CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Elton John (4th week)

571,253 A MOMENT LIKE THIS, Leona Lewis

555,622 WHEREVER YOU ARE, Military Wives Choir

549,823 PURE AND SIMPLE, Hear'Say

502,569 KILLING IN THE NAME, Rage Against the Machine

489,560 IMPOSSIBLE, James Arthur

463,722 BABY ONE MORE TIME, Britney Spears

460,000 UNCHAINED MELODY, Robson & Jerome (2nd week)

453,426 EVERYBODY HURTS, Helping Haiti

450,838 THE CLIMB, Joe McElderry

450,000 LAST CHRISTMAS / EVERYTHING SHE WANTS, Wham!

439,007 WHEN WE COLLIDE, Matt Cardle

429,000 2 BECOME 1, Spice Girls

418,000 SPACEMAN, Babylon Zoo

385,082 PERFECT DAY, Various Artists

380,000 GOODBYE, Spice Girls

377,074 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE / EVERGREEN, Will Young (2nd week)

377,000 D'YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, Oasis

372,890 CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS, Chef

359,639 CAN WE FIX IT, Bob the Builder (2nd week)

349,000 SAY YOU'LL BE THERE, Spice Girls

346,000 BACK FOR GOOD, Take That

345,498 IT WASN'T ME, Shaggy / RikRok

321,000 SPICE UP YOUR LIFE, Spice Girls

320,000 UNCHAINED MELODY, Robson & Jerome (3rd week)

317,000 TELETUBBIES SAY EH-OH, Teletubbies

314,000 UNCHAINED MELODY, Robson & Jerome

312,244 HERO, X Factor Finalists

312,000 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, Band Aid 30

311,887 HALLELUJAH, Alexandra Burke (2nd week)

306,648 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD, Kylie Minogue

300,000 2 BECOME 1, Spice Girls (2nd week)

292,845 FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE, Cheryl Cole

292,594 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, Band Aid 20

292,319 UPTOWN GIRL, Westlife

290,742 WHEN YOU BELIEVE, Leon Jackson

287,849 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, Band Aid 20 (2nd week)

283,000 FLAT BEAT, Mr. Oizo

278,782 A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION, Elvis Presley / JXL

277,911 VIVA FOREVER, Spice Girls

277,544 NO MATTER WHAT, Boyzone

274,706 PERFECT DAY, Various Artists (2nd week)

274,000 COUNTRY HOUSE, Blur

274,000 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT / CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Elton John (5th week)

273,508 SPIRIT IN THE SKY, Gareth Gates

270,000 9PM (TILL I COME), ATB

269,248 HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER, The Justice Collective

266,844 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO, Tony Christie

266,524 WAKE ME UP, Avicii

261,851 EARTH SONG, Michael Jackson (4th week)

261,031 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO, Tony Christie (2nd week)

260,000 MMMBOP, Hanson

258,000 I BELIEVE / UP ON THE ROOF, Robson & Jerome

257,000 HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE, Take That

252,000 TOO MUCH, Spice Girls

251,000 SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE, Shanks & Bigfoot

250,000 DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER, Oasis

Edited November 24, 201410 yr by chartjack2

So Britney has the honour of being the highest in this list not related to a talent show or a charity/mass publicity release.

Babylon Zoo being so far up this list (especially when taking out charity and reality TV singles) is really quite bizarre.

When I saw How Deep Is Your Love, I thought it was the Sean Paul/Kelly Rowland song :lol:

 

Those sales for Shaggy :wub:

Babylon Zoo being so far up this list (especially when taking out charity and reality TV singles) is really quite bizarre.

Bizarre/fantastic :)

Edited November 21, 201410 yr by Mango

damn those are big sales for Britney, she's holding record for American artists then.

It would also be cool to see:

 

200-250,000 in one week (since we haven't had one very often at all these days apart from Wake Me Up),

#1s that sold more than its first week at #1, e.g. Blurred Lines (and I think Happy too),

and something else as well but it just slipped my mind :(

Wake Me Up, 9PM and Flat Beat being in this list though :wub: Dance music represent!

 

Flat Beat seems like an even bigger anomaly of a hit with those kind of opening sales :o I know the music video and the guy in it went viral / song was used in an advert but still those are amazing sales.

damn those are big sales for Britney, she's holding record for American artists then.

 

Nope. Rage Against The Machine do.

well for female artist then :kink:

A couple from 1984:

 

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid 750,000

Last Christmas - Wham! 450,000

 

These were first week sales and both managed it in the same week in December 1984!

Band Aid 30 will be very close to BA30's first week sales...

 

Not sure about the second week though :lol:

The Fight For This Love first week sales were as iconic as the X Factor performance! :wub:

Just get rid of Shaggy and all those reality TV singles and that's a great list of number ones!!

 

 

So Britney has the honour of being the highest in this list not related to a talent show or a charity/mass publicity release.

 

Well, it got a fair amount of publicity lol.

 

Will Young and Gareth Gates sold bucketloads! :o I always knew that, but this list really puts it into perspective.

Edited November 21, 201410 yr by Eric_Blob

The really impressive achievements are Elton John's first week on one day of sales, and Shayne Ward's first week on (I believe) sales just from Wednesday-Saturday. Incredible. I wonder if anything will ever break the million barrier again? Very unlikely!

ATB :wub: the first dance single I ever bought, along with 270k other people that week apparently...

Great to see Kylie on the list.

'Don't Look Back In Anger' sold 250k despite being the fourth single on an album which had already sold a couple of million. That's frankly ridiculous.

How many copies did Robson and Jerome's Unchained Melody sell on it's first week?