The UK's Official Best-Selling Singles of the 1960s

12 March 2018 | By Rob Copsey

 

The 1960s saw the birth of many British music legends, kick-starting the British invasion in America with bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Animals.

 

The '60s also gave birth to the British blues scene and folk-rock, while acts including Eric Burdon, the Who, Cream and Pink Floyd were also adopting a more psychedelic sound towards the end of the decade.

 

The Beatles dominated the Official Chart in the '60s with their new wave of pop-rock. Their 1963 hit She Loves You was the biggest selling single of the decade, logging six weeks at Number 1 in its year of release in the UK. The song - the band's second chart-topper, is also one of the UK's bestselling singles of all time, with 1.92 million sales to date.

 

Five more Beatles singles feature in the Top 20 of the '60s, with I Want To Hold Your Hand, their follow-up release to She Loves You in 1963, in second with overall sales to date of 1.81 million. 1964's Can't Buy Me Love finishes in fourth (1.55m), while I Feel Fine is fifth (1.42m). All were Number 1 hits on the Official Singles Chart - look at The Beatles' complete Official Chart history here.

 

The late Ken Dodd, a comedian and all-round entertainer, had the third biggest single of the '60s - his first and only UK chart-topper Tears has sold 1.52 million copies. See where all 18 of Ken Dodd's Top 40 his landed on the Official Chart here.

 

Elsewhere, balladeer Engelbert Humperdinck has two entries in the Top 20 of the '60s, with chart-toppers from 1967 Release Me (8) and The Last Waltz (11), Tom Jones features at 10 with 1966's Green Green Grass Of Home, and two of Cliff Richard's Number 1s, The Young Ones and The Next Time/Bachelor Boy, are at 14 and 16 respectively.

 

Sales figures quoted in this article are correct as of 2017.

 

The UK's Official Top 20 biggest selling singles of the 1960s

 

POS TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR

1 SHE LOVES YOU BEATLES 1 1963

2 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND BEATLES 1 1963

3 TEARS KEN DODD 1 1965

4 CAN'T BUY ME LOVE BEATLES 1 1964

5 I FEEL FINE BEATLES 1 1964

6 THE CARNIVAL IS OVER SEEKERS 1 1965

7 DAY TRIPPER / WE CAN WORK IT OUT BEATLES 1 1965

8 RELEASE ME ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK 1 1967

9 IT'S NOW OR NEVER ELVIS PRESLEY 1 1960

10 GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME TOM JONES 1 1966

11 THE LAST WALTZ ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK 1 1967

12 STRANGER ON THE SHORE MR. ACKER BILK 2 1961

13 I REMEMBER YOU FRANK IFIELD 1 1962

14 THE YOUNG ONES CLIFF RICHARD 1 1962

15 SUGAR SUGAR ARCHIES 1 1969

16 THE NEXT TIME / BACHELOR BOY CLIFF RICHARD 1 1962

17 TELSTAR TORNADOS 1 1962

18 HELP! BEATLES 1 1965

19 TWO LITTLE BOYS ROLF HARRIS 1 1969

20 GLAD ALL OVER DAVE CLARK FIVE 1 1963

 

©2018 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

On iTunes,

124 Ken Dodd - Happiness

(but no "Tears")

and 3 albums in the Top 600.

On iTunes,

86 Happiness - Ken Dodd

856 Tears - Ken Dodd

 

143 Ken Dodd - Happiness - Very Best of Ken Dodd

I would have loved to see a list of the most streamed songs alongside this, or even a divide between physical & download. Would be a better judge at what has managed to maintain cultural relevance over the years.

 

Songs like It’s Now or Never & Sugar, Sugar are still well known by most generations. Doubt many below the age of 50 know Tears or Release Me.

856 for Tears?

Surely lots of people under 50 would know Release Me from all the adverts it's been in. Or as the theme from the Fast Show.

I would have loved to see a list of the most streamed songs alongside this, or even a divide between physical & download. Would be a better judge at what has managed to maintain cultural relevance over the years.

 

Songs like It’s Now or Never & Sugar, Sugar are still well known by most generations. Doubt many below the age of 50 know Tears or Release Me.

I believe 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' would top such a list, it has 236m streams on Spotify (worldwide) and has made a few appearances in the UK Spotify chart from throwback playlists.

 

The BBC reported it had 10m streams across the whole of 2016, the most of any song from the decade.

I would have loved to see a list of the most streamed songs alongside this, or even a divide between physical & download. Would be a better judge at what has managed to maintain cultural relevance over the years.

 

Songs like It’s Now or Never & Sugar, Sugar are still well known by most generations. Doubt many below the age of 50 know Tears or Release Me.

 

Well the streams for at least the Top 10 are known (as per the OCC millionaires news item from September 2017)

 

The Beatles She Loves You (SES: 31,099)

The Beatles I Want To Hold Your Hand (SES: 47,899)

Ken Dodd Tears (SES: 664)

The Beatles Can't Buy Me Love (SES: 30,400)

The Beatles I Feel Fine (SES: 22,095)

The Seekers The Carnival Is Over (SES: 5,595)

The Beatles We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper (SES: 21,940)

Englebert Humperdinck Release Me (SES: 4,565)

Elvis Presley It's Now Or Never (SES: 28,357)

Tom Jones Green, Green Grass Of Home (SES: 16,121)

 

As far as I can see, the most streamed song of the 1960s is I Want To Hold Your Hand with Sugar Sugar by The Archies at #2 with 37,097 SES but that is only of the hits that have chalked up a million chart sales.

Edited March 12, 20187 yr by Doctor Blind