I never actually knew that about Happy Xmas (War is Over)! :o Tough to argue with that, though Groove is in the Heart and its tiebreak/panel thing still feels far, far too close than a song ever should be to number 1.

 

I'd give an honourable mention to All-4-One's I Swear (seven consecutive weeks at number 2 which is the longest consecutive ever I believe?) and Dario G's Sunchyme (for the unwanted achievement of the biggest ever gap between a number 1 and number 2 purely down to the circumstances)

I forgot all about Years & Years and 'Shine' as well until it was mentioned, a shame it never got it's week at the top as it's a great song.

I voted for Moves Like Jagger (for the reasons already mentioned), but a few others deserve a mention:

 

Beatles - Please Please Me: spent a total of 3 weeks at #2 in the Record Retailer chart (retrospectively deemed 'official'), apparently only missing out on #1 on one of those weeks on a tie-break. It topped the other charts that were compiled at the time e.g. NME, thus was widely considered a #1 at the time.

 

DJ Jurgen pts Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone: spent 3 weeks at #2 behind 3 different tracks, only losing out to Westlife by about 1,000 sales in the second of those weeks.

 

Puretone - Addicted To Bass: missed out on #1 by a small margin to Aaliyah's posthumous More Than A Woman, but may have made it had a few copies not accidentally been sold the previous week (causing it to chart at #68).

MLJ for me - I remember the week it was finally going to No 1 and Rihanna’s completely unnecessary panic release. To think that they were worried We Found Love might not be a hit because of a fake version kicking around for a few days!

I forgot about 'Please Please Me', that's certainly worthy of a mention as well indeed!

Better in Time?

I agree with these. I think there's a good case to be made for all the listed songs but it just doesn't compare to a song being the best seller of the week but not recognised as such because there wasn't a chart or there wasn't a full chart week.

 

Not sure if there's an example of a song missing out on #1 entirely due to one format being ineligible. I think this happened to Kylie's 'Hand On Your Heart' and Ronan Keating's 'Life is a Rollercoaster' but they both did reach #1 at one occasion.

 

I seem to remember reading about an ineligible format situation having an impact on Oasis/Blur chart placings in 1995. IIRC Blur would always have beaten Oasis in the first week battle regardless but in the second week they remained Top 2, 'Roll With It' might have taken #1 if not for ineligible format sales which charted separately at the bottom end of the chart.

Lose My Breath for me - it stayed at #2 when songs that kept it off the top spot fell below

 

Otherwise I’d say Kate Nash

 

A couple of unlucky ones for me are:

Just Give Me A Reason - would have been number one if the Ant & Dec campaign hadn’t happened

White Flag - held off top spot by biggest selling song of the year

Teenage Dirtbag - as above

 

'Teenage Dirtbag' was lucky to sell even one copy, if the public had working ears it wouldn't have managed even that xox

Actually Foundations surely has to be up there - 5 weeks at #2 and losing to Umbrella by 131 copies on the 4th and The Way I Are by 16 on the 5th!

'Teenage Dirtbag' was lucky to sell even one copy, if the public had working ears it wouldn't have managed even that xox

 

Lol it was a thing of it’s time. I would agree it hasn’t aged well and would not get anywhere near the top now.

Puretone - Addicted To Bass: missed out on #1 by a small margin to Aaliyah's posthumous More Than A Woman, but may have made it had a few copies not accidentally been sold the previous week (causing it to chart at #68).

 

Didn't a similar thing also happen with Steps - It's the Way You Make Me Feel?

 

Although I'm not sure if the amount it sold the previous week would have been enough to see it at #1...

'Teenage Dirtbag' was lucky to sell even one copy, if the public had working ears it wouldn't have managed even that xox

I think you need to invest in some soap Bré, so that you can WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT.

Quite a few of those deserve the vote for the various different reasons given but I went for 'Wonderwall' on the grounds that Oasis were absolutely stellar at the time of its release and I'm sure it sold a massive number the week it entered at #2. I still can't get over the fact that it was beaten to #1 by Robson & Jerome of all people!

 

Anyone know what the highest weekly sale is for a #2 single - would that be Wham?

Anyone know what the highest weekly sale is for a #2 single - would that be Wham?

Not sure but the highest this century must surely be Joe McElderry’s 450k in Christmas week 2009 (but that did then make #1 obviously).

 

I guess the Darkness in Christmas 2003 felt pretty unlucky given that it was close and how big a deal selling over 200k in a week was at that point as physicals were dying.

Edited February 12, 20214 yr by JulianT

ohhhh I forgot about Years & Years. Yes that was particularly unlucky and unfair tbh. Shine is one of my fav songs of all time too so I wish it had gotten the top spot :(

Didn't a similar thing also happen with Steps - It's the Way You Make Me Feel?

 

Although I'm not sure if the amount it sold the previous week would have been enough to see it at #1...

 

If I remember rightly Steps would still have been number 2. It’s one of their songs that was quite popular with fans when they reunited though

My vote goes to Addicted to Bass for reasons mentioned earlier, although Sunchyme too had the bad luck of being released just after one of the biggest deaths of the 20th century.

Eminem feat. Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie

I have to admit I thought of Maroon 5 before I opened the thread but there are a lot of very peculiar cases here! Does anyone know what is the most that a song has sold in a week without being a #1 hit at any point? I know "The Climb" did close to half a million but it also got to #1 the week after anyway.

 

I also find "Moves Like Jagger" an interesting story on the Australian charts just because it was #2 for 10 consecutive weeks, the first behind Adele's "Someone Like You" just winding its run down. It actually hit #1 on the digital tracks chart in that 2nd week so I have no idea how video-less "Someone Like You" outsold it but it must have been super close. Then the next 8 weeks are all behind Gotye's new monster smash hit filling in the instant Adele gives way. That in itself was a very unlucky moment for Maroon 5 because Gotye had to rush-release "Somebody That I Used To Know" after a top 40 chart show website unwittingly leaked the video. Otherwise it probably wouldn't have been able to ascend to the top in time. Maroon 5 have now had 5 #2 hits and never reached the top again since "She Will Be Loved". Combining this with the UK Chart, it really was a cursed campaign.