Posted July 16, 2024Jul 16 The Top 100 biggest songs of the past 10 years revealed Official chart company source Ed Sheeran’s monster smash Shape of You has been named as the biggest song of the Official Chart's streaming era (July 2014 – present), Official Charts can exclusively reveal. To mark 10 years since streaming began counting in the Official Singles Chart, we’ve crunched the numbers to reveal the biggest hits of the past decade, taking into account physical sales, digital downloads and streaming. Coming in at the top of the 10-year chart – in what will not be a surprise to many – is the biggest hit of Ed Sheeran’s career, an artist whose success across all formats is unmatched, and whose transition into superstardom was further supercharged by the advent of streaming. Ed's streaming success quite literally ‘broke’ the Official Chart and contributed to changing its rules forever. As such, Shape Of You reaches the summit as the Official biggest song of the last decade with an astounding haul of 6.29 million UK chart units; including 864,000 digital downloads and over 627 million streams. Released in 2017 as the co-lead single to Ed’s blockbuster third studio album Divide, Shape of You debuted at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, becoming Ed’s third UK Number 1 single (his all-time tally now stands at 14). Originally written with Rihanna in mind and then offered to Little Mix, the trop-pop influenced Shape Of You remains Ed’s probably best known chart hit, and that’s for a reason! It stayed at Number 1 for a eye-popping 14 weeks, one of the longest runs of any chart-topping single in UK chart history. Only four singles in history have lasted longer; Frankie Laine’s I Believe (18 weeks), Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (16 weeks), Wet Wet Wet’s Love Is All Around (15 weeks) and Drake’s One Dance (15 weeks). Confirming his place as the defining artist of the Official Chart's streaming era, Ed also lands no less than eight more tracks in the Top 100; Perfect (3), Thinking Out Loud (5), Castle on the Hill (14), Bad Habits (17), Photograph (36), Galway Girl (39), I Don’t Care with Justin Bieber (61) and Shivers (71). Coming in at Number 2 is Lewis Capaldi’s emotional ballad Someone You Loved, which still holds the distinction of being the most-streamed song of all time in UK chart history (698 million streams). It was Lewis' second single to chart and first Number 1, pushing him into mega-success as one of the UK’s most popular artists of the past five years. The biggest hit on the list from the pre-streaming era, The Killers’ 2004 hit Mr Brightside stands tall at Number 4. Its continued embrace as Britain's go-to indie party anthem saw it recently named by Official Charts as the UK's biggest song of all time to never reach Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart. The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights is the most recently released track in the Top 10 (6), while it’s joined by George Ezra’s Shotgun (7), Drake’s One Dance ft. Wizkid and Kyla (8), Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk (9), which is officially named as the best-selling song of the past decade (1.7 million sales, 99% of which were digital downloads.) Finally, the Top 10 is completed by Luis Fonzi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber with Despacito (Remix) (10), which completely transformed the validity of Latin music in Western music markets and helped the emergence of world-conquering, forward thinking artists such as Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Karol G and more. Hozier's debut single Take Me To Church just misses out on a place in the Top 10 (11), while Australian busker-turned-hitmaker Tones & I scores the biggest song for a female artist with former 11-week Number 1 Dance Monkey (12), while not too far behind is elusive chanteuse Mariah Carey with All I Want For Christmas Is You (13). Completing the Top 20, we have entries from James Arthur's Say You Won't Let Go (15), WHAM! with festive classic Last Christmas (16), Vance Joy’s Riptide (18), a second entry from George Ezra with Budapest (19) and Walk The Moon’s funky Shut Up & Dance (20). Dua Lipa sinks two entries in the Top 40 with One Kiss with Calvin Harris (21) and the viral hit that started it all, New Rules (31), Adele also pops in to say Hello (36) as does Taylor Swift on her million-selling Number 1 Shake It Off (37). Oxford indie rockers Glass Animals have enjoyed continued virality of their Top 5 lockdown hit Heat Waves (40). Singer Dave Bayley reflected with Official Charts on the incredible streaming success of Heat Waves in the UK, “It’s wonderful to hear that Heat Waves is one of the UK’s most-streamed songs of all time. I still have to pinch myself! It’s wild thinking about it. "It was the most personal song I’d written up to that point, but that’s also a reason why I thought it might not do very well. I thought ‘is it too personal, too introspective?’ But, actually, it made me realise that honesty and introspection’s an asset. I really wanted it to be a single, it was so important to me, but I don’t think any of us expected it do exactly what it did. Its success gave me the courage to write more honestly going forwards Pos Title Artist 1 SHAPE OF YOU ED SHEERAN 2 SOMEONE YOU LOVED LEWIS CAPALDI 3 PERFECT ED SHEERAN 4 MR BRIGHTSIDE KILLERS 5 THINKING OUT LOUD ED SHEERAN 6 BLINDING LIGHTS WEEKND 7 SHOTGUN GEORGE EZRA 8 ONE DANCE DRAKE FT WIZKID & KYLA 9 UPTOWN FUNK MARK RONSON FT BRUNO MARS 10 DESPACITO (REMIX) LUIS FONSI/DADDY YANKEE/BIEBER 11 TAKE ME TO CHURCH HOZIER 12 DANCE MONKEY TONES & I 13 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY 14 CASTLE ON THE HILL ED SHEERAN 15 SAY YOU WON'T LET GO JAMES ARTHUR 16 LAST CHRISTMAS WHAM 17 BAD HABITS ED SHEERAN 18 RIPTIDE VANCE JOY 19 BUDAPEST GEORGE EZRA 20 SHUT UP & DANCE WALK THE MOON 21 ONE KISS CALVIN HARRIS & DUA LIPA 22 UNFORGETTABLE FRENCH MONTANA FT SWAE LEE 23 SHALLOW LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER 24 SORRY JUSTIN BIEBER 25 LOVE YOURSELF JUSTIN BIEBER 26 WONDERWALL OASIS 27 CHEAP THRILLS SIA 28 7 YEARS LUKAS GRAHAM 29 ALL OF ME JOHN LEGEND 30 CAN'T STOP THE FEELING JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 31 NEW RULES DUA LIPA 32 DANCING ON MY OWN CALUM SCOTT 33 CHEERLEADER (FELIX JAEHN REMIX) OMI 34 THIS IS ME SETTLE/GREATEST SHOWMAN ENS 35 HELLO ADELE 36 PHOTOGRAPH ED SHEERAN 37 SHAKE IT OFF TAYLOR SWIFT 38 SUNFLOWER POST MALONE FT SWAE LEE 39 GALWAY GIRL ED SHEERAN 40 HEAT WAVES GLASS ANIMALS 41 CLOSER CHAINSMOKERS FT HALSEY 42 EVERYWHERE FLEETWOOD MAC 43 STARBOY WEEKND FT DAFT PUNK 44 CHANDELIER SIA 45 SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS CHAINSMOKERS & COLDPLAY 46 HUMAN RAG'N'BONE MAN 47 BAD GUY BILLIE EILISH 48 DO I WANNA KNOW ARCTIC MONKEYS 49 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL 50 THESE DAYS RUDIMENTAL/GLYNNE/MACKLEMORE 51 POMPEII BASTILLE 52 OLD TOWN ROAD LIL NAS X 53 AS IT WAS HARRY STYLES 54 HAVANA CAMILA CABELLO FT YOUNG THUG 55 BRUISES LEWIS CAPALDI 56 ROCKSTAR POST MALONE FT 21 SAVAGE 57 HEAD & HEART JOEL CORRY FT MNEK 58 ANOTHER LOVE TOM ODELL 59 DREAMS FLEETWOOD MAC 60 GOD'S PLAN DRAKE 61 I DON'T CARE ED SHEERAN & JUSTIN BIEBER 62 LOCATION DAVE FT BURNA BOY 63 STAY WITH ME SAM SMITH 64 BEFORE YOU GO LEWIS CAPALDI 65 STITCHES SHAWN MENDES 66 BABY SHARK PINKFONG 67 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 68 LET IT GO JAMES BAY 69 SYMPHONY CLEAN BANDIT FT ZARA LARSSON 70 LEAN ON MAJOR LAZER FT MO & DJ SNAKE 71 SHIVERS ED SHEERAN 72 WHAT DO YOU MEAN JUSTIN BIEBER 73 I TOOK A PILL IN IBIZA MIKE POSNER 74 BELIEVER IMAGINE DRAGONS 75 SWEET BUT PSYCHO AVA MAX 76 DON'T STOP ME NOW QUEEN 77 SOMEONE LIKE YOU ADELE 78 THIS IS WHAT YOU CAME FOR CALVIN HARRIS FT RIHANNA 79 LUSH LIFE ZARA LARSSON 80 HOLD BACK THE RIVER JAMES BAY 81 DON'T START NOW DUA LIPA 82 LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO ELLIE GOULDING 83 WATERMELON SUGAR HARRY STYLES 84 THE HILLS WEEKND 85 IRIS GOO GOO DOLLS 86 DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER OASIS 87 NAIVE KOOKS 88 AFRICA TOTO 89 SAVE YOUR TEARS WEEKND 90 ROCKABYE CLEAN BANDIT 91 VIVA LA VIDA COLDPLAY 92 THE CHAIN FLEETWOOD MAC 93 SEE YOU AGAIN WIZ KHALIFA FT CHARLIE PUTH 94 DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' JOURNEY 95 LET HER GO PASSENGER 96 EASTSIDE BENNY BLANCO/HALSEY/KHALID 97 HOLD ME WHILE YOU WAIT LEWIS CAPALDI 98 SUMMER OF '69 BRYAN ADAMS 99 GOOD 4 U OLIVIA RODRIGO 100 CHASING CARS SNOW PATROL Edited July 16, 2024Jul 16 by DJ Cheeky Magpie
July 17, 2024Jul 17 ROSALÍA mentioned :cheeseblock: Surprising there are so few Christmas songs on here.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 At least OCC allowed the Christmas songs here. Go Shallow! Edited July 17, 2024Jul 17 by Sour Candy
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Surprising there are so few Christmas songs on here. Christmas songs didn’t start doing really big numbers til 2017 and didn’t make a year end til 2019 so not too surprising imo Toto - Africa !! Who is playing this LOL Me! It’s a banger
July 17, 2024Jul 17 It's a weird list because it's so mid-2010s heavy. Whilst of course they all have a headstart on anything from the last few years, can't help thinking it's also because there are so few proper mainstream monster hits around these days. I was gonna say the likes of "Flowers" - but that's not even top 100!
July 17, 2024Jul 17 You need a fair bit of time to build enough streams so that’s why nothing released in the last couple of years is there. If it was done in another year or two you’d see songs like “Flowers” and “Stick Season”. Christmas songs do better in the all time list as this chops off all their pure sales before mid 2014.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Good 4 U went 4x platinum a couple of months ago, so I guess the cutoff for top 100 is just over 2.4 million :o
July 17, 2024Jul 17 You need a fair bit of time to build enough streams so that’s why nothing released in the last couple of years is there. If it was done in another year or two you’d see songs like “Flowers” and “Stick Season”. Christmas songs do better in the all time list as this chops off all their pure sales before mid 2014. I do think it's a bit of both though, because it does seem like the rate of turnover at the top of the "all time" lists has slowed down dramatically.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Note 3 songs from the last 10 years that have gone 4x platinum have narrowly missed: “Feel It Still”, “2002” and “Levitating”. “Despacito”, “Budapest” and “Sunflower” are the biggest songs yet to be 7x, 6x and 5x platinum respectively.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 I do think it's a bit of both though, because it does seem like the rate of turnover at the top of the "all time" lists has slowed down dramatically. Yeah. Thats what you'd really expect as "all time" is by definition an ever-longer period of time. The songs in the past couple of years making this list would be the equivalent of a Thursday release making the top 100 in the weekly chart Edited July 17, 2024Jul 17 by Eric_Blob
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Yeah. Thats what you'd really expect as "all time" is by definition an ever-longer period of time. The songs in the past couple of years making this list would be the equivalent of a Thursday release making the top 100 in the weekly chart When an updated official all-time list was released in 2017, we saw huge changes at the top, with 8 of the top 11 songs having been released in only the last 4 years. https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/t...evealed__20459/ I of course understand that the older songs have a headstart, but I am still surprised at quite how dominant those mid-2010s songs still are on this list, with only Blinding Lights going really high. I would've expected to see more 2020s songs lower down the top 100 than there are.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 When an updated official all-time list was released in 2017, we saw huge changes at the top, with 8 of the top 11 songs having been released in only the last 4 years. https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/t...evealed__20459/ I of course understand that the older songs have a headstart, but I am still surprised at quite how dominant those mid-2010s songs still are on this list, with only Blinding Lights going really high. I would've expected to see more 2020s songs lower down the top 100 than there are. Ah yeah I know what you mean. Although I think that case can be mostly attributed to streaming inflating "sales" of hits in the streaming Age.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 I do think it’s fair to say that 2020-2023 don’t seem to have produced that many streaming mega hits, with people reverting more and more to older music especially during the pandemic. I feel like 2024 has been different, though it’s too early to say which of the recent hits might appear on a list like this in the future.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Since 2020, the consumption has moved towards old music more, which is why it takes time for the new songs to reach quadruple platinum levels. I mean Stick Season, the biggest hit of the year, isn't even triple platinum yet.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Also, the bar has raised a fair bit since the 2017 list - 2.4 million combined sales typically takes a long time to accrue now that streaming is dominant and that's to just miss the top 100 now, whereas nothing at all had reached that many streaming points in the 2017 list (only 'Shape Of You' and 'One Dance' were remotely near) and the top end of that list was still dominated by pure sales which accrued much more quickly.
July 17, 2024Jul 17 Having a closer look at the list and it slightly tickles me to see 'Baby Shark' one place ahead of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Real music victory xx A lot of sub par songs there !! Toto - Africa !! Who is playing this LOL Literally the best song on the list
July 17, 2024Jul 17 f*** me, the upper echelons of this chart is BEIGE. It's quite funny how in the week it was released it felt like streaming might have disadvantaged Sia's 'Chandelier', and now it's #44 on this list!
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