#80

Coldplay - Yellow

 

 

Inspired by seeing the sky outside the studio while recording their debut album "Parachutes", this was their international breakthrough hit.

 

Estimated sales: 2.98 million

Year: 2000

Chart run: (4)-11-18-21-25-29-31-34-39-44-61-/-59-/-72–52-60-/-74–/-66 (17 weeks)

 

#79

Ed Sheeran - Galway Girl

 

 

A collaboration with the Irish folk band Beoga which took the runner up position behind himself on the release of "Divide".

 

Estimated sales: 2.99 million

Year: 2017

Chart run: (2)-2-2-2-2-3-3-3-5-6-10-14-17-20-20-25-24-34-40-42-47-53-48-51-56-70-/-66-70-/-70 (29 weeks)

 

#78

Glass Animals - Heat Waves

 

 

A record breaking 59 week climb to the US #1 for this sleeper hit, and here it's the biggest release from 2020.

 

Estimated sales: 2.99 million

Year: 2020

Chart run: 68-63-68-68-67-73-/-48-45-43-38-34-24-26-23-22-24-23-25-24-21-24-20-19-19-22-30-57-57-58-63-61-68-65-73-59-57-54-57-53-60-18-10-8-7-8-(5)-6-5-7-8-28-31-41-51-53-65–72-25-33-34-35-31-27-28-27-26-24-26-23-20-23-22-23-26-30-32-36-35-34-33-39-39-38-37-33-32-39-47-45-41-39-42-46-44-48-52-59-53-65-66-/-73-/-64-73-/-24-38-35-36-39-29-30-33-25-25-27-30-74 (117 weeks)

 

#77

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

 

 

The lead single from "21" and her first US #1, in a blues gospel style.

 

Estimated sales: 3.00 million including 1.11 million purchases

Year: 2011

Chart run: (2)-3-4-5-4-4-5-9-8-9-15-16-16-22-26-27-33-34-26-31-37-41-44-45-43-47-36-51-44-45-50-52-49-40–50-54-55-56-51-55-69-62-68-/-70-/-75-69-45-39-55-70-/-39-28-45-58-71-73 (56 weeks)

 

#76

Post Malone featuring Swae Lee - Sunflower

 

 

Recorded for "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse", this became the first ever song to be certified 20x platinum in the US.

 

Estimated sales: 3.01 million

Year: 2018

Chart run: 7-11-10-8-8-9-16-9-10-19-(3)-5-5-7-8-10-23-29-29-30-32-35-37-43-42-40-41-46-46-49-55-53-60-62-66-74-/-64-64-65-63-62-55-55-57-58-/-27-31-/-52-56-72-/-30-52-61-70 (54 weeks)

 

#75

Guns 'n' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

 

 

Their debut single which was a US #1 but took a re-release to even reach #6 here.

 

Estimated sales: 3.02 million

Year: 1987

Chart run: 35-24-24-24-30-39-52-64-/-34-8-(6)-9-12-20-32-40-69-/-57-/-64-/-75-/-62-56-/-40-48-45-48 (26 weeks)

 

#74

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

 

 

Their only US #1 which reached a lowly #24 here, and has been heavily streamed since a viral video in 2020.

 

Estimated sales: 3.03 million

Year: 1977

Chart run: 46-28-25-30-27-(24)-26-25-32-/-55-37-35-40-53-57-64-/-64-75-/-74-/-74-/-75-/-67–/-74-/-72-70-56-61-71 (28 weeks)

 

#73

The Kooks - Naïve

 

 

The fourth single from their debut album "Inside In / Inside Out", while the fifth, "She Moves In Her Own Way", very narrowly missed this Top 200.

 

Estimated sales: 3.04 million

Year: 2006

Chart run: 28-6-(5)-7-6-10-11-10-13-20-26-38-26-25-28-21-35-38-41-50-58-51-60-56-67-73-62-67-72–/-69–/-75-68-/-71-75-70 (37 weeks)

 

#72

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

 

 

She may well be the biggest pop star on the planet right now but this is her only Top 200 appearance, and one of the last songs to cross the 1 million pure sales mark.

 

Estimated sales: 3.05 million including 1.00 million purchases

Year: 2014

Chart run: 4-4-6-4-5-3-3-4-(2)-5-3-5-12-18-26-32-29-32-15-15-23-26-19-29-38-40-46-49-55-58-49-63-66-68-/-44-73 (36 weeks)

 

#71

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

 

 

This has nowhere near the 1.2 million plus purchases of "Earth Song", but its streaming makes it by far his biggest song.

 

Estimated sales: 3.05 million

Year: 1983

Chart run: 57-20-17-5-2-(1)-2-3-8-11-20-25-36-41-58-/-11-56-66-67-75-/-25-10-21-28-37-49-57-71 (28 weeks)

 

#70

Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone

 

 

This was actually recorded in 1984, but its release was pushed back a year to avoid clashing with a certain charity single.

 

Estimated sales: 3.06 million

Year: 1985

Chart run: 38-10–2-(1)-1–3-20-42-/-75-59-58-/-33-23-22-71-/-44-36-42-68-/-59-49-55-47-/-73-74-68-/-72-42-48-62-/-46-50-54-/-56-54-59-/-53-44-45-38-/-44-35-26-67-/-28-29-22-17-/-21-16-15-10-/-36-21-20-9-/-26-16-16-6-/-33-14-6-7-6-/-52-17-6-6-8-6-/-54-26-12-13-16-15-/-51-25-10-12-10-12 (84 weeks)

 

#69

Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris - We Found Love

 

 

This went straight to #1 despite a shock midweek release, cruelly denying "Moves Like Jagger" which had finally been midweek #1 on its eighth week.

 

Estimated sales: 3.07 million including 1.44 million purchases

Year: 2011

Chart run: (1)-1-1-3-2-1-1-1-3-4-5-10-5-9-11-17-24-28-34-22-24-26-34-41-49-55-52-39-49-62-64-66-65-72-74-75-54-52-53-57-71-/-62-69-68-74-/-66-/-72 (49 weeks)

 

#68

Gotye featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know

 

 

The only UK hit for either of these artists with a minimalist dual perspective break up song sampling a 1967 instrumental called "Seville" by Luiz Bonfá.

 

Estimated sales: 3.08 million including 1.53 million purchases

Year: 2011

Chart run: 36-21-7-3-(1)-3-1-1-1-1-3-5-3-3-6-7-10-9-10-9-17-17-16-19-20-17-16-17-25-27-30-46-44-42-48-53-51-51-54-60-50-66-59-62-69-/-56-55-60-45-66-74-/-61-57 (53 weeks)

 

#67

Ed Sheeran - Photograph

 

 

The fifth single from "x" and by far his biggest non Top 10 hit, co-written by Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol.

 

Estimated sales: 3.09 million

Year: 2015

Chart run: 44-45-54-65-75-/-43-72-61-62-65-64-65-/-54-49-43-34-22-(15)-16-17-19-17-16-20-19-18-22-24-23-26-32-31-33-35-35-37-41-50-45-44-46-58-67-50-48-59-59-56-65-66-66-57-63-64-72-67-71-/-70-/-45-50-56-64-68-67 (65 weeks)

 

#66

Adele - Hello

 

 

No single released after 2014 has attained 1 million purchases but this is the closest with more than 980,000, and it's the latest song to shift more than 250,000 downloads in a single week.

 

Estimated sales: 3.10 million

Year: 2015

Chart run: (1)-1-1-2-3-3-4-3-4-3-5-8-7-10-15-19-20-20-22-26-32-38-39-43-49-58-/-53-64-65-72-75-/-68 (32 weeks)

 

Classic after classic. For an indie song released in the sales doldrums of 2006, it’s astonishing to see Naive over the 3m sales mark.

 

It’s a great song but not one I thought would go on after that year to become an all-time classic.

 

Great to see Shaky so high! One of the best Christmas songs.

 

Fascinating countdown! Thanks Julian.

Edited August 18, 2024Aug 18 by gooddelta

#65

Keala Settle And The Greatest Showman Ensemble - This Is Me

 

 

The lead single from one of the most commercially successful soundtracks of all time, and an Oscar winning song.

 

Estimated sales: 3.11 million

Year: 2017

Chart run: 28-16-13-8-8-6-(3)-6-8-7-6-7-8-3-7-10-13-23-24-25-22-21-26-27-30-35-39-43-37-28-33-40-39-42-38-42-40-35-44-46-44-46-47-51-59-62-34-36-50-45-42-55-16-23-31-39-46-56-58-60-60-65-75-72-74 (65 weeks)

 

#64

Omi - Cheerleader

 

 

This was first written in 2008, a hit in Jamaica in 2012 and later a global smash after being remixed by Felix Jeahn.

 

Estimated sales: 3.12 million

Year: 2015

Chart run: 73 -/-70-72-/-75-72-61-47-37-27-2-2-(1)-1-1-1-2-3-2–3-6-6-12-9-9-7-9-10-11-15-20-20-24-24-31-35-35-38-41-44-50-65-71-72-/-57-54-67-/-71 (47 weeks)

 

#63

Macklemore featuring Ryan Lewis and Ray Dalton - Can't Hold Us

 

 

The follow up to the duo's #1 "Thrift Shop", which has gone on to hugely outperform their chart topper on streaming.

 

Estimated sales: 3.12 million

Year: 2013

Chart run: 53-46-38-33-12-5-(3)-5-4-4-7-9-11-14-17-22-25-27-24-27-34-37-37-35-44-47-53-51-51-54-56-63-71-/-63-74-73-61 (37 weeks)

 

#62

Calum Scott - Dancing On My Own

 

 

The debut hit and to date the only solo Top 40 for the "Britain's Got Talent" star, with a cover of a Robyn song.

 

Estimated sales: 3.13 million

Year: 2016

Chart run: 40-42-36-36-38-42-27-28-16-12-10-4-4-3-(2)-3-3-4-4-4-4-8-10-10-10-13-19-22-22-24-27-31-35-41-50-52-38-48-46-55-66-66-66-67 (45 weeks)