25/03/06 17,694 No Tomorrow - Orson

22/01/05 20,463 One Night / I Got Stung - Elvis Presley

20/01/07 20,669 A Moment Like This - Leona Lewis

29/01/05 21,128 Goodies - Ciara / Petey Pablo

15/01/05 21,262 Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley

30/10/04 21,749 Call On Me - Eric Prydz

05/02/05 21,887 It’s Now or Never - Elvis Presley

28/07/07 22,143 Umbrella - Rihanna / Jay Z

28/06/08 23,212 Viva La Vida - Coldplay

06/11/06 23,706 Wonderful - Ja Rule / R Kelly / Ashanti

 

04/02/05 24,854 Nasty Girl - Notorious BIG / Puff Daddy / Nelly / Jagged Edge / Avery Storm

12/01/02 25,354 Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield

29/09/07 26,248 Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston

08/01/05 26,400 Against All Odds - Steve Brookstein

10/09/05 26,661 Dare - Gorillaz / Shaun Ryder

17/03/07 27,000 Shine - Take That

21/06/08 27,537 Singin’ in the Rain - Mint Royale

12/05/07 28,000 Beautiful Liar - Beyonce / Shakira

13/01/90 28,067 Hangin’ Tough - New Kids on the Block

11/04/92 28,170 Stay - Shakespears Sister

 

01/04/06 28,287 So Sick - Neyo

19/08/06 28,638 Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira / Wyclef Jean

18/03/06 29,000 It’s Chico Time - Chico

02/05/92 29,070 Deeply Dippy - Right Said Fred

28/10/06 29,201 Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

02/09/06 29,365 Deja Vu - Beyonce / Jay Z

15/12/07 29,616 Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

21/04/06 29,760 Give It to Me - Timbaland / Nelly Furtado / Justin Timberlake

10/05/08 29,821 Four Minutes - Madonna / Justin Timberlake

04/12/04 29,990 I’ll Stand by You - Girls Aloud

 

28/02/04 30,072 Who’s David - Busted

19/02/05 30,359 Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own - U2

12/02/05 30,496 Like Toy Soldiers - Eminem

27/01/07 30,500 Grace Kelly - Mika

05/07/08 30,676 Closer - Neyo

19/05/07 30,693 Baby’s Coming Back / Transylvania - McFly

23/12/06 30,833 Patience - Take That

17/10/92 31,185 Sleeping Satellite - Tasmin Archer

14/01/21 31,186 Sweet Melody - Little Mix

17/12/05 31,311 Stick with You - Pussycat Dolls

 

17/07/04 31,411 Burn - Usher

08/04/06 31,709 Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

21/01/06 31,724 That’s My Goal - Shayne Ward

12/01/91 32,032 Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter - Iron Maiden

19/01/02 32,081 More Than a Woman - Aaliyah

12/01/08 32,098 When You Believe - Leon Jacksom

07/10/06 32,338 I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ - Scissor Sisters

26/04/03 32,500 Make Love - Room 5 / Oliver Cheatham

31/10/92 32,520 End of the Road - Boyz II Men

11/08/07 32,592 The Way I Are - Timbaland / Keri Hilson / DOE

 

14/10/06 32,753 America - Razorlight

01/09/07 32,915 Stronger - Kanye West

09/05/92 33,405 Please Don’t Go / Game Boy - KWS

18/01/03 33,471 Sound of the Underground - Girls Aloud

26/02/06 33,635 Thunder in My Heart - Meck / Leo Sayer

06/10/07 34,068 About You Now - Sugababes

11/11/06 34,391 Put Your Hands Up for Detroit - Fedde Le Grand

05/07/03 34,300 Bring Me to Life - Evanescence

08/01/00 34,500 I Have a Dream / Seasons in the Sun - Westlife

10/10/92 34,515 Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen

 

01/07/06 34,537 Maneater - Nelly Furtado

26/07/03 34,589 Crazy in Love - Beyonce / Jay Z

11/01/86 34,697 West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys

18/08/07 34,842 With Every Heartbeat - Robyn / Kleerup

28/01/06 34,992 When the Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys

31/01/04 35,040 All This Time - Michelle McManus

19/01/08 35,112 Now You’re Gone - Basshunter

25/11/06 35,119 Smack That - Akon / Eminem

22/07/06 35,228 Smile - Lily Allen

18/09/04 35,435 Real to Me - Brian McFadden

 

07/06/08 35,561 Take a Bow - Rihanna

20/08/05 35,671 You’re Beautiful - James Blunt

14/08/04 36,288 Thunderbirds Are Go / 3AM - Busted

05/06/04 36,440 F*** You Right Back - Frankee

02/08/03 36,477 Never Gonna Leave Your Side - Daniel Bedingfield

29/07/06 36,496 Don’t Stop Me Now / Please, Please - McFly

10/05/03 36,671 Loneliness - Tomcraft

04/03/06 36,928 Sorry - Madonna

09/08/08 37,111 All Summer Long - Kid Rock

 

17/04/04 37,120 Five Colours in Her Hair - McFly

02/11/23 37,139 Strangers - Kenya Grace

06/03/25 37,456 Not Like Us - Kendrick Lemar

21/06/18 37,959 I’ll Be There - Jess Glynne

03/03/07 38,000 Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs

29/10/20 38,052 Lemonade - Internet Money / Gunna / Don Toliver / Nev

02/08/08 38,275 Dance with Me - Dizzee Rascal / Calvin Harris / Chrome

23/02/08 38,366 Mercy - Duffy

10/12/20 38,394 Positions - Ariana Grande

18/03/21 38,429 Driver’s Licence - Olivia Rodrigo

14/01/84 38,590 Pipes of Peace - Paul McCartney

13/03/25 38,646 Pink Pony Club - Chappell Roan

06/01/90 38,709 Do They Know It’s Christmas - Band Aid II

12/09/92 38,790 Rhythm Is a Dancer - Snap!

29/10/05 38,962 I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys

07/11/24 39,001 Sailor Song - Gigi Perez

13/01/22 39,156 Easy On Me - Adele

19/04/08 39,376 American Boy - Estelle / Kanye West

17/08/17 39,569 Feels - Calvin Harris / Pharrell Williams / Katy Perry / Big Sean

10/06/07 39,797 I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom

Edited March 7Mar 7 by chartjack2

I’’m sure I’ve made many mistakes, so please correct me at will!

 

Also, if any anyone can help with pre 2000 sales, feel free :)

I suppose some of these should be asterisked that they weren’t the actual best seller of the week as is the case with Sailor Song

 

and to be pedantic the title should be 21st century :P

Pretty sure the date of this week’s #1 is wrong 😇

Changed, not sure how you change the subheading of a thread though? :)

Changed, not sure how you change the subheading of a thread though? :)

Do a full edit on the 1st post (done)

Thanks, Julian! The OP is definitely a work in progress, so anyone please suggest additions or amendments :)

 

Updated with all the figures I could find from 1980 to date. Any errors, let me know. As far as I can make out, there have been 96 different #1s that have “sold” less than 40,000 in a week - I’m sure we’ll get to 100 very soon.

Great work Ed!

 

Iron Maiden - Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter in the list for its second week makes me think it was probably the multi-week #1 that came closest to spending all its weeks in the Top 10 at #1 before ACR came in, as it went 1-1-9-32... (Helping Haiti went 1-1-9-26...) Since ACR came in, 'Taste' is the 5th song to have stayed at #1 from release to ACR, the others being 'God's Plan', 'drivers license', 'Bad Habits' and 'Sprinter'. (Slight digression, I know...)

how much did Iron Maiden do in their other week at #1, was it >40K?

41k according to Gezza's thread for TOTP 1990

What on earth was going on when Orson went to #1? :o

What on earth was going on when Orson went to #1? :o

I remember that week, it was made quite a big deal of. Sales were obviously around their lowest then and I think there was also a lack of competition.

Umbrella was 2007 not 2005.

Think I’ve made all necessary corrections now.

So Not Like Us becomes the 99th #1 with a weekly sale of less than 40K - what will be the 100th?

On 05/11/2024 at 18:12, lewistgreen said:

What on earth was going on when Orson went to #1? :o

CD sales were plummeting, (legal) downloads were starting to get popular but hadn’t got really big yet, and they weren’t fully integrated into the chart yet - this was still just when all songs needed a physical release to be chart eligible. Also around this time both Top of the Pops and Smash Hits gave up, and generally singles felt like a dying market in comparison to a then flourishing album chart.

Seeing some of my favourite #1s of all time in the above list is quite sad (Black Parade, Bring Me To Life) but to be honest in that era I was listening to them on music channels most of the time rather than going out and buying the CDs.

I’d like to know what on earth was happening in January 2021 for that recent low for Sweet Melody? Given the world situation at the time I assumed people would be streaming more rather than less in absence of anything else to do, or was everyone just too depressed to listen to anything?

On 01/03/2025 at 06:19, chartjack2 said:

So Not Like Us becomes the 99th #1 with a weekly sale of less than 40K - what will be the 100th?

Possibly 'Pink Pony Club' this week lol ~ (unless it gets a bump from her BRIT wins)

I'd say PPC too if it makes it , not shown a boost yet so I'm guessing uts unlikely to get any noticeable boost now

On 02/03/2025 at 23:35, BillyH said:

I’d like to know what on earth was happening in January 2021 for that recent low for Sweet Melody? Given the world situation at the time I assumed people would be streaming more rather than less in absence of anything else to do, or was everyone just too depressed to listen to anything?

Those early weeks in January always seems to be quite low for everything. Particularly albums, we've seen albums get to #1 on less than 10,000 copies. For some reason, it also happens the week after the Olympics.