It will be 30 years this Sunday since the published UK singles chart was extended from a Top 50 to Top 75.

The reason given at the time was that singles sales were rapidly increasing.

 

It's oh-so different now Ehh! A number one single would sell well in excess of 100K that week.

 

The #1 Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring spent 5 weeks at #1 before gradually falling as far as #21 and then it climbed back up to #2 due to the amount of aiplay Brown Girl In The Ring started to get. In all it sold just under 2 million copies and is the 4th biggest selling single of all time during it's 40 week chart run.

Only Bing Crosby - White Christmas, Wings - Mull Of Kintyre, and Elton John - Candle In The Wind '97 have sold more.

 

You can see that first ever UK Top 75 HERE

Edited May 3, 200817 yr by Euro Music

Some absolute classic tunes in here -

 

1 2 3 RIVERS OF BABYLON / BROWN GIRL IN THE RING Boney M :dance:

2 1 5 NIGHT FEVER Bee Gees :dance:

3 4 8 TOO MUCH TOO LITTLE TOO LATE Johnny Mathis And Deniece Williams :wub:

4 6 4 AUTOMATIC LOVER Dee D Jackson

5 5 8 NEVER LET HER SLIP AWAY Andrew Gold

6 3 12 MATCHSTALK MEN & MATCHSTALK CATS & DOGS Brian And Michael :wub:

7 23 3 BECAUSE THE NIGHT Patti Smith Group :)

8 10 7 LET'S ALL CHANT Michael Zager Band :)

9 14 7 EVERYBODY DANCE Chic :dance:

10 30 2 THE BOY FROM NEW YORK CITY Darts

11 8 9 IF YOU CAN'T GIVE ME LOVE Suzi Quatro

12 15 5 SHE'S SO MODERN Boomtown Rats

13 16 6 JACK & JILL Raydio

14 13 4 BAD OLD DAYS Co-Co

15 7 8 I WONDER WHY Showaddywaddy :)

16 12 10 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Sheila B Devotion

17 22 5 DO IT DO IT AGAIN Raffaella Carra

18 11 10 FOLLOW YOU FOLLOW ME Genesis :)

19 35 2 (I'M ALWAYS TOUCHED BY YOUR) PRESENCE DEAR Blondie

20 20 8 MORE LIKE THE MOVIES Dr. Hook

21 45 2 IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU Yvonne Elliman :dance:

22 9 7 WITH A LITTLE LUCK Wings

23 24 3 LOVE IS IN THE AIR John Paul Young :wub:

24 19 6 TAKE ME I'M YOURS Squeeze

25 21 7 IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO Richard Myhill

26 26 3 THE DAY THE WORLD TURNED DAYGLO X-Ray Spex

27 1 A BA NI BI Izhar Cohen And Alphabeta :)

28 38 2 MORE THAN A WOMAN Tavares :dance:

29 27 2 NICE N SLEAZY Stranglers

30 17 13 BAKER STREET Gerry Rafferty :wub:

31 25 5 THEME FROM HONG KONG BEAT Richard Denton And Martin Cook

32 28 3 COME TO ME Ruby Winters

33 44 2 HI TENSION Hi Tension

34 29 4 BACK IN LOVE AGAIN Donna Summer

35 37 3 WHAT A WASTE Ian Dury

36 1 UP AGAINST THE WALL Tom Robinson Band

37 31 2 IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE DANCIN' Rose Royce

38 46 3 WHEN YOU WALK IN THE ROOM Child

39 40 2 FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME Foreigner

40 18 12 SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH Dan Hill :wub:

41 32 4 HEY LORD DON'T ASK NO QUESTIONS Graham Parker And The Rumour

42 36 2 BOOGIE SHOES KC And The Sunshine Band :dance:

43 47 3 JUST FOR YOU Alan Price

44 49 3 DANCE A LITTLE BIT CLOSER Charo And The Salsoul Orchestra

45 1 ROSALIE Thin Lizzy

46 1 PUMP IT UP Elvis Costello

47 34 13 DENIS Blondie :)

48 50 2 CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU Barry Manilow :wub:

49 1 SHADOW DANCING Andy Gibb

50 41 4 SATISFACTION Devo

51 48 2 EGO Elton John

52 42 2 THE CLOSER I GET TO YOU Roberta Flack And Donny Hathaway

53 1 ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES Sham 69

54 1 JUPITER Earth Wind And Fire :)

55 1 I DON'T MIND Buzzcocks

56 1 TAKE ME TO THE NEXT PHASE Isley Brothers

57 33 12 WALK IN LOVE Manhattan Transfer

58 1 CA PLANE POUR MOI Plastic Bertrand

59 1 LOVING YOU HAS MADE ME BANANAS Guy Marks

60 1 ONLY LOVING DOES IT Guys And Dolls

61 1 WHATEVER IT TAKES Olympic Runners

62 1 EDDIE VORTEX Steve Gibbons Band

63 13 STAYIN' ALIVE Bee Gees :dance:

64 4 I MUST BE IN LOVE Rutles

65 1 JOKO HOMO Devo

66 5 THE ONE & ONLY Gladys Knight And The Pips

67 6 MOVE YOUR BODY Gene Farrow

68 39 10 I DON'T WANNA GO TO CHELSEA Elvis Costello :)

69 43 11 EVERY 1'S A WINNER Hot Chocolate :wub:

70 1 PLACE IN YOUR HEART Nazareth

71 1 WHAT GOES ON Bryan Ferry

72 1 SHAME Evelyn 'Champagne' King

73 1 DON'T TAKE IT LYIN' DOWN The Dooleys

74 4 HAZELL Maggie Bell

75 13 WUTHERING HEIGHTS Kate Bush :wub:

 

Downloads have killed off the days of waiting for that song to come out and rushing to buy it. :( But i think it's down to radio stations and Cable channels as well. They just batter songs until they are worn out and when it eventually comes to the release you've either downloaded it or you've got sick of it. :o

 

You've got lots of the number of weeks incorrect as there were quite a few re-entries.

 

 

For anyone interested in the history of UK singles charts, you can see a History Of The UK Chart (the first 50 years) HERE

sales were increasing 30 years ago due to the impact punk had made on music. gone were the stale cheesy drab popsongs from post glam groups, punk inspired a musical revolution and like the mid 60's 'inovation' was the word. new sounds, new styles were being tried out by anyone who wanted to.

 

good times.

It will be 30 years this Sunday since the published UK singles chart was extended from a Top 50 to Top 75.

The reason given at the time was that singles sales were rapidly increasing.

 

It's oh-so different now Ehh! A number one single would sell well in excess of 100K that week.

 

The #1 Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring spent 5 weeks at #1 before gradually falling as far as #21 and then it climbed back up to #2 due to the amount of aiplay Brown Girl In The Ring started to get. In all it sold just under 2 million copies and is the 4th biggest selling single of all time during it's 40 week chart run.

Only Bing Crosby - White Christmas, Wings - Mull Of Kintyre, and Elton John - Candle In The Wind '97 have sold more.

 

You can see that first ever UK Top 75 HERE

 

 

Band Aid sold more than Boney M too.

Edited May 4, 200817 yr by Crazy Chris

best selling singles of all time are:

 

[1] SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT/CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997 - Elton John (1997) 4,865,000

[2] DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS - Band Aid (1984/2007) 3,575,000

[3] BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY - Queen (1975/91) 2,176,000

[4] MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL - Wings (1977) 2,050,000

[5] RIVERS OF BABYLON/BROWN GIRL IN THE RING - Boney M (1978) 1,985,000

[6] YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1978) 1,975,000

[7] RELAX - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1984) 1,910,000

[8] SHE LOVES YOU - Beatles (1963) 1,890,000

[9] UNCHAINED MELODY/WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER - Robson Green & Jerome Flynn (1995) 1,844,000

[10] MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD - Boney M (1978/2007) 1,803,500

 

White Christmas has sold a million, probably much more than a million but there are no reliable sales figures as most of its sales were pre chart days and before record companies kept reliable accounts. MCA, the label that released the song in 1961 under the catalog number that eventually charted in 1977 once estimated that it had sold at least 1.4m copies in the UK but couldn't be sure by how much nor even say with any certainty that it had in fact sold that much! It's "official" sales just show it has a silver disc from 1978, 250,000 copies shipped and whatever it has sold since then.