Robbie

It would get a Platinum certification if its downloads and streams were to pass 600k sales. However it wouldn't get an additional Silver certification for downloads and streams as the BPI database for pre-1994 releases will only award / upgrade a certification if sales since 1994 take the track to the next certification level from whatever was originally awarded.

I'm guessing it's going to be Taylor Swift...

It's surely got to be Taylor Swift? They are still in contact with each other...

I like it! At least he's bringing some life back to the singles charts. Far better he releases a new single or two than the same records hanging around forever and a day. Plus it will help his streaming sales for his album due to the way the chart rules work...

Yup, its sales remained steady due to Christmas though it also did increase in sales in the New Year. It's top selling week was when the single reached number 3, with it selling 18,500 copies that week. Another single that sold more copies for several weeks despite dropping down the charts was 'Rockstar' by Nickelback which managed to increase its sales for 5 weeks in a row despite dropping from 20 to 25 in those 5 weeks, again that was in December (2007). Then the record came to life and climbed to number 2 and almost broke the record for the slowest climb to the top. It never made the top but then Ed Sheeran broke the record for the slowest climb to the top a few years later...

'Hey Ya' had one of the most bizarre chart runs from that era. It dropped down the charts for 4 weeks in a row, from 6 to 22 while selling more copies each week. I remember posting at Dotmusic that it was probably going to go back into the top 10 after the New Year and sure enough it did..! it reached its peak, at number 3, on its 13th week on the chart which was quite unbelievable for the time.

Physical era for me. And a blast from the past physical era, back to the 1970s and 1980s. Back when the top 40 had half a dozen new entries at the most each week.

And the same this week for 'Shape Of You' being certified Gold for 400,000 sales which is based on the 100:1 ratio (chart sales are 366,403, presumably sales for certification purposes, using the 100:1 ratio are 448,084) I wonder if the BPI will start to certify records based on the 150:1 ratio from April, the traditional date for the start of the new business year? Otherwise the certification status of a single is going to be even more meaningless in the long run as the gap between chart sales of a track and its "market sales" for certification purposes may become huge.

It hasn't though until today...

Although 'Off The Wall' wasn't Michael Jackson's first solo album - he had released 4 as a child singer when with Motown records - it's the one that that kickstarted his mainstream chart career as an adult singer. Each of the albums he released as an adult solo star in the 80s had at least 5 tracks released as singles: Off The Wall: 5 out of 10 tracks released as singles Thriller: 6 / 9 Bad: 8 /10 (9 / 11 on CD version) then into the 90s: Dangerous: 9 / 14

^ I've just read the title of the thread again, I never noticed at first it was a list of the world's best selling artists. Linda was very successful in the US in the 1970s.

And Donna Summer, the Beach Boys, The Who, Duran Duran, the Pet Shop Boys and Wham! amongst others. There must surely be an error there as she's only had 2 top 10 hits and neither of them were massive sellers. Wham! probably sold more singles in 1984 alone than Linda has managed throughout the whole of her career in the UK. Most of her singles have failed to chart.

Band Aid 20 sold over a million copies. Its 4 weeks at the top saw sales of: 2004 11-Dec Do They Know It's Christmas? Band Aid 20 292,594 18-Dec Do They Know It's Christmas? Band Aid 20 287,849 25-Dec Do They Know It's Christmas? Band Aid 20 231,492 2005 01-Jan Do They Know It's Christmas? Band Aid 20 231,929 It then fell to number 2 on a sale of 21,744 then the following week it fell to number 6 on 7,748 sales.

In 1985 a first was achieved and one which has never been equalled. The top 3 of the 1984 Christmas chart were inside the top 40 at Christmas 1985. Band Aid (at #3) and Wham! (at #6) have already been mentioned but at #34 was Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus. Quite an unbelievable feat.

I also hope it's stopped the one week wonders from getting to the top. The Christmas number 1 used to be about records that were popular getting to the top of the charts. Heck, some even used to sell a million. When was the last time that happened? With the greatest of respect to Jo Cox I hope that record doesn't reach number 1 nor any NHS song nor any dying child number 1. Let's have a proper number 1 at Christmas we all enjoy. Sorry for replying to your post with this negative response Steve as it's not you - or anyone else at BuzzJack - I'm directing this at. I've hijacked your post. But let's cut the bullshit and stop these one week wonders from ruining forever the Christmas number 1. Thankfully the X Factor song won't do either as they are responsible for starting all this "let's aim a song at the top for Christmas number 1" rubbish. At least if Mariah gets to the top (which she won't, though she'll be top 10) at least she will have made her way to the top. Bah, humbug!

I've gone for Little Mix. Possibly selling 105,000 copies in what will be a low selling year. 10 years ago the top 15 all sold over that amount in Christmas week.

What a chart that week in December 1984 was! Plus Christmas party songs like 'Nellie The Elephant' and non-Christmas songs like the excellent 'Like A Virgin' and 'One Night In Bangkok'. What a chart!

Indeed. 'Two Little Boys' will be seldom played thee days...

Noddy Holder of Slade took the raucousness to a different level with the song and to many people his ending scream of "IT'S CHRISTMAAASSSSS! might feel like nails down a chalk board... personally I still love it!

Indeed. It's a great record - from my all time favourite Christmas chart, back in 1984 when the chart was choc-a-bloc with Christmas related songs - but I doubt it will ever turn up on a Christmas Hits album ever again...

^ and to think George Michael took legal action back in 1986 to stop Epic Records from re-releasing 'Last Christmas' for a third time (effective from 1987) which still exists to this day, but only as a physical release. George couldn't stop its release as a digital release... it's the one song by him which is guaranteed to sell every December. Never bite the hand that feeds is a good motto.

I was going to say Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody' has become much less popular in recent years but you beat me to it. I think it's just too raucous for modern day tastes and has definitely suffered a dip in popularity. The record was released back in 1973 and the other famous Christmas record from that year, 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' by Wizzard is by far now more popular. Mariah, The Pogues and Wham seem to be the top 3 Christmas records these days, with Wham well behind the other two.

A bit of a shock. Get well soon, Mark.

I remember 4 passing a million in 1998 and thinking how impressive that was. Now we're getting singles going into double figures doing that. It just doesn't seem the same though, given that most of the sales are from streams rather than people actually going into shops and actually buying the record...

I thought Amazon had already started a streaming service with Amazon Prime? That started a couple or so years ago.