UK singles chart: Difference between revisions

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The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 (such as the BBC) or the Top 75 (such as Music Week Magazine) of this list. Around 6,500 British retail outlets contribute sales data, as well as most UK online digital download stores. Unlike charts in the United States, no airplay statistics are used for the official UK Singles Chart. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with most UK singles being released on Mondays.

The Top 40 chart is first revealed on Sunday afternoons by BBC Radio 1 (prior even to posting on the OCC’s own website), with the chart subsequently being printed in Music Week magazine (Top 75 only) on the following Monday, and the independent newsletter ChartsPlus (Top 200) on Wednesdays. It is also published online on various sites (generally Top 40 only). Radio 1 broadcasts the Top 40, in reverse order, on Sundays from 16:00 to 19:00. The show had various presenters over the years including Mark Goodier and Bruno Brookes, and Alan Freeman whose Pick Of The Pops formed the chart show throughout the 1960s and into the early 70s. Since October 2007, Reggie Yates has presented the chart show and, until September 2009, with Fearne Cotton. Cotton was the first ever permanent female presenter of the Official Chart Show.^[1] A rival chart called The Big Top 40 Show, is based on downloads and commercial radio airplay, which is broadcast on 140 commercial local radio stations.

According to the canon of The Official Charts Company, the official British singles chart is the New Musical Express chart from 1952 to 1960; the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969; and the Official UK Singles Chart from 1969 on. According to the Official Charts Company's statistics, as of w/e 16 October 2010, 1,146 singles have topped the UK singles chart. The precise number is debatable due to the profusion of different competing charts during the 50s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, although the usual list used is that endorsed by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and subsequently adopted by The Official UK Charts Company. There was no Official Chart before Tuesday 11 February 1969. The BBC compiled their own chart based on an average of Music Papers of the time. This was the best way to compile the chart at the time. However the Guinness Books, do not use the BBC Chart of the time, so it is inconsistent for many 1950s/60s Number Ones.

The current number one on the Official UK Chart is "Forget You" by Cee-Lo Green as of the chart dated w/e 16 October 2010.

Before sales of records were recorded a song's popularity was measured by the sales of sheet music. The idea to compile a chart based on sales originated in America where the music trade paper, Billboard, compiled the first chart incorporating sales figures on 20 July 1940. Record charts in the UK began life in 1952 when Percy Dickins from New Musical Express (NME) gathered a pool of 52 stores willing to return data sales figures.^[2][3] For the first British chart, Dickins telephoned a sample of around 20 shops asking for a list the 10 best-selling songs. These results were then aggregated to give a Top 12 chart^{[nb 1]} which was published in NME on 14 November 1952 with Al Martino's "Here in My Heart" awarded the number-one position.^[2][3] The chart became of successful feature of the periodical; it was expanded to a Top 20 for 1 October 1954, and rival publications began compiling their own charts starting in 1955.^[6] Record Mirror compiled its own Top 10 chart for 22 January 1955 and was based on the postal returns from record stores that were financed by the newspaper—NME, was based on a telephone poll.^[7] Both charts expand in size with Mirror's becoming a Top 20 in October 1955 and NME's becoming a Top 20 in April 1956.^[6][8] Another rival publication, Melody Maker, began compiling its own chart and telephoned 19 stores to produce a Top 30 for 7 April 1956; it was also the first chart to include Northern Ireland in its sample.^[3]

Record Mirror began running a Top 5 album chart in July 1956 and from November 1958 this was run by NME.^[9][6] In March 1960, Record Retailer began compiling an EP (album) chart and had a Top 50 singles chart.^[9] Although NME had the biggest circulation of charts in the 1960s and was more widely followed,^[3][10] In March 1962, Record Mirror stopped compiling their own chart and published Record Retailer's instead.^[3] Retailer became independently audited from January 1963 and is used by UK Singles Chart the source for number ones from the week ending 12 March 1960.^[6][9] The choice of Record Retailer as the canonical source has been criticised,^[11][3] however the chart was unique in listing close to fifty positions for the whole decade.^[11] With available lists of which record shops were sampled for to compile the charts, some shops were subjected to "hyping" but, with Record Retailer being less widely followed than some charts, it was subject to less hyping. Additionally, Retailer was set up by independent record shops and had no funding or affiliation with record companies. However, it had a significantly smaller sample size than some of the rival charts.^[3] Before February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) chart was established, there was no official chart or universally accepted source.^[3][10][11] People followed charts in various periodicals and, during this time, the BBC used aggregated results of charts from the NME, Melody Maker, Disc and, later, Record Mirror to compile the Pick of the Pops chart.^[7] However, according to The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums, the canonical sources for the unofficial period are NME before 10 March 1960 and Record Retailer until 1969.^[6]

Prior to 1969 there had been no official singles chart.^[3][10][11] Record Retailer and the BBC jointly commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the charts starting from 15 February 1969.^[3][6] The BMRB compiled its first chart from postal returns of sales logs from 250 record shops.^[6] The sampling cost approximately £52,000 and shops were randomly chosen from a pool of around 6,000 and they submitted figures for sales taken up to the close of trade on Saturday. The sales diaries were translated into punch cards so the data could be interpreted by a computer. A computer then compiled the on Monday and the BBC were informed of the Top 50 on Tuesday ready for it to be announced on Johnnie Walker's afternoon show. The charts were also published in Record Retailer (rebranded Record & Tape Retailer in 1971 and then Music Week in 1972)^[12] and Record Mirror.^[3] However, the BMRB often struggled to have the full sample of sales figures returned by post. The 1971 postal strike meant that data had to be collected by telephone but this was deemed inadequate for a national chart, and by 1973 the BMRB was using motorcycle couriers to collect sales figures.^[3] In May 1978, the singles chart was expanded from a Top 50 to a Top 75. A World in Action documentary exposé in 1980 revealed corruption within the industry and the stores' chart returns dealer could frequently be offered bribes to falisfy the sales logs.^[13]

From 1983 until 1990 the chart was financed by BPI (50 percent), Music Week (38 percent) and the BBC (12 percent).^[14] On 4 January 1983, the chart compilation was taken over by Gallup who expanded the chart with a "Next 25" in addition to the Top 75^{[nb 2]} and began the introduction of computerised tills which automated the data collection process.^[3][6] In July 1987, Gallup signed a new contract with BPI increasing the sample size to around 500 stores and introducing barcode scanners to read data.^[16] The chart was based entirely on sales of physical singles from retail outlets and announced on Tuesday until October 1987, when the Top 40 was revealed each Sunday, due to the new automated process.^[17] The 1980s also saw the introduction of the cassette single (or "cassingle") alongside the 7-inch and 12-inch record formats and in 1987 major record labels developed a common format for the Compact Disc single.^[18] In May 1989, chart regulations kept Kylie Minogue's song "Hand on Your Heart" from number one because sales from cassette singles were included as they were had been sold for £1.99 – cheaper than was allowed at the time. Following this the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reduced the minimum price for cassette singles to become eligible towards sales figures.^[19] In September 1989, W H Smith began to send sales data to Gallup directly through electronic point of sale (EPoS) terminals.^[16]

In January 1990, the BPI gave notice to Gallup, BBC, and Music Week and on 30 June 1990 terminated its contract with them because it "could no longer afford the £600,000 a year cost".^[20][21] From 1 July 1990, the Chart Information Network (CIN) was formed by Spotlight Publications,^{[nb 3]} publisher of Music Week, in cooperation with the BBC and the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD) – representing many retailers including W H Smith, Woolworths, HMV, and Virgin – who agreed to exclusively supply sales data to the CIN.^[16][23] A Chart Supervisory Committee (CSC) to represent the BBC, CIN and retailers. The BPI were reluctant to join and "consider[ed] the option of launching a rival chart"^[21] but, in September, and agreement was reached and they joined the CSC.^[24] For this brief period the chart was produced by Gallup but owned by CIN and Music Week who would then sell it on to the BBC and BPI.^[25] Then, in January 1991, the CIN became a joint venture between Linkhouse Magazines (formerly Spotlight Publications) and the BPI who shared the revenue and costs which were said to be around £750,000 or £1 million.^[16][25][26] During this time other major retailers such as Woolworths and John Menzies started submitting data using EpOS terminals.^[16] Towards the end of 1991, the sample consisted of 500 stores scanning barcodes of all record sales into a Epson PX-4 computer and 650 other stores that gave sales data through their own EPoS computerised tills. These computers were be telephoned six times a week to provide the data to Gallup.^[27] In June 1991, the BPI reduced the number of eligible formats from five to four.^[28]

In November 1990, the "Next 25" section of the UK singles chart, i.e., positions 76–100 with specially applied rules, ceased to be printed in the official trade magazine Music Week.^{[citation needed]} In April 1991 the publication Record Mirror was discontinued.^[12] From this date the "Next 25", which had been published by Record Mirror, was no longer printed.^[29][30] Virgin installed JDA EPoS terminals in September 1993 and began providing sales data to Gallup for the first time.^[31]

In February 1993, the research contract for the chart was put out to tender with a new four-year contract beginning 1 February 1994. Millward Brown, Research International, Nielsen Market Research were approaced, and Gallup were invited to re-apply.^[32] In May, it was announced that Millward Brown had been formally accepted as the next chart compilers signing a £1-million-a-year contract.^[16] Millward Brown took over compiling the charts on 1 February 1994 and increased the sample size;^[6][33] by the end of the month, each shop sampled used a barcode scanner that linked via an Epson terminal with a modem to a central computer (called "Eric") which logged the data of more than 2,500 stores.^[33]

From 2 April 1995, the number of eligible formats was reduced from four to three.^[28] The decision came after nine months of negotiations with BARD who objected that it would adversley affect the vinyl record industry.^[34] Although record labels were not prohibited from releasing singles in more than three formats they had to identify the three eligile formats.^[28] This resulted in a large reduction to the number of singles released as a 7-inch format; the most common three formats were 12-inch single, cassette and CD, or a cassette and two CD versions.^[35] Curiously, the ruling caused Oasis single "Some Might Say" to chart twice in one week – once (at number 2) with sales from the three eligible formats and again (at number 71) from sales in a fourth, 12-inch format.^[36]

Subsequently CIN sought to open new marketing opportunities and sponsorship deals; these included premium-rate fax and telephone services and chart newsletters, Charts+Plus (published from May 1991 to November 1994) and HitMusic (published from September 1992 to May 2001).

HitMusic, sister publication of Music Week listed the top full 200 positions for the singles and albums charts. However, it ceased publication in May 2001.^[37]

From May 1991, the newly established newsletter "Charts+Plus" featured the singles charts with positions 76–200 (plus artist albums positions 76–150, Top 50 compilations, and several genre and format charts. In September 1992, a second newsletter was created: "Hit Music" features, among other charts, the singles Top 75 plus a revived "Next 25".

In November 1994, Charts+Plus ceased publication, and Hit Music expanded its chart coverage to an uncompressed (in other words, not applying any special rules) Top 200 Singles, Top 150 Artists Albums and Top 50 Compilations. In November 1996 the Artist Albums chart extended to a Top 200.

In November 2001 Chart Information Network (CIN) changed its name to "The Official UK Charts Company".

With its edition no.439 in May 2001, Hit Music ceased publication. By September 2001, chart enthusiast Herman Verkade entered a licensing agreement with CIN and created an independent new chart publication: ChartsPlus, covering the Top 75 Singles chart plus compressed positions 76–200, as well as the Top 200 artist albums chart, Top 50 compilations, and many other format and genre charts.

In 2005 Wes Butters presented the last ever UK Top 40 concluding his time at Radio 1. The chart show was then radically re branded for the chart week ending 16 April, the first singles chart combining physical release sales with legal downloads began. Several test charts, and finally an actual download sales chart on its own, were published in 2004, but this combination within the official singles chart reflected a changing era, where sales of the physical single were falling while download sales were rising. On 17 April 2005, hosts JK and Joel commented during the broadcast on BBC Radio 1 that the incorporation of download sales had resulted in an approximate doubling of singles sales on the week. For the first week's combined chart, however, the impact of this doubling was not readily apparent at the top of the chart, although a few singles in the middle positions benefited.

Initially, the British Association of Record Dealers were worried about the popularity of downloading taking away business from the high street.^{[citation needed]} They also complained that including singles that were not available physically would confuse customers and create gaps in stores' sale racks. But they did agree to the new rules provided that digital sales were only included to a single's sales tally so long as there was a physical equivalent sold in shops at the time. However, as there was no rule for the minimum number of pressings, Gorillaz got round this by releasing just 300 vinyl copies of their single "Feel Good Inc." on 12 April 2005, a month before its general release. This allowed it to debut in the chart at number 22 (eventually reaching number 2) and remain in the Top 40 for a longer period.

After pressure from elsewhere in the music industry, a second compromise was reached in 2006, which now allowed singles to chart on downloads the week before their physical release. Black Eyed Peas and Ne*Yo charted early as a result, and on 2 April 2006, "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley became the first song to top the charts on music download sales alone. As part of the revised rules, singles would now be removed from the chart two weeks after the deletion of the physical formats, which meant "Crazy" fell out of the chart 11 weeks later from number 5, and a subsequent chart-topper, Nelly Furtado's "Maneater", disappeared from number 10. This was in addition to the already in-force rule that in order to be eligible for the chart, the physical single had to have been released within the last twelve months. This was a very unpopular decision with chart followers, as it made a mockery of the charts apparently fairly representing the biggest selling singles. It meant a song could sell enough to be number one, but because it had been deleted 2 weeks earlier it wouldn't even be in the Top 200.

Over the coming months digital sales continued to increase whilst physical sales continued to fall, which saw more and more artists entering the top 40 early, and fewer and fewer singles entering the chart directly at number 1. Whilst initially the proportion of digital sales to physical sales in the combined tally was relatively low, a majority of singles are now seeing more than 50% of their sales coming from online. Sales through mobile phones are now also counted.^{[citation needed]} , but it is no longer expected that sales data of ringtones will ever be included.

On 1 January 2007 the integration of downloaded music into the charts became complete when all downloads - with or without a physical equivalent - became eligible to chart effectively bringing an end to the UK singles chart, by turning it into a "songs" chart. This saw a few singles gain publicity: the aforementioned "Crazy" and "Maneater", still selling strongly on downloads some time after their physical equivalents had been deleted, both returned to the chart along with several others that had been removed in the preceding months. "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol surged back in at a Top 10 position (number 9, just three places below the peak it had reached the previous September), while "Honey to the Bee" by Billie Piper, following a tongue-in-cheek promotional push by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles to test out the new chart rules, reappeared at number 17, almost eight years after its original chart run.

The second song to return to the Top 40 several years after its first hit run was "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans, which reappeared at number 32 a full decade after it originally topped the chart. The impetus this time was Puff Daddy's recent performance of a new version of the track at the Princess Diana Memorial Concert at Wembley. Two months later Luciano Pavarotti's "Nessun Dorma" returned to the chart at number 24 in the week following his death, 17 years after it was first a hit, climbing subsequently to number 12, while a drumming gorilla in a Dairy Milk television advert helped "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins to climb to number 14, 26 years after it was first a hit and 19 years since its last chart appearance as a re-mix. None of these songs had been officially re-issued.

"Blag, Steal and Borrow" by Koopa became the first song to chart without ever being released physically (and the first by an unsigned band to do so). Later in the year they would do it again twice, with "One Off Song for the Summer" and "The Crash" reaching #21 and #16 respectively, while the band remained unsigned until the following year.

Following the cancellation of its physical release "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado was the first Top 10 hit to get through its entire chart career without a single copy ever appearing in any shop. "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" by Oasis became the second, "Violet Hill" by Coldplay the third, and "Disturbia" by Rihanna the fourth, while "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera had a chart run that took it into the Top 20 (number 17) entirely on downloads.

However, it was only a matter of time before there was a number 1 hit never released physically. This honour went to Run by Leona Lewis, the 11th song in total to reach number 1 on downloads alone, but unlike the previous ten, it did not go on to receive a physical release in subsequent weeks (it should be pointed out though that it has been released physically overseas, for example in Germany).

The second time this happened was on 20 December 2009 when Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine got the Christmas No. 1 single as a result of a Facebook campaign group urging people to download the song in a bid to prevent The X Factor winning song from gaining the Christmas No. 1 single again after four consecutive years. It is also the first time that a song has reached No. 1 on downloads alone without being a new release, as the song was originally released in 1992 and was a No. 25 hit at that time, but reached the No. 1 spot 17 years later.

New rules were added to the chart on 16 September 2007 to include one track CD singles with a limit of 15 minutes and to retail at a minimum of 69p^{[citation needed]} per one track CD single.

One noticeable effect that the new chart rules have had, has been to show up the staying power of many downloads, especially if a physical copy is no longer (or never has been) available. Despite a seven-week gap in its chart run in late 2006 while ineligible under the old rules, Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars", mentioned earlier, has now clocked up 96 weeks on the chart, an amount bettered by only one other single in the whole of chart history ("My Way" by Frank Sinatra with 124 weeks); "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon has made it to 85 weeks, putting it in 3rd place in the all-time list; "Rule the World" by Take That is on 72 weeks (4th); "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga is on 66 (6th); "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas is on 65 (7th); "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon is on 62 (8th); "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey is on 61 (9th); "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse is on 57 (joint 11th); "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz is on 56 (14th); "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain is on 53 (joint 17th); "Umbrella" by Rihanna is on 51 (joint 19th); "Rockstar" by Nickelback is on 50 (21st); two other Take That songs ("Patience" and "Shine"), are on 40 and 42 weeks respectively, while many hits by other people have passed the 30-mark. These include two more Amy Winehouse titles: her guest vocal appearance on Mark Ronson's version of the Zutons' "Valerie" on 39 weeks, and "Back to Black", which has made it to 34 weeks despite getting no higher than number 25. Meanwhile, "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado (also mentioned earlier), despite never being released physically, clocked up 31 weeks purely as a download.

Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", as covered by Jeff Buckley in 1994 charted at number 2 on 21 December 2008 on downloads alone, following the formation of a 110,000-strong protest group on Facebook to get it above (winner of The X Factor 2008) Alexandra Burke's version for Christmas number one.

Another consequence of the new chart rules that was widely expected but which has not so far materialised to any great extent, is that in the event of a high-profile new album release by a major act, all or most of its tracks could appear on the singles chart due to people downloading individual songs rather than the complete album. With the exception of one or two tracks by Mika and also Arctic Monkeys, there was no significant example of this happening until early October 2007, with the cast of High School Musical 2 placing six of its songs simultaneously in the Top 75 (although these were credited to their individual performers), with a further four just outside. A month later Leona Lewis placed five tracks from her album Spirit simultaneously on the singles chart. A more pronounced example may come with the long-awaited arrival of the Beatles' catalogue online, with the most optimistic forecasters predicting the entire top 10 being taken up by Beatles songs.^[38][39]

One effect of the new rules that was expected and did materialise, was the reappearance in the chart of a number of seasonal favourites in the run-up to Christmas 2007, in what looks set to become an annual event. In 2007 a total of 19 achieved this, without any being officially re-issued, and so reappeared on downloads alone. Two of these (by Mariah Carey and The Pogues), reached the Top 5. Two more old yuletide songs, never previously hits in the UK, also charted, by Andy Williams and Perry Como. In the run-up to Christmas 2008, 11 Christmas titles returned to the Top 75; these included the Mariah Carey and Pogues songs, which both climbed as high as number 12 this time. In the run-up to Christmas 2009 nine titles reappeared, with the Mariah Carey and Pogues songs leading the pack yet again, reaching nos. 12 and 18 respectively.

The death of Michael Jackson on 25 June 2009 triggered a surge in sales of his recordings that was as massive as it was anticipated, but this was the first time in the download era that the effect of a major star's death on the chart could be observed. In the week beginning 28 June a total of 16 of his solo hits plus 4 more by the Jackson 5 or Jacksons re-entered the chart, the biggest simultaneous invasion by an artist in history.

The following week the momentum continued. 27 Jackson titles charted in the Top 75 (21 solo, 1 with his sister Janet, and 5 by the Jackson 5/Jacksons), with "Man In The Mirror" charting the highest at Number 2.

• New Musical Express (NME)

Launched the first UK singles sales chart (a top 12) on 14 November 1952, initially compiled on a points system, from a sample of 15-30 from a pool of 53 shops. The chart was expanded to a Top 20 from 1 October 1954, a Top 30 from 13 April 1956 and a Top 50 from April 1963. The sample size was initially 15-30 shops, expanded to 70 by the early 1960s and 150 by June 1963. NME compiled its own chart until 28 May 1988, after which it used the Network Chart (compiled by MRIB for broadcast on commercial radio in the UK in direct competition to the official chart show on Radio 1, and hosted at the time by David Jensen) for some years.

• Record Mirror

Launched a top 10 singles chart on 22 January 1955, later expanded to a Top 20 and then Top 30. Discontinued in March 1962 when Record Mirror began taking the Record Retailer chart.

• Radio Luxembourg

Radio Luxembourg was hugely influential in the 1950s and 1960s, but never had its own chart. It launched a Top 20 based on Melody Maker's sheet music chart as early as 1948 and switched to using the NME Top 20 singles sales chart at the start of 1960 - late 1966. After that it was based on predictions & largely a guessed chart, to try to be ahead of the BBC.

• Melody Maker

Launched a Top 10 singles sales chart in April 1956, alongside (but eventually superseding) the sheet music chart it launched ten years earlier. The chart became a Top 50 in September 1962. Its sample size was 30 at launch, expanding to 110 by 1963, 150 by 1965 and 220 by the time it merged with the Disc chart in August 1967.

• Disc & Music Echo

Launched a top 20 singles chart in February 1958, based on a sample of 25 shops. It expanded to a Top 30 with a sample of c.75-100 shops by 1966. The chart became a Top 50 in April 1966 and merged with Melody Maker's chart in August 1967. Due to Disc's lower circulation and smaller sample size, its chart is not generally considered as important as other charts of the same period.

• Record Retailer

Trade magazine Record Retailer launched a Top 50 singles chart on 10 March 1960. Its sample was only 30 shops to begin with, growing to 40 by March 1962, 60 by March 1963 and 80 by 1969. This was the only major singles chart to exclude EPs, which had their own separate chart until 30 November 1967. EPs were allowed into the main singles chart from that point on, just in time for The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour to enjoy a chart run which peaked at #2.

• British Broadcasting Corporation

Introduced Pick of the Pops on 4 October 1955, fortnightly until the end of the year, then weekly there after. Originally it was just a new release show. It started to feature current records from September 1957 onwards, using different charts each week either from Record Mirror & Melody Maker. From 29 March 1958, it featured an averaged chart, calculated from Record Mirror/Melody Maker/Disc/NME. This was altered in June 1960, to just Melody Maker/Disc/NME. From 31 March 1962, the average was based on Melody Maker/Disc/NME/Record Retailer. When Disc merged with Melody Maker in August 1967, the BBC just used an average from Melody Maker/NME/Record Retailer from 29th Aug 1967. The final averaged chart was that of Tues 4th Feb 1969. They then used a computer compiled chart (as previously explained), newly compiled by the Research Company "The British Market Research Bureau".

While the BBC/Record Retailer chart is almost universally accepted as definitive for the period from February 1969 onwards, there is some controversy over which charts should be considered "correct" prior to this. The most common solution to this problem is to regard the Record Retailer chart as the correct one from its inception in 1960, and the NME chart before that. This approach originated with the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, first published in 1977. However, it may be argued^{[citation needed]} that almost nobody considered the Record Retailer chart to be canonical at the time of publication, at least until Record Mirror began publishing it as well. Some chart reference books simply take Record Mirror as their source from the start; this is the approach taken by The Top 20 Book compiled biannually by Tony Jasper from 1978 to 1994 and Rock File, an annual publication during the 1970s whose "Chart Log" feature was effectively the forerunner to "British Hit Singles", as well as numerous books by Dave McAleer. The result of this approach is a chart that begins in 1955, and joins up with the Record Retailer chart (and so agrees with the Guinness book) in 1962.

A case may also be made for considering the NME chart to be the correct one for at least part of the 1960s, since it was arguably the one followed by the most people. Similarly, Melody Maker's charts could be considered correct for the same period because they drew on the largest number of shops for their compilation. (However, the latter is less practical since unlike the NME charts, the Melody Maker charts have never been reprinted and are therefore difficult to obtain.)

The Official UK Charts Company have adopted the Guinness solution as defining the official chart canon, however different approaches continue to exist.

In order to qualify for inclusion in the UK singles chart, a single must meet the following criteria:

• It must be available on one or more eligible formats. Eligible formats are CD, DVD, Vinyl, Cassette, digital download, MiniDisc and flexi disc.
• All formats must contain the featured track or a version/remix of it.
• Only three formats can be included in a single's sales. Sales of any additional formats are disregarded when calculating a single's chart position.
• The single must meet a minimum dealer price requirement, to prevent record companies from making cut-price deals with retailers. (Currently 40p for "Digital Audio Track")^[40]
• Each format must have no more than four different tracks on it, though each song may appear in any number of different versions.
• The maximum running time for any format is 25 minutes if more than one different song is featured, or 40 minutes if only one song is featured in multiple versions/mixes.
• A "mini CD" format is now recognised for chart purposes. It can have a running time of up to ten minutes and can feature no more than two tracks. It must be an 8 cm CD and sold in a single jewelcase. Its minimum price requirement is lower than the regular CD single. This cheaper alternative was first recognised in October 2003 as part of a drive to make singles more attractive to buyers in the face of widespread music downloading, despite this size of CD being used in many other countries (such as Japan) for single releases for many years.

The full chart regulations also place limits on how chart singles can be packaged and what free gifts can be offered to purchasers. The full regulations can be downloaded from the Official UK Charts Company website.

BBC Radio 1 was first broadcast in 1967, and has always included a broadcast of the official chart. In initial years, only the top twenty was broadcast. This was then gradually expanded so that the chart now covers the top forty singles although the entire Top 40 was not played until the start of 1991. Fourteen years later the chart show was revamped once more, with only the Top 20 singles being guaranteed to be played. Starting from 14 October 2007 Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates presented the Top 40 show on Sundays. The chart show has always been broadcast on a Sunday evening and has only been cancelled once - on 31 August 1997, owing to the death of Princess Diana.

For many years during the 1970s the chart was revealed on a Tuesday lunchtime 1967-87(or Wednesday following a bank holiday), initially during Johnnie Walker's lunchtime show with Booker T. and the MGs' "Time is Tight" as backing music. This was later continued by Paul Burnett, Dave Lee Travis and Gary Davies. During this era, Top 40 on Sunday was merely a repeat of this (but, crucially, broadcast in FM stereo) - however, since October 1987 the new chart has been broadcast for the first time on Sundays.

The television version of the chart show, called The UK Top 40, began in 2002 on the children's BBC output strand CBBC, which broadcast selected video highlights and the entire top 10 countdown. It was hosted by Adrian Dickson and Konnie Huq from its inception until September 2004, and then by Andrew Hayden-Smith until the last edition on 12 June 2005.

The Sunday chart show was originally entitled "Pick Of The Pops", when it first aired on Radio 1. It was presented by Alan "Fluff" Freeman, who had been in charge of the show on the BBC Light Programme since 1961 (though with two brief gaps in his early years when the BBC were unsure about his style, which was very informal for the Corporation at the time). He later took it to Capital Radio where it combined the current Top 15 (different from the BBC chart) and a Top 15 from the past. He brought the format back to Radio 1, now as an oldies showcase featuring three different charts from the past, after they went stereo full-time in 1988 (they were only available in stereo via a frequency shared with Radio 2, which was mostly taken up by Radio 2 - Radio 1 was only available via that frequency from 22:00 to 00:00 on weeknights, Saturdays between 13:00 and 19:30 and Sundays from 17:00 until closedown).

From 1 October 1972, it was presented on Sundays by Tom Browne from 16:00 on Radio 1's 247 metres medium wave and also VHF from 18:00 to 19:00 (linking with the BBC Radio 2 transmitters). Simon Bates occasionally stood in for him from May 1976 onwards. The programme - which prior to March 1974 was a three hour show called "Solid Gold Sixty" - was carried by both Radio 1 and Radio 2 up to 20 January 1979.

After Tom Browne finished his last chart rundown on 26 March 1978, Simon Bates was made the permanent host. From 12 November 1978 it was expanded to a Top 40, starting at 17:00 - the first hour going out on Radio 1 only and Radio 2 opting in from 18:00. Eventually, it became exclusive to Radio 1, but was carried on FM via the frequency the two stations shared, so listeners could hear it in stereo and get good reception, especially after dark. About this time, there were frequency changes that only affected long and medium wave transmissions - Radio 4 moving to long wave, Radio 2 moving to medium wave, Radio 3 moving to Radio 1's old frequency (that now carries Absolute Radio) and Radio 1 moving up the dial. Reception of Radio 1 was still often quite poor, though.

From 2 September 1979 to 3 January 1982, Tony Blackburn took over the helm. Having been axed from his daily show after twelve years, he also took over at this point from Ed Stewart on Junior Choice at weekends - a programme that was discontinued when kids stopped asking for Milly Molly Mandy and started asking for songs from the charts, which, by this time, featured acts like The Specials, Madness and The Selecter.

From 10 January 1982 to 1 January 1984, Tommy Vance hosted the show. Although usually considered a specialist in heavy metal and rock music, which he presented on the Friday Rock Show, he showed his versatility introducing, and giving facts about, a wide range of records.

From 8 January to 23 September 1984, Simon Bates took over again for a second time, but on 30 September (also Radio 1's 17th anniversary) he was replaced by Richard Skinner. This was the date when The Network Chart Show began in direct competition on the Independent Local Radio network. There were several differences between the official chart and its competitor - although Radio 1 was normally only available in mono, its chart show was broadcast in FM stereo, but the Network Chart was only in mono until the early 1990s (because the lines from LBC, which carried the show to the rest of the network and were normally only used for news bulletins, could only carry mono transmissions). Unlike the Radio 1 chart, the Network Chart also counted airplay in its compilation and included commercials. The rival chart enjoyed some success for a while, and was more up-to-date than the Radio 1 chart for its first three years (with a very few songs, such as Ferry Aid's version of "Let It Be", topping the Network Chart before they had entered the official chart at all), but the official chart had emerged triumphant by the end of the 1980s.

From the spring of 1986, Bruno Brookes took over - through the late 1980s the show was preceded by "Chartbusters", which featured songs bubbling under the Top 40. From 30 September 1990 to 1 March 1992 he was succeeded by Mark Goodier. Brookes came back from 15 March 1992 (after Tommy Vance had returned for a week) but left the station three years later, and was succeeded by Goodier again on 23 April 1995 and from the early 2000s Scott Mills filled in for Goodier when he was on holiday. Goodier left the show on 17 November 2002, the fiftieth anniversary of the chart's founding. His successors have been Wes Butters, JK and Joel, Fearne Cotton and currently Reggie Yates.

Starting from March 2010, BBC Radio 1 started giving regular Chart Updates called "The Official Chart Update" with Greg James, on BBC Radio 1 every Wednesday from 15:30 to 16:00 - the first Chart Update was on March 10, 2010. As the usual BBC Radio 1 Chart Show, it gives the Top 40 singles in the UK. Singles might go up or go down since the previous Chart Show on Sundays, but do not affect the original UK Singles Chart until Sundays.

There are also album updates, also hosted officially by BBC Radio 1.

Since the inception of the UK Singles chart, many issues have arisen about certain singles and whether or not they should have made #1. This controversy has caused much dispute on a few number 1 singles - most notably concerning The Beatles' "Please Please Me", as discussed above.

There was a period of time when the entire record industry took a break for the Christmas period. This resulted in no release of a new singles chart on the Tuesday following Christmas Day. When electronic sales recording took over from sales diaries, a chart started to be compiled for Christmas week but was never aired. Usually, it would result in no change at number one. However, there was one exception; the Christmas period of 1980. A frenzy of buying John Lennon singles had begun following his murder on December 8. This resulted in "(Just Like) Starting Over" topping the charts, which was then dethroned after a mere seven days by "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma". However, after this stayed at the top for a week, many people had bought Lennon's re-issued Christmas classic, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", and the new chart compiled actually had this at the top. This chart was never published and thus it is omitted from lists of number ones. By the time the next official chart was issued after the festive season, "Imagine" had topped the chart, but technically John Lennon had three number ones in succession.

In the week of The Queen's massive Silver Jubilee celebrations in June 1977, the Sex Pistols were due to release their second single, "God Save the Queen", expressing great contempt for royalty. There was wide speculation and rumour that the Sex Pistols were going to be number 1 for this historic week, but surprisingly Rod Stewart retained his position on top of the chart for a fourth week with "I Don't Want to Talk About It"/"The First Cut Is the Deepest". Rumours then began to circulate that the chart compilers had fixed the chart to avoid controversy. A number of other charts, including that published in the New Musical Express, placed "God Save The Queen" at number one.

In the 1950s, singles had frequently shared the number 1 position for a week, due to sales ties. This had never been an issue ever since. However, in the 1980s, a new rule was instituted to deal with any joint positions in the chart (not just at number one): the single whose sales had increased most from the previous week would reside above the other. In September 1990, "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band and Deee-lite's "Groove Is in the Heart" sold enough copies to be joint number 1, but because of the rule, Deee-lite were relegated to number 2 and "The Joker" topped the chart. Following the controversy and complaints from Deee-lite's record company, WEA, the rule was scrapped and joint positions were once more allowed, although "The Joker" stayed at the top for another two weeks and thereafter convincingly outsold "Groove Is In The Heart"; however, there have been no more joint chart-toppers since.

In 1987, Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body" topped the charts for 2 weeks, but in fact it should have never been there. The 12" actually exceeded the maximum playing time to qualify as a single and therefore Jackie Wilson's re-issue of "Reet Petite" should have enjoyed a fifth week at the top and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was deprived of a week at the top, which would have increased its total to three.

The advent of multi-formatting, whereby a single appears in many different versions, caused some controversy in 1982 when The Jam's "Town Called Malice" went straight in at number one, thereby keeping The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" at number two. "Town Called Malice" was available in two different versions - the studio version on the 7" single and a live recording on the 12" - and EMI (The Stranglers' record company) protested to the British Market Research Bureau that many Jam fans were buying both versions of the record. However, the BMRB ruled that nothing untoward had taken place, and more than twenty years on, multi-formatting has become the norm.

On a couple of occasions in chart history the wrong number one has been announced:

• When the chart for the week ending 28 February 1976 was first unveiled, it was announced that Manuel and his Music of the Mountains' version of the Spanish classical piece, Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, had dethroned The Four Seasons' "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" from the top spot. But moments after the chart had been made public, it was discovered that due to a catastrophic 'computer error' the entire chart was wrong. When the correct chart was compiled, Manuel (actually conductor Geoff Love) had been relegated to number 3 behind The Four Seasons and Tina Charles' "I Love to Love", and never did make number one.
• In a similar incident for the week ending 10 November 1979, a compilation error led to the announcement that Dr. Hook's "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" had topped Lena Martell's "One Day at a Time". The error did not immediately come to light, though it was put right in time for that week's edition of Top of the Pops. Happily (for Dr Hook at least) "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" did make, and keep, the number-one spot the following week.
• At the end of each year, the BBC played its Chart of the Year, featuring a countdown of the best sellers calculated from the biggest hits of the year. For both the chart of 1975 and 1976, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", despite being at number-one for nine weeks, overlapping both years, and becoming one of the biggest selling hits of all time, failed to make an appearance anywhere in either BBC Chart of the Year. This error - in an unofficial chart (the year's best sellers have never formed a chart of their own) - was not corrected.

There has been much controversy over the fact that the UK Singles Chart has, for many years, been sponsored by various companies. This in itself would be unremarkable were it not for the fact that the chart is broadcast exclusively on BBC Radio 1, a publicly owned radio station that cannot sell advertising or sponsorship. The singles chart sponsorship is, however, sold by the Official UK Charts Company, so the BBC does not receive any money from the deal. They have, in the past, mentioned the name of the sponsors during the chart rundown and this has in effect allowed the sponsors to do indirect advertising on a publicly owned radio station.

For many years the chart was sponsored by worldpop.com (no longer exists), a music website. However, in 2004, Coca-Cola became the sponsors. For a while, the BBC continued the practice of mentioning the sponsoring company during the chart show, however there was a huge backlash against this, partly caused by controversy elsewhere over allowing sugary/fatty foods and drinks to be advertised to children. It was also considered controversial as it appeared (erroneously) that the BBC, a licence-fee supported organisation which does not allow advertising, was being sponsored.

The BBC initially stuck to its guns but eventually came to an agreement whereby the name would be dropped from its on-air broadcast.

• UK Albums Chart
• UK Official Download Chart
• UK Indie Chart
• UK R&B Chart
• Midweeks
• List of number-one singles (UK)
• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of best selling singles by year in UK
• One-hit wonders in the UK

Chart magazines

• Charts Plus
• Music Week
• Record Retailer
• Hit Music

Rival charts

• The Network Chart Show
• Pepsi Chart
• Hit40uk
• The Big Top 40 Show
• The eXpat Chart

Chart books

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums
• Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2006

Footnotes

Sources

• The Official UK Charts Company
• Music Week Top 75
• BBC Radio 1 Top 40
• Sunday Chart history
• everyHit.com Top 40
• hit40uk (OCC "Hit 40" charts for ILR radio stations)
• British Chart Books Classified
• Chart Log UK 1994-2007 Top 200
• Search any British chart run on the singles chart Top 75
• UK Number Ones 1952–Present
• UK Top 40 Top 40 UK Singles, Albums and More!