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List of best-selling singles of the 21st century in the United Kingdom

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Having sold over 1.9 million copies, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is the best-selling single in the UK since 2001 based on paid-for sales[1]

The UK Singles Chart is a music chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom.[2] Since 2005, the chart has been based on the sales of both physical and digital singles, initially on the condition that the single was available in both formats. In 2007, the rules were changed so that legal downloads of all songs, irrespective of whether a physical copy was available, were eligible to chart[3] and since July 2014, streaming has been included.[4]

Best-selling singles based on paid-for sales

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This is a list of the sales of records released from 1 January 2001 onwards; sales for this period of records released before 2001 are not included. With sales of over 1,920,000, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is the best-selling single in the UK since January 2001. Will Young's double A-side single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which has sold over 1,790,000 million copies, is the second-biggest seller, followed by "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Williams in third. The top five is completed by "Uptown Funk" at four and "Someone Like You" by Adele in fifth. As of September 2017, 62 singles released in the 2000s have sold over 1 million copies.[5]

Until June 2014, only a paid download or a purchase of a physical single counted as a sale. Based on this definition, these are the best-selling singles in the UK since 2001. Sales positions are current as of 17 September 2017.[5]

No. Single Artist Released[a] Traditional sales[b] Chart
peak[a]
1 "Happy" Pharrell Williams November 2013 1,921,805 1
2 "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" Will Young February 2002 1,795,213 1
3 "Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams May 2013 1,667,615 1
4 "Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars December 2014 1,647,310 1
5 "Someone like You" Adele January 2011 1,644,597 1
6 "Moves Like Jagger" Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera August 2011 1,536,041 2
7 "Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra January 2012 1,515,527 1
8 "Wake Me Up" Avicii June 2013 1,483,346 1
9 "I Gotta Feeling" The Black Eyed Peas September 2009 1,477,778 1
10 "Get Lucky" Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams April 2013 1,471,356 1
11 "It Wasn't Me" Shaggy February 2001 1,428,204 1
12 "We Found Love" Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris 2011 1,415,416 1
13 "Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon 2008 1,386,171 1
14 "Call Me Maybe" Carly Rae Jepsen 2012 1,358,631 1
15 "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay 2005 1,354,478 1
16 "Unchained Melody" Gareth Gates 2002 1,345,850 1
17 "Just the Way You Are (Amazing)" Bruno Mars 2010 1,331,684 1
18 "Impossible" James Arthur 2012 1,310,169 1
19 "Hallelujah" Alexandra Burke 2008 1,310,017 1
20 "Gangnam Style" Psy 2012 1,304,437 1
21 "Titanium" David Guetta featuring Sia 2012 1,300,566 1
22 "Party Rock Anthem" LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock 2011 1,284,335 1
23 "Rather Be" Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 2014 1,283,122 1
24 "All of Me" John Legend 2013 1,259,708 2
25 "Love the Way You Lie" Eminem featuring Rihanna 2010 1,258,763 2
26 "Let Her Go" Passenger 2013 1,243,336 2
27 "Price Tag" Jessie J featuring B.o.B 2011 1,228,371 1
28 "Thinking Out Loud" Ed Sheeran 2013 1,219,184 1
29 "Can't Get You Out of My Head" Kylie Minogue 2001 1,195,229 1
30 "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Band Aid 20 2004 1,184,396 1
31 "Poker Face" Lady Gaga 2009 1,180,377 1
32 "Only Girl (In the World)" Rihanna 2010 1,162,460 1
33 "Starships" Nicki Minaj 2012 1,162,065 1
34 "Chasing Cars" Snow Patrol 2006 1,159,099 6
35 "We Are Young" fun. featuring Janelle Monáe 2012 1,145,195 1
36 "Counting Stars" OneRepublic 2013 1,132,526 1
37 "Crazy" Gnarls Barkley 2006 1,131,184 1
38 "The A Team" Ed Sheeran 2011 1,118,825 3
39 "Use Somebody" Kings of Leon 2008 1,115,392 2
40 "Bleeding Love" Leona Lewis 2007 1,114,596 1
  1. ^ a b Dates and chart peaks are those given by the OCC.[6]
  2. ^ The sales are those given by the OCC as of 17 September 2017.[5]

Best-selling songs based on combined sales

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From 2014 streaming has counted towards sales (sometimes called "combined sales" or "chart sales") at the rate of 100 streams equal to one download or physical purchase, although the singles chart no longer uses this ratio. In September 2017, the OCC changed their definition of a 'million seller' to include streaming. These are the biggest selling songs based on combined physical, download and streaming sales. As of September 2017 there were nine over 2 million and 185 over a million combined sales from the 2000s Century.[5] In October 2017, "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran became the first song from the 2000s Century to achieve 3 million combined sales.

Position Song Artist Peak Year Sales Streaming equivalent Combined sales
1 "Shape of You" Ed Sheeran 1 2017 754,754+ 2,121,706+ 3,006,404[7]
2 "Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars 1 2014 1,647,310 1,076,160 2,723,470
3 "Happy" Pharrell Williams 1 2013 1,921,805 707,851 2,629,657
4 "Thinking Out Loud" Ed Sheeran 1 2014 1,219,184 1,302,119 2,521,302
5 "One Dance" Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla 1 2016 553,973 1,791,007 2,344,981
6 "Rather Be" Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 1 2014 1,283,122 935,575 2,218,697
7 "Sorry" Justin Bieber 1 2015 724,188 1,443,719 2,167,907
8 "All of Me" John Legend 2 2014 1,259,708 896,418 2,156,126
9 "Love Yourself" Justin Bieber 1 2015 718,549 1,340,666 2,059,215
10 "Someone Like You" Adele 1 2011 1,644,597 351,772 1,996,369
11 "Wake Me Up!" Avicii 1 2013 1,483,346 484,035 1,967,381
12 "Take Me to Church" Hozier 2 2013 934,466 1,017,851 1,952,317
13 "Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell 1 2013 1,667,615 284,004 1,951,619
14 "Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)" Omi 1 2014 861,086 1,057,439 1,918,526
15 "Despacito (Remix)" Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber 1 2017 566,425 1,334,174 1,900,599
16 "Hello" Adele 1 2015 948,618 906,431 1,855,050
17 "What Do You Mean?" Justin Bieber 1 2015 533,581 1,320,256 1,853,837
18 "Let Her Go" Passenger 2 2012 1,243,336 589,019 1,832,354
19 "Get Lucky" Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams 1 2013 1,471,356 349,989 1,821,344
20 "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" Will Young 1 2002 1,795,213 1,874 1,797,087
21 "Cheap Thrills" Sia 2 2015 517,082 1,247,640 1,764,721
22 "Moves Like Jagger" Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera 2 2011 1,536,041 207,813 1,743,854
23 "Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra 1 2011 1,515,527 212,192 1,727,719
24 "Mr. Brightside" The Killers 10 2004 967,180 750,991 1,718,170
25 "Pompeii" Bastille 2 2013 959,693 749,011 1,708,704
26 "7 Years" Lukas Graham 1 2015 653,657 1,054,211 1,707,868
27 "We Found Love" Rihanna 1 2011 1,415,416 288,533 1,703,948
28 "Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon 1 2008 1,386,171 315,931 1,702,103
29 "Waves"(Robin Schulz remix) Mr Probz 1 2013 933,555 757,402 1,690,957
30 "Castle on the Hill" Ed Sheeran 2 2017 478,716 1,192,607 1,671,322

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Moss, Liv (19 June 2015). "Official Biggest Selling Singles of the decade so far revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  2. ^ "The Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  3. ^ Swash, Rosie (8 January 2007). "Old songs return to brave new singles chart". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  4. ^ Kreisler, Lauren (22 June 2014). "UK's Official Singles Chart to include streaming data for first time". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d Copsey, Rob (19 September 2017). "The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  7. ^ Jones, Alan (14 October 2017). "Official Charts Analysis: Post Malone secures second week atop singles chart". Music Week. Retrieved 14 October 2017.