Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009 Westlife2

The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the

Official Charts Company The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...

(OCC) on behalf of the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart contains the Top 200 downloads (which are published in ''

UKChartsPlus ''UKChartsPlus'' is an independent weekly newsletter about the UK music charts. It was first published in September 2001 as ''ChartsPlus'' in order to authoritatively record the official music chart information in the UK, as compiled by the Offic ...

''), with the top 100 published on the OCC website. The chart only uses sales of ''permanent digital downloads'', that is single-download tracks on non-subscription online music stores. Some downloading services offer a monthly fee plan where generally an unlimited number of tracks can be downloaded within a month for a certain price. Tracks downloaded in those instances do not qualify. An album equivalent, the

UK Album Downloads Chart The UK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts on behalf of the British music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The chart was introduced i ...

, was launched in April 2006.

History

Before the inauguration of the download chart, only sales of physical formats—such as CD,

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

—contributed towards a single's position on the UK music charts. From the late 1990s onwards, these sales began to significantly decline. By the start of 2004, they had dropped to their lowest level in over 35 years, with singles needing to sell only 35,000 copies to reach number one. One year later, a limited edition re-release of " One Night" / " I Got Stung" by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

topped the chart with 22,000 copies, making it the lowest selling number-one single at that time. Conversely, the music download market was growing considerably: during the same 2004–05 period, sales of downloads grew by 743%, and overtook physical sales in December 2004. The following year, the UK's online music revenue reached . As a result of this growth, the OCC were commissioned in 2004 to compile a new music chart based solely on the UK's download sales, which was initially sponsored by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

. A "sample" download chart was trialled for 10 weeks, with the first number one being "

Bam Thwok "Bam Thwok" is a download-only single by the American alternative rock band the Pixies. Written and sung by bassist Kim Deal, the song was released exclusively through the iTunes Store on June 15, 2004. Upon its release, "Bam Thwok" was a comm ...

" by American rock band Pixies. After this ten-week period, the UK Official Download Chart was launched on 1 September 2004, with Irish boy band

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

achieving the first official number one. The group topped the chart with a live version of their 1999 single "

Flying Without Wings "Flying Without Wings" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 18 October 1999 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album (1999). It is the band's fourth-best-selling single on both paid-for and combined sales in t ...

", a move that UK chart commentator

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

branded a "stunt". Sales of downloaded singles were finally incorporated into the UK Singles Chart on 17 April 2005, initially on the condition that physical copies were available to buy at the same time. In April 2006, the UK Official Download Chart was expanded to include an album chart. The first album to top the chart was ''

This New Day ''This New Day'' is the fifth studio album by English rock band Embrace. It was released on 27 March 2006, being preceded by the release of the single, " Nature's Law", and went straight to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The single and alb ...

'' by English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Embrace. By 2007, the UK had become Europe's largest consumer of online music, with almost 78 million tracks being downloaded that year; by 2012, this figure had more than doubled. The single with the longest stay on the Downloads Chart is "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...

" by

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley is an American soul music, soul duo composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse (musician), Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''St. Elsewhere (album), St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contai ...

, which stayed the top spot for 11 weeks. On the week end 26 December 2009, "

Killing in the Name "Killing in the Name" is a song by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, and appears on their 1992 Rage Against the Machine (album), self-titled debut album. It features heavy drop-D guitar riffs. The lyrics protest Police brutality i ...

" by

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

became the fastest-selling download of all time. As of 9 September 2014, "

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

" by

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

is the most downloaded song in UK music download history. In 2006,

McFly McFly are a British pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the ''Back to the Future (franchise), Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Da ...

became the first band to have two number one singles with " Star Girl" on both the UK Downloads Chart and the UK Singles Chart at the same time. In 2024

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

became the 500th song to top the chart with " We Pray"

Criteria for inclusion

* The track must have a maximum playing time of 15 minutes. * PDDs (Permanent Digital Downloads) must be bought by the retailer at a minimum of 40p per track, or 32p if the record company does not publish a set dealer price. The retailer may sell tracks at a loss at its own discretion.

Most-downloaded by year

References

External links

Official Singles Downloads Chart
at the

The Official UK Top 20 Download Chart
at

MTV UK MTV is a British pay television channel focusing on reality TV and music programming operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. The channel launched as part of MTV Networks Europe localisation strategy in 1997. MTV UK (previously MTV UK & I ...

{{Music of the United Kingdom 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom British record charts

History

Criteria for inclusion

Most-downloaded by year

See also

References

External links