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The UK Singles Chart is a record chart compiled on behalf of the British record industry. Since 1997, the chart has been compiled by the Official Charts Company (formerly The Official UK Charts Company and the Chart Information Network) and until 2005 (when digital downloads were included in the chart compilation), the chart was based entirely on sales of physical singles from retail outlets. The UK Singles Chart originated in 1952, when New Musical Express (NME) published the first chart of singles sales. The positions of all songs are based on week-end sale totals, from Sunday to Saturday, but pre-1987 the charts were released on a Tuesday because of the need for manual calculation.

Since inception there have been more than 1,400 number ones; of these, instrumental tracks have topped the chart on 30 occasions for a total of 96 weeks. The Shadows have had the most instrumental number ones, with five between 1960 and 1963. Three other artists have had more than one instrumental number one: Eddie Calvert (in 1954 and 1955), Winifred Atwell (in 1954 and 1956) and Russ Conway (both in 1959). Calvert's track "O Mein Papa" stayed at the top of the charts for nine weeks, longer than any other instrumental single. The single "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" has been an instrumental number one for two different artists (Calvert and Perez Prado) in 1955. To date, Martin Garrix is the most recent artist to have an instrumental number one, with "Animals" in November 2013.

Number ones

1. ^ The track "Hoots Mon" is not fully instrumental but is classified nominally as an instrumental track and described as being accompanied by "some Scottish-sounding grunts and interjections at the end of each chorus".
2. The record labels are those given by the OCC.
3. ^ The date and duration at number-one are referenced by the following:
   • 1950s: "Number 1 Singles – 1950s". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
   • 1960s: "All the Number One Singles – 1960s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
   • 1970s: "All the Number One Singles – 1970s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
   • 1990s: "All the Number One Singles – 1990s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
4. The track "Block Rockin' Beats" is not fully instrumental but is classified nominally as an instrumental track, it features a sampled spoken line ("back with another one of those block-rocking beats"), however the rest of the track is entirely instrumental.

References

1. Roberts, David (2005). Roberts, David (ed.). British Hit Singles & Albums (18th ed.). Guinness World Records. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-904994-00-8. OCLC 58454449.
2. "New singles formats to save the charts". BBC News. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
3. "The story of the single". BBC. 23 March 2001. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
4. "FAQ". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
5. "UK Singles Charts: History of the Charts". When We Were Kids. Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
6. "Artist Chart History". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
7. Huey, Steve. "Mantovani: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
8. ^ Mawer, Sharon. "Eddie Calvert: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
9. ^ Mawer, Sharon. "Winifred Atwell: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
10. Huey, Steve. "Pérez Prado: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
11. ^ Mawer, Sharon. "Lord Rockingham's XI: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
12. ^ "Pianist Russ Conway dies". BBC News. 16 November 2000. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
13. ^ "The Shadows founder member dies". BBC News. 29 November 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
14. ^ McNair, James (10 December 2009). "Whatever Happened to the Hit Instrumental?". Mojo. Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
15. "Country Music Hall of Fame To Welcome Floyd Cramer and Carl Smith". Broadcast Music Incorporated. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
16. Boynton, Graham (25 September 2009). "Hank Marvin: 'We should have taken Harrison's advice and sung'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
17. Perrone, Pierre (23 September 2008). "Obituarty: Earl Palmer". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
18. ^ "Rhythm magazine". Rhythm. March 2001. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012.
19. Unterberger, Richie. "Jet Harris – Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
20. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Hugo Montenegro: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
21. "1972-10-14 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
22. "All the No.1s: Doop – Doop". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
23. "1997-05-04 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
24. Siegler, Dylan (April 2000). "Mr. Oizo". CMJ New Music (80). College Music Journal: 39. ISSN 1074-6978.
25. "1999-07-03 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
26. "2005-06-03 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
27. "2008-06-14 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
28. "2013-11-23 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 January 2015.

External links

• Instrumentals at Number One

v t e UK music charts
UK singles	Number ones 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Number one artists Most number ones Christmas Posthumous Scottish One-hit wonders in Scotland List of artists by number of UK Independent Singles Chart number ones Instrumental Simultaneous UK and U.S. Simultaneous with album Top tens 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Most top tens Best-selling 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s (decade) 2010s 1900s 21st century All time Yearly Most-downloaded (2000s) Most streamed Million-sellers Platinum singles (pre-2000) Platinum singles (post-2000) Most weeks on chart One-hit wonders Records and statistics
UK albums	Number ones 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Most number ones Number-one in most decades Christmas Posthumous Simultaneous UK and U.S. Simultaneous with single Top tens 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Most top tens Best-selling 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s (decade) 2010s 21st century All time Yearly Most weeks on chart One-hit wonders
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• Lists of number-one songs in the United Kingdom
• Instrumentals