UK Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles Of 2012

 

2012 was a double cause for celebration for music fans in the United Kingdom – not only did the Official Singles Chart commemorate its 60th anniversary, but the last twelve months have seen sales of singles in the UK reach an all-time high.

Total singles sales increased by 6% from 177.9 million in 2011 to 188.6 million in 2012, with each of the Top 20 biggest selling tracks of the year selling over 500,000 copies each. Furthermore, the final week of 2012 (Sunday, December 22, to Saturday, December 28) proved to be the year’s record week for digital sales, as consumers redeemed their Christmas music vouchers and downloaded more than 5.6 million tracks.

2012 also saw nine singles break through the million copies sales barrier, with two of those songs - Gotye FT Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know and Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe – doing so in the same calendar year as they made their Official Singles Chart debuts. Needless to say, Somebody That I Used To Know and Call Me Maybe occupy the Number 1 and Number 2 positions, respectively, on the Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles Of 2012.

US rockers Fun.’s We Are Young FT Janelle Monae finished the year in third place with sales of 986,000 copies. The Top 5 is completed by David Guetta FT Sia’s Titanium (Number 4, with sales of over 922,000), and 2012 X Factor winner James Arthur’s Impossible (Number 5) which sold 897,000 copies in just three weeks.

UK artists make up an impressive 45% of the biggest selling singles of 2012, with British acts appearing as the lead artist(s) on a total of 18 tracks in the Top 40. James Arthur is the highest charting British male artist (with Impossible, Number 5), Jessie J the highest charting British female artist (with Domino, Number 8) and Rudimental the highest charting British group (with Feel The Love, Number 16).

Meanwhile the US accounts for 32.5% of lead artists in the Top 40 with 13 tracks, and Barbados and France account for 5% each (thanks to Rihanna and David Guetta, respectively). Lead artists from Australia (Gotye), Canada (Carly Rae Jepsen), Ireland (The Script), South Korea (Psy) and Sweden (Swedish House Mafia) each have a 2.5% share, with only one track as lead artists in the Top 40.

Rihanna and Flo Rida appear on the most tracks in the Top 40 (three each), while David Guetta, Sia, Nicki Minaj, Will.I.Am and 2012 break out stars Emeli Sande and Rita Ora each appear on two tracks.

1 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW GOTYE FT KIMBRA 1318000
2 CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN 1143000
3 WE ARE YOUNG FUN. FT JANELLE MONAE 986000
4 TITANIUM DAVID GUETTA FT SIA 922000
5 IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR 897000
6 GANGNAM STYLE PSY 878000
7 STARSHIPS NICKI MINAJ 864000
8 DOMINO JESSIE J 749000
9 PAYPHONE MAROON 5 FT WIZ KHALIFA 725000
10 WILD ONES FLO RIDA FT SIA 695000
11 DIAMONDS RIHANNA 672000
12 BENEATH YOUR BEAUTIFUL LABRINTH FT EMELI SANDE 663000
13 DON'T YOU WORRY CHILD SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA/MARTIN 632000
14 NEXT TO ME EMELI SANDE 621000
15 WHISTLE FLO RIDA 620000
16 FEEL THE LOVE RUDIMENTAL FT JOHN NEWMAN 619000
17 MAMA DO THE HUMP RIZZLE KICKS 559000
18 TOO CLOSE ALEX CLARE 557000
19 SPECTRUM FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 554000
20 SKYFALL ADELE 547000
21 HALL OF FAME THE SCRIPT FT WILL.I.AM 529000
22 CANDY ROBBIE WILLIAMS 503000
23 DRIVE BY TRAIN 502700
24 HOT RIGHT NOW DJ FRESH FT RITA ORA 482000
25 PRINCESS OF CHINA COLDPLAY & RIHANNA 475000
26 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT 465000
27 BLACK HEART STOOSHE 456000
28 R.I.P. RITA ORA FT TINIE TEMPAH 453000
29 TROUBLEMAKER OLLY MURS FT FLO RIDA 441000
30 SEXY AND I KNOW IT LMFAO 434000
31 N****S IN PARIS JAY-Z & KANYE WEST 432000
32 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN RIHANNA 422200
33 LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN BRUNO MARS 421000
34 CALL MY NAME CHERYL 420700
35 TURN ME ON DAVID GUETTA FT NICKI MINAJ 417000
36 STRONGER (WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU) KELLY CLARKSON 416685
37 DON'T WAKE ME UP CHRIS BROWN 416684
38 HEATWAVE WILEY FT MS D 416000
39 THIS IS LOVE WILL.I.AM FT EVA SIMONS 403000
40 WINGS LITTLE MIX 397000

 

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