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.
The full Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles Of 2012 is as follows:
1 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW - GOTYE FT KIMBRA (1,318,000)
2 CALL ME MAYBE - CARLY RAE JEPSEN (1,143,000)
3 WE ARE YOUNG - FUN. FT JANELLE MONAE (986,000)
4 TITANIUM - DAVID GUETTA FT SIA (922,000)
5 IMPOSSIBLE - JAMES ARTHUR (897,000)
6 GANGNAM STYLE - PSY (878,000)
7 STARSHIPS - NICKI MINAJ (864,000)
8 DOMINO - JESSIE J (749,000)
9 PAYPHONE - MAROON 5 FT WIZ KHALIFA (725,000)
10 WILD ONES - FLO RIDA FT SIA (695,000)
11 DIAMONDS - RIHANNA (672,000)
12 BENEATH YOUR BEAUTIFUL - LABRINTH FT EMELI SANDE (663,000)
13 DON'T YOU WORRY CHILD - SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA/MARTIN (632,000)
14 NEXT TO ME - EMELI SANDE (621,000)
15 WHISTLE - FLO RIDA (620,000)
16 FEEL THE LOVE - RUDIMENTAL FT JOHN NEWMAN (619,000)
17 MAMA DO THE HUMP - RIZZLE KICKS (559,000)
18 TOO CLOSE - ALEX CLARE (557,000)
19 SPECTRUM - FLORENCE & THE MACHINE (554,000)
20 SKYFALL - ADELE (547,000)
21 HALL OF FAME - THE SCRIPT FT WILL.I.AM (529,000)
22 CANDY - ROBBIE WILLIAMS (503,000)
23 DRIVE BY - TRAIN (502,700)
24 HOT RIGHT NOW - DJ FRESH FT RITA ORA (482,000)
25 PRINCESS OF CHINA - COLDPLAY & RIHANNA (475,000)
26 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER - TAYLOR SWIFT (465,000)
27 BLACK HEART - STOOSHE (456,000)
28 R.I.P. - RITA ORA FT TINIE TEMPAH (453,000)
29 TROUBLEMAKER - OLLY MURS FT FLO RIDA (441,000)
30 SEXY AND I KNOW IT - LMFAO (434,000)
31 N****S IN PARIS - JAY-Z & KANYE WEST (432,000)
32 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN - RIHANNA (422,200)
33 LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN - BRUNO MARS (421,000)
34 CALL MY NAME - CHERYL (420,700)
35 TURN ME ON - DAVID GUETTA FT NICKI MINAJ (417,000)
36 STRONGER (WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU) - KELLY CLARKSON (416,685)
37 DON'T WAKE ME UP - CHRIS BROWN (416,684)
38 HEATWAVE - WILEY FT MS DYNAMITE (416,000)
39 THIS IS LOVE - WILL.I.AM FT EVA SIMONS (403,000)
40 WINGS - LITTLE MIX (397,000)
Source:
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-...revealed-1784/