A HALF CENTURY OF BRITISH NUMBER ONES |
MOST No 1s for ARTISTS |
| BRITNEY SPEARS (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 27 Feb 1999 | Britney Spears | Baby One More Time | 2 | 1st No 1 | The start of a phenomenal rise to international fame for the teenager from New Orleans. |
| 29 Jan 2000 | Britney Spears | Born To Make You Happy | 1 | 2nd No 1 | Fourth single from her debut album "Baby One More Time". The intervening two releases hit the Top 5. |
| 13 May 2000 | Britney Spears | Oops!... I Did It Again | 1 | 3rd No 1 | Yes she did! Number One for the third time. The track was from her second album "Oops I Did It Again". |
| 13 Mar 2004 | Britney Spears | Toxic | 1 | 4th No 1 | After a gap of nearly four years since her last No 1, and after much negative publicity, she returned to the top of the UK charts. |
| 26 June 2004 | Britney Spears | Everytime | 1 | 5th No 1 | Quickly following her return to the top three months earlier, Britney consolidated her resurgence with another chart topper. |
| ALL SAINTS (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 11 Jan 1998 | All Saints | Never Ever | 2 | 1st No 1 | Four girls from London, who saw themselves as a much more serious band than the Spice Girls. |
| 4 May 1998 | All Saints | Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade | 2 | 2nd No 1 | The foursome returned to the top with track two being a remake of a LaBelle disco hit from 1975. |
| 12 Sep 1998 | All Saints | Bootie Call | 1 | 3rd No 1 | Laid-back dance track from their debut album. |
| 20 Feb 2000 | All Saints | Pure Shores | 2 | 4th No 1 | Back at No 1 after 18 months. From the Leonardo Di Caprio movie, "The Beach". |
| 8 Oct 2000 | All Saints | Black Coffee | 1 | 5th No 1 | Their second chart topper in 2000 - taken from their album "Saints & Sinners". |
| POLICE (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 29 Sep 1979 | Police | Message In A Bottle | 3 | 1st No 1 | Led by Sting, who wrote the songs, they were to become one of the major bands of the 1980s. |
| 8 Dec 1979 | Police | Walking On The moon | 1 | 2nd No 1 | Like their first No 1, this came from their album "Reggatta De Blanc". |
| 27 Sep 1980 | Police | Don't Stand So Close To Me | 4 | 3rd No 1 | From their album "Zenyatta Mondatta". Best selling single of 1980. |
| 14 Nov 1981 | Police | Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic | 1 | 4th No 1 | The promo video was shot at George Martin's Montserrat studio, but he didn't produce the record. |
| 4 Jun 1983 | Police | Every Breath You Take | 4 | 5th & last No 1 | They split in 1984, and Sting became a highly successful and respected musican, particularly in the US. |
| DAVID BOWIE (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 8 Nov 1975 | David Bowie | Space Oddity | 2 | 1st No 1 | He made No 5 with this in 1969. Rick Wakeman provides synthesiser backing. |
| 23 Aug 1980 | David Bowie | Ashes To Ashes | 2 | 2nd No 1 | Continues the story of Major Tom from Bowie's "Space Oddity" No 1. |
| 21 Nov 1981 | Queen & David Bowie | Under Pressure | 2 | 3rd No 1 | Written and recorded when both parties met up in a German studio. The intro was sampled on Vanilla Ice's 1990 No 1. |
| 9 Apr 1983 | David Bowie | Let's Dance | 3 | 4th No 1 | A break from his previous complex material gave Bowie a new impetus in the singles and albums charts. |
| 7 Sep 1985 | David Bowie & Mick Jagger | Dancing In The Street | 4 | 5th & last No 1 | The video was featured on Live Aid and the record went straight to No 1 upon release. Bowie continued recording and performing into the 2000s. |
| BEE GEES (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 11 Oct 1967 | Bee Gees | Massachusetts | 4 | 1st No 1 | First big hit for the famous brothers. They sang about the US east coast! |
| 4 Sep 1968 | Bee Gees | I've Gotta Get A Message To You | 1 | 2nd No 1 | This consolidated their 60s success before fading, to become even bigger in the late 1970s. |
| 29 Apr 1978 | Bee Gees | Night Fever | 2 | 3rd No 1 | They wrote the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever", and relaunched their careers as kings of disco. |
| 3 Mar 1979 | Bee Gees | Tragedy | 2 | 4th No 1 | By then a major disco act, this was from their No 1 album, "Spirits Having Flown". |
| 17 Oct 1987 | Bee Gees | You Win Again | 4 | 5th & last No 1 | 20 years after their first No 1, they had their last. They remained recording stars and producers into the 21st century. |
| SHADOWS (5 No 1s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Ending | ACT | TITLE | Weeks | TALLY | COMMENT |
| 25 Aug 1960 | Shadows | Apache | 5 | 1st No 1 | Cliff Richard's backing group. Had as much 60s success as their "boss". |
| 5 Oct 1961 | Shadows | Kon Tiki | 1 | 2nd No 1 | Just before this was No 1, drummer Tony Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett. |
| 22/3/1962 | Shadows | Wonderful Land | 8 | 3rd No 1 | They were at the peak of popularity with this Jerry Lordan tune. |
| 24 Jan 1963 | Shadows | Dance On | 1 | 4th No 1 | Written by 3 members of the Avons ("Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat"). |
| 29 Mar 1963 | Shadows | Foot Tapper | 1 | 5th & last No 1 | From the Cliff Richard film, "Summer Holiday". They continued on and off for another 30 years! |
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