2024 Music Year in Review: BRAT summer, The Eras Tour, a UK country revival and other memorable moments

2024 is nearly over, and now it's chance for us to look back over the last 12 months - through the rather specific lens of music and the Official Chart.

This year has truly been one for the record books. From Sabrina Carpenter becoming only the second-ever artist to spend more than 20 weeks at Number 1 in a single calendar year, to WHAM!'s Last Christmas becoming the first song ever to become Christmas Number 1 two years in a row. 

So, let's get into a pensive mood, shall we? Sit back, relax, and let us take you back...

Those we lost

It's always sad to look back at the stars we've lost – and 2024 was definitely tinged with grief for many pop fans. In October, we said goodbye to One Direction member and solo star Liam Payne at the tragically young age of 31. Directioners paid tribute by sending all five of the group's studio albums back into the UK Top 40.  

As a member of One Direction, Liam scored four UK Number 1 albums (Take Me Home, Midnight Memories,  Four and Made In The AM) and four UK Number 1 singles (What Makes You Beautiful, Little Things, One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) and Drag Me Down).

As a solo artist, Liam scored two UK Top 10 singles - debut track Strip Me Down with Quavo (3) and For You with Rita Ora (8).

In September, we lost iconic singer-songwriter, actor and Glastonbury legends' slot recipient Kris Kristofferson at age 88. In November, super-producer Quincy Jones – whose credits include the UK's sixth biggest album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller – died at 91.

The influential Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes, chart-topping rapper Fatman Scoop, French pop icon Françoise Hardy, folk star Melanie and frequently sampled soul singer Marlena Shaw all left us in 2024, too. Trailblazer Annie Nightingale, the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 and longest-serving broadcaster in the station's history, died in January at 83.

We also said goodbye to Hi-NRG queen Evelyn Thomas, Whitney Houston's gospel singer mother Cissy Houston, and Hungry Eyes troubadour Eric Carmen. There were many heartfelt tributes, too, to The Jackson 5's Tito Jackson, Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley and Boney M and Milli Vanilli founder Frank Farian. May they all rest in peace as we continue to enjoy their enduring music. 

Sabrina Carpenter breaks out

The princess of pithy pop, Sabrina Carpenter, didn't just score her first Number 1 single and album this year. She also racked up a record 21 weeks on top of the Official Singles Chart – seven with Espresso, five with Please Please Please and nine with Taste.

With this, Sab entered the record books as the first female artist (and only second artist ever) to spend more than 21 weeks at Number 1 in the UK in a single calendar year. The only other act to ever manage this was Frankie Laine, whose 1953 hit I Believe still holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at Number 1 in UK chart history (18 weeks, fact fans).

Oh, and not to toot our own horn...but the ever playful Sabrina seemed to like it when Official Charts suggested that Espresso's caffeine-fuelled chart run was potent enough to have "ended tea". 

And she did!

 

All hail the Sophaissance...

Driven by its inclusion in the very memorable closing scene of Emerald Fennell's gothic-thriller Saltburn, Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor returned to the Official Singles Chart in January after nearly 22 years. It went on to match its original peak position (Number 2) and spent even longer in the Top 10 than it did first time around (seven weeks compared to six).

The joyful, hard-working Sophie has never looked back – she'll put a cap on her incredible year by hosting Sophie Ellis-Bextor's New Year's Eve Disco on BBC One on December 31. 

... and other sync revivals

It's impossible to guess which nostalgic bops will get a major streaming boost after featuring in a hit film, which is why it's so much fun when it happens. Sophie's noughties contemporary Natasha Bedingfield also returned to the Official Singles Chart in early 2024 after her millennial anthem Unwritten appeared in the Sydney Sweeney-Glen Powell rom-com Anyone but You. This time
around, it climbed all the way to Number 12 – not far off its Number 6 peak back in 2004. 

Oasis fever rises again

Britpop icons Oasis dominated the national conversation in August when they announced their first live shows in 16 years. In fact, interest in the band's Live '25 reunion tour was so feverish that "how to get Oasis tickets" was Google's second biggest "how to" question of the year – behind only "how to vote in the UK". Then in September, the band's classic 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe returned to the top of the Official Albums Chart thanks to a 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Expect another swell of Oasis fever in July 2025 when Liam, Noel and the lads kick off their tour.

The UK enjoys a BRAT summer

As did the rest of the world when Charli xcx dropped her wildly entertaining BRAT album. With its lime green cover art providing a visual shorthand, the album wasn't just an instant pop classic, but a cultural moment that became a meme, a mindset and a way of life. Charli even made international headline news when she declared that Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris was, in fact, "BRAT". Then in October, following the release of a remix album that featured Charli's chart-topping Billie Eilish collab Guess, it became Charli's second Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.

As for the exact meaning of BRAT, we'll leave it to Charli to explain: "You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat."

The UK welcomes a new arena

After a few delays, Manchester's Co-op Live arena opened in June and instantly gave the UK live music scene a boost. With a maximum capacity of 23,500, it's the largest indoor arena in Europe, and has already welcomed superstars including Janet Jackson and Paul McCartney. Everyone from Sabrina Carpenter to Sugababes and Scissors Sisters will play there in 2025. We'll raise a phone torch to that.

The UK goes country in a huge way

Yee-haw! Obviously there have always been passionate UK country fans, but Official Charts revealed in May that the genre had experienced a 67% surge year-on-year. The country renaissance was driven by several viral TikTok hits – notably A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey (Number 3 peak) and Austin by Dasha (Number 7 peak) – as well as Beyoncé's chart-topping COWBOY CARTER album.

Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of Official Charts, also noted that "the explosion of country music in the UK this year is a reflection of the growing interest in guitar and story-telling music over recent years, spanning country, Americana, folk and roots." And with Lana Del Rey readying a country album in 2025, it looks certain to continue.

Taylor brings The Eras Tour to the UK

The highest-grossing tour of all time arrived in the UK twice – first in June, and then again in August. In the process, Taylor Swift became the first solo act to perform four, five, six, seven and eight shows on a single tour at London's iconic Wembley Stadium. The Eras Tour, which finally wrapped in Vancouver in December, grew into a musical, cultural and economic juggernaut that reflects Taylor's status at the very top of the industry.

In December, her latest album The Tortured Poets Department notched up a ninth non-consecutive week at Number 1 in the UK – more than any other this year. When it was released in April, it scored the biggest release week sales figures (270,000 UK chart units) of any album in seven years. At this point, it's Taylor's world – the rest of us are just living in it.

RAYE is a record-breaker

In February, South London singer-songwriter RAYE sealed her remarkable comeback as an independent artist by collecting six BRIT Awards: the most wins by one artist in a single night in the event's 44-year-history. "The artist I was three years ago would not believe I'm in control - I'm my own boss," she told the crowd at London's The O2. Among the trophies she picked up were British Album of the Year for her dazzling debut, 2023's My 21st Century Blues, and British Single of the Year for her Number 1 smash Escapism. The future looks brighter than ever for the 27-year-old, who already has 16 UK Top 40 singles to her name.

Top 10s get their moment in the sun

Early this year, we launched a brand-new award celebrating the songs and albums that didn't quite make Number 1, but still deserve recognition - the Official Top 10 award.

First announced in March, we presented several acts from across the musical spectrum - Jazzy, Skindred, Natasha Bedingfield, and Crawlers - with the first ever Official Top 10 awards, marking their achievements in reaching the Official Singles or Albums Chart Top 10.

Shortly after, we revealed The Killers' Mr Brightside is the UK’s Official biggest single of all time not to reach Number 1 (yet?) - and of course marked the occasion by presenting Brandon Flowers with a Top 10 award, and Ella Henderson marked her tenth Top 10 in ten years (!) with Alibi ft. Rudimental.

Other acts who've been presented with the award include KSI, Myles Smith, Griff and Sam Tompkins.

 

Olly Alexander turns Eurovision Dizzy

The UK has always struggled to decide what kind of artist and what kind of song to send to Eurovision in the last 20 years. For every correct choice (Sam Ryder) we get an incorrect choice (uh...Jemini) but something felt very right about the choice to pack Olly Alexander (chart-topping pop star and actual BAFTA-nominated actor thank you very much!) off to Malmo with a song co-written by PC Music's Danny L Harle (who helped construct the hypnotic Houdini for Dua Lipa). 

But sadly, despite sounding like a modern-day re-think of It's A Sin (!) and with a, well, dizzying live performance including a rotating set (!!) Dizzy failed to set Eurovision alight - finishing in 18th place overall (although this was better than poor Mae Muller's second-to-last finish in 2023) with 0 points gained from the public vote.

Don't feel too bad for Olly, however - he's set to release his debut album, Polari, early next year.

Wicked defies gravity (and expectations) with soundtrack chart debut

Wicked proved to be a true sensation when it debuted in theatres last month. The live-action adaption of the long-running Broadway show (itself adapted from the best-selling book) may have been in development hell for years, but was steered in the right direction with sterling performances from Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande's big-screen debut as Glinda (for which she is, rightly, garnering some very real Oscar buzz). 

It wasn't just the film itself that was a success - Wicked's original soundtrack experienced a record-breaking debut on the Official Chart; netting the biggest debut week for a musical soundtrack on the Official Chart this decade (it naturally debuted at Number 1 on the Official Compilations Chart) and Defying Gravity debuting inside the Official Singles Chart Top 10, netting Erivo her first-ever Top 10 single.

And with the second film due this time next year...we don't think they'll be coming down quite yet....

Tattoo fever

This year we saw a few acts marking their Official Chart achievements with tattoos, and we are flattered. Okay, to be fair, it's obviously not about us, but about marking their career highlights - we're just lucky enough to be along for the ride.

From Shed Seven, who earned two Number 1 albums 30 years into their career, to Colchester punk band Pet Needs, to Tom Grennan, who put his leg space on the line for this year's Official Christmas Number 1 race, inking "Christmas Number 1 2024 is..." and allowing the British public to decide the outcome. Speaking of which...

WHAM! return to Official Christmas Number 1

As Andrew Ridgeley told us himself...Official Christmas Number 1s are like London buses; you wait 39 years for one...and then two show up in a row!

Yes, WHAM! made UK chart history (again) this year when Last Christmas became the Official Christmas Number 1 single for 2024. It's the first time ever that a song has been Christmas Number 1 for two consecutive years, while WHAM! themselves join a rare group of acts to scoop the biggest Number 1 of the year more than once; including Queen (2), Spice Girls (3), Cliff Richard (3), The Beatles (4) and LadBaby (5).