33 facts about the Official Charts in 2013

We love a good chart fact – it’s what we do. What better way to round off 2013 than list a whole lot of them? 33 – well, 33 and a third – of them to be exact! 

Want to be top of the class at your local pop quiz? As we wait to find out the biggest sellers of 2013, we take a look at some of the facts and figures you might not know about this year’s Official Charts. Prepare yourself for some extreme chart-geekery.

1. There were 31 Number 1s on the Official Singles Chart in 2013. James Arthur’s Impossible was the first, while Pharrell’s Happy is the last.

2. There were 35 Number 1 albums this year. Calvin Harris’ 18 Months kicked things off, and Robbie Williams’ Swings Both Ways saw the year out at the top of the Official Albums Chart.

3. The single which spent the most weeks at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart was Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. It spent five non-consecutive weeks at the top spot

4. The longest consecutive run for a Number 1 single this year was four weeks, and is shared by two tracks: Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. And man of the year Pharrell appeared on both!

5. The album spending most weeks at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart during 2013 is shared between three records: the cast recording of Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables, Britain’s Got Talent duo Richard And Adam’s The Impossible Dream, and Robbie Williams' Swings Both Ways. They all spent four weeks at the top spot.

6. The album with the most consecutive weeks at Number 1 in 2013 was Richard And Adam’s The Impossible Dream.

7. Avicii’s Wake Me Up was the fastest selling single of 2013, selling 267,000 copies in its first week on sale.

8. Fastest selling artist album in 2013 was One Direction’s Midnight Memories. It sold 237,000 copies in its first week on sale.

9. 12 songs have topped the Official Streaming Chart during 2013.

10. Daft Punk’s Get Lucky topped it for the longest, spending 7 weeks at the top.

11. Britney had her sixth Number 1 in January 2013, featuring on will.i.am’s Scream & Shout. It was her first chart-topper for almost nine years.

12. Three records returned to the top of the Official Singles Chart: Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, OneRepublic’s Counting Stars and Lily Allen’s Somewhere Only We Know have all made the only comeback that counts.

13. 16-year-old New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde was the youngest star to top the Official Singles Chart in 2013. She reached Number 1 in October with Royals.

14. 17-year-old Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix was the second youngest star to top the Official Singles Chart this year. He reached Number 1 in November with Animals.

15. 15 Number 1 singles have not been credited as a feature or a collaboration. (This includes Storm Queen’s Look Right Through because it was the Marc Kinchen remix which finally got it to the Number 1 spot.)

16. 18 acts enjoyed their very first Number 1 single.

17. Three Number 1s had three artists credited: Macklemore/Ryan Lewis/Wanz with Thrift Shop, Robin Thicke/TI/Pharrell with Blurred Lines and Calvin Harris/Alesso/Hurts with Under Control.

18. In July we revealed that Beyoncé’s best selling UK single was If I Were A Boy. See the full countdown, including her Destiny’s Child hits. 

19. Two albums released this year have returned to the Number 1 spot: the Les Misérables cast recording and Robbie Williams’ Swings Both Ways.

20. Three albums released in 2012 have also returned to the top of the Official Albums Chart this year: Calvin Harris’ 18 Months, Emeli Sandé’s Our Version Of Events, and Mumford & Sons’ Babel.

21. Six of the Official Albums Chart Number 1s have been by female acts.

22. There have been four singles released in 2013 which became million sellers.

23. One of them was Passenger’s Let Her Go, which is the biggest selling single of the year not to reach Number 1.

24. A further 12 tracks – including Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, Psy’s Gangnam Style and Ed Sheeran’s The A Team to name but a few – have also crossed over the million copies threshold.

25. Some 35 years after they first made their debut on the Official Singles Chart, AC/DC finally scored their first Top 10 hit.  The band’s classic 1979 single Highway To Hell peaked at Number 4 during Christmas week thanks to a social media campaign by the band’s fans to celebrate their 40th anniversary. For those who rocked, we salute you!

26. Miley Cyrus was the only act to achieve an Official Charts ‘double' this year. She was Number 1 on both the Official Albums Chart (with Bangerz) and Official Singles Chart (coming in like a Wrecking Ball) in the same week.

27. On Wednesdays BBC Radio 1 reveals the Official Chart Update, which shows how the week’s singles and albums are selling and gives an indication of who might be Number 1 that Sunday. Only five songs predicted to be Number 1 in the Update hadn’t made it when the final whistle went.

Those songs (and the songs that beat them to Number 1) were:
– My Life by 50 Cent/Eminem/Adam Levine (will.i.am & Britney’s Scream & Shout)
– Boomerang by Nicole Scherzinger (Justin Timberlake – Mirrors)
– Can We Dance by The Vamps (OneRepublic – Counting Stars)
– Story Of My Life by One Direction (Eminem FT Rihanna – The Monster)
– Of The Night by Bastille (Lily Allen’s Somewhere Only We Know)

28. Sam Bailey became the first X Factor winner to score a Christmas Number 1 for three years. She topped the festive chart with her cover of Demi Lovato’s Skyscraper.

29. The closest Number 1 single race of 2013 was between Lily Allen’s Somewhere Only We Know and Bastille's Of The Night. Lily clinched victory with a very tight margin of just 660 copies.

30. The closest Number 1 albums battle was between Robbie Williams’ Swings Both Ways and One Direction’s Midnight Memories. Robbie Williams beat 1D to the Official Christmas Number 1 album by fewer than 200 copies.

31. One Direction’s This Is Us became the first music DVD/Blu-ray to top the Official Video Chart since Michael Jackson’s This Is It in 2010. 1D also overtook MJ’s chart record for the fastest selling music DVD/Blu-ray in British history.

32. Leona Lewis set a new Official Singles Chart record with her Christmas hit One More Sleep. She became the first British female solo artist ever to score eight Top 5 singles.

33. Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris hit the Top 10 with I Need You Love FT Ellie Goulding and became the first artist to score eight Top 10 hits from one album (18 Months) beating Michael Jackson’s record of seven (which the King Of Pop actually managed twice – with 1987’s Bad and 1991’s Dangerous).

And finally, room for a little one…

33^1/3 In July Calvin actually went one better and took that tally to NINE Top 10 hits from one album with Thinking About You FT Ayah Marar.