50 incredible facts about the UK's 2019 Official Singles and Albums Charts

1. In January, Ariana Grande scored the biggest week of streams ever with 7 Rings, racking up 16.9 million audio and video plays.

2. In February, Ariana became the first female artist to replace herself at Number 1 with Break Up With Your Girlfriend I’m Bored disposed of 7 Rings at the top.

3. In doing so, Ari was the first woman to be Number 1 and 2 concurrently since Madonna in August 1985.

4. One week later, she made history again, becoming the only act to ever replace themselves at the top of the Official Chart two weeks in a row.

5. Number 1 and 2 for two straight weeks is another chart record for a female artist, eclipsing Madonna’s one week in the Top 2 positions.

6. Ariana notched up five Top 10 singles in 2019, the most for a female artist.

7. Ariana is one of only two artists this year to top the Official Singles and Albums Charts in the same week – an Official Chart Double - the other being Ed Sheeran.

8. She achieved the double with Thank U, Next, which claimed the biggest week of streams ever for a female artist album to mark her third UK Number 1 album.

9. Ariana’s previous album Sweetener topped the Official Albums Chart just 175 days prior, marking the shortest timeframe between Number 1 studio albums in UK chart history.

10. In March, Dave’s debut album Psychodrama beat Foals, Dido and Sigrid to Number 1, collecting the record for the biggest week of streams ever for a rap album.

11. In April, Billie Eilish became the youngest female artist to scoop a UK Number 1 album when (aged 17 years, three months and 18 days) her debut studio record When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? topped the charts.

12. Billie's first record is the only debut album by a female artist to spend multiple weeks at Number 1 this decade. The last to do it was Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream in 2009.

13. Billie’s debut is also 2019’s fastest-selling cassette album by a female artist.

14. Sticking with cassettes and the same month, Catfish & The Bottlemen claimed the year’s fastest-seller on the format for a group.

15. BTS made history as the first K-Pop group to score a UK Number 1 album when Map Of The Soul: Persona debuted at the top spot in April.

Credit: Kaylum Dennis

16. In May, Stormzy sat on the Official Singles Chart throne for the first time as Vossi Bop reached Number 1 and beat Drake’s record for the most streams in a week for a rap song.

17. That same week, The RSPB’s charity single Let Nature Sing entered at Number 18, the first chart hit made up of non-human sounds.

18. Later that month, Lewis Capaldi took home 2019’s fastest-selling debut album with Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.

19. Overall, DUTAHE spent more weeks at Number 1 in 2019 than any other album, six non-consecutive weeks in total.

20. In June, Bruce Springsteen claimed his 11^th UK Number 1 album with Western Stars, only the seventh act with eleven or more.

21. In July, Kylie Minogue cemented her place as one of the greatest female artists of all-time when greatest hits collection Step Back In Time reached Number 1. She joins Barbra Streisand on seven UK chart-topping albums, the second-most for a female artist behind Madonna.

22. Ed Sheeran scored three UK Number 1 singles in 2019, marking the first time one of his albums has claimed a trio of chart-toppers.

23. Those three Number 1s take Ed’s total of Number 1s to eight, the most achieved this decade, tied with Calvin Harris.

24. Ed scored six UK Top 10 singles in 2019, more than any other act. Click here to view the 31 acts to score 20 or more top flight hits.

25. Ed’s fourth Number 1 album No.6 Collaborations Project is 2019’s fastest-seller, scoring 125,000 chart sales.

26. Ed’s success in 2019 led to Official Charts naming him the Official Number 1 Artist of the Decade.

27. In August, Whitney Houston scored the year’s highest-charting posthumous single. Kygo’s reworking of Whitney’s 1990 Japanese album bonus track Higher Love peaked at Number 2, giving Whitney her highest charting hit this millennium.

28. Also that month, Taylor Swift became the first female artist this decade to claim four UK chart-topping albums with her seventh studio album Lover.

29. Lover is also the fastest-selling download of 2019 by a female artist, ahead of P!nk’s Hurts 2B Human and Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next.

30. A week later Lana Del Rey matched Taylor’s Number 1s statistic claiming her fourth chart topper since 2010 with Norman F**king Rockwell!.

31. In September, Liam Gallagher claimed 2019’s fastest-selling vinyl album with Why Me? Why not, which shifted 17,000 copies on plastic, the highest weekly total this millennium for a solo artist album.

32. In October, The Beatles’ classic album Abbey Road returned to Number 1, bettering their own record of the longest gap for an album returning to the top spot after its last stint at Number 1. The span between Abbey Road’s stints is 49 years and 252 days.

33. In doing so, The Beatles claimed 2019’s biggest week of vinyl sales for a group, shifting 8,700 units.

34. Also in the autumn, Tones and I dominated the Official Singles Chart with her breakthrough single Dance Monkey. The Australian spent 11 weeks at Number 1, the longest stint of all time for a female lead artist, surpassing 10-week stints from Whitney Houston and Rihanna.

35. Along the way, Dance Monkey became the longest-reigning UK chart topper by an Australian artist, bettering English-born Aussie actress and singer Olivia Newton-John and the nine weeks she spent at the top of the Official Singles Chart with her John Travolta collaboration You’re The One That I Want from Grease.

36. Dermot Kennedy claimed a chart-topping debut in October with Without Fear, making him the first Irish solo act to score a Number 1 debut album in the UK this decade, and the first since Ronan Keating in July 2000.

37. In November, Stereophonics extended their record as the most decorated Welsh act on the Official Albums Chart, scoring their seventh Number 1 album with Kind.

38. That same week, the Top 5 of the Official Albums Chart was all-new, the first time this has happened in four years, and only the sixth time in history.

39. Led by J Hus as the week’s highest new entry at Number 5 with Must Be, the Official Chart beginning November 15 was a big one for UK rap, with the genre occupying 32.5% of the Top 40.

40. On the Official Albums Chart dated November 15, The Script claimed their fifth UK Number 1 record with Sunsets & Full Moons, joining U2, Westlife and Boyzone as Irish acts with five or more UK Number 1 albums.

41. The following week, Westlife knocked The Script off Number 1 with Spectrum, marking the first time in 10 years that one Irish act replaced another at the top of the UK albums chart. It last happened in March 2009 when Ronan Keating bumped off U2.

42. Coldplay scored their eighth Number 1 album this year with Everyday Life, making them the group with the most chart-topping studio albums.

43. Everyday Life is also the year’s fastest seller by a group, generating 81,000 chart sales.

44. All of Coldplay’s studio albums have topped the Official Albums Chart, making them one of just 11 acts with a 100% track record of Number 1 studio albums.

45. Robbie Williams made chart history in December when his first festive album The Christmas Present became his 13^th Number 1 album, matching Elvis Presley as the solo artists with the most UK chart toppers.

46. On release, the album became the fastest-selling cassette of the decade, selling 9,661 copies on the format.

47. Robbie was dethroned from the top spot by Rod Stewart, who went into the history books as the oldest male solo artist to claim a Number 1 album with You’re In My Heart. In the process, Rod became the 11^th act to claim 10 or more chart-topping albums.

48. 2019 was a great year for new artists scoring Number 1 debut albums, with six artists achieving them: Tom Walker, Dave, Billie Eilish, Lewis Capaldi, Sam Fender and Dermot Kennedy.

49. 31 albums reached Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart in 2019, up from 19 in 2018.

50. 6 female solo artists – Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, P!nk, Kylie Minogue, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey – scored chart-topping albums this year, the most for five years since seven women reached the helm of the Official Albums Chart in 2014.