Artists with the most Top 10 singles in the UK

They will probably update soon as Ed Sheeran will get another TOP 10 this week for sure.

He was still #1 at the time of death, Madonna obviously having zero at that time.

I'm sure they will make a list of SOLO TOP 10's and Featured TOP 10's soon ;)

I'm no great fan, but he likely does more in the production of his music than someone like Elvis did, a good vocalist who sang songs written for him by other people.

This is based on the UK weekly official single sales charts. It's the number of singles that were TOP 10 on the chart during at least 1 week by each act. It includes singles released after some acts passing (Elvis had 21 of his TOP 10 singles in UK after his death).

During this decade streams are also part of the chart (in fact on the past years most of the chart is streaming and not sales anymore - sadly some songs get to be sales TOP 10 and don't even chart on the TOP 100 based on that if they don't also have streams).

I was pointing out the discrepancy in the positions where sometimes a shared position was followed correctly (ie joint 8th being followed by a 10th) and sometimes incorrectly (joint 19th being followed by a 20th). Looks like this has been fixed now.

Oh! You're right! I was looking at the list names and TOP 10's but did not notice that. They just corrected that! (#20 are now #23)

But now all the #26 on the end should be #28 as there are 3 #25's.

These are the numbers of singles (and now songs including streamed album tracks) that reached TOP 10 in UK. If streams were available since the 60's I'm sure The Beatles, Elvis, Cliff, Michael Jackson, Kylie and Madonna would have more than 100.

Yes, I don't doubt it, especially as the Beatles single releases were mostly distinct from what was on the albums.

Some of beatles singles in UK were not allowed to chart as were considered EPs for having 4 or more tracks but they did chart on US singles chart.

Madonna released more singles in UK (and Europe) than in US. She would have had more TOP 10's in US and even #01 songs if some of her airplay only hits have been released as commercial singles in US too. Also some songs, like "Into The Groove" (UK first #01) were not allowed to chart as it was a 12" maxi-single release only (yet it was the best selling 12" maxi-single from the 80's according to Billboard).

Also some songs that were TOP 100 or miss the chart in US were TOP 10 in UK (some even #01 like her duet with Britney or #02 like "American Life" or "Sorry" or "Hollywood" ). On the other hand "Take a Bow", her longest US #01 did not make it to the UK TOP 10 (peaked #17).

yeah i chat with piran all the time and we always discuss how different the uk and u.s. charts can be. how artists can be big here and not do much over there and vice versa.

but with the beatles, they still have chart feats on both the hot 100 and 200 charts that are still unbroken! not even matched. and like over there i'm sure madonna or another artist would still have chart feats that haven't been matched yet.

Sure they do. The real problem here is not how tracks can chart on their own (sure that now big artists have advantages on these kind of records) but how too much weight the streaming have on the charts - completely out of proportions.

Streaming is really taking over the charts now and sales are not longer important and the reason is simple.

For chart purpose:
1500 streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles sold for chart (are counted twice for abuns and single charts so in reality 750 streams are 1 album and 75 are a single)

Money that Streams and sales make relation:

60.000 PAID streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles dowloaded (that's 30.000 streams for 1 album and 3.000 streams for each song.)

120.000 (1/4 paid and 3/4 free as it happens in reality) Streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles sold (60.000 streams for 1 album downloaded and 6.000 for 1 song download). The song needed to be streamed 40 times more than chart recognizes to have economical equality!

In the past they even made rules for album prices to chart (an album sold at less than £5 could not chart), singles maximum number of tracks, etc... but now that doesn't matter in a out of this world way. They don't care anymore if the album is been given away as long as it's on streaming format and not download or physical.

Spot the differences? Streams are way out of proportion on the charts. Chartswise speaking it counts 97% more for the chart while sales count 3% comparing to the money they make money that its the inverse proportion (it's crazy!!!). This is chart manipulation in favor of most streamed acts (that are younger artists and labels want to promote as much as possible). These charts became a marketing tool for record labels and that's all.

I mean... even if was not just for sales (as the charts was always based on even having a mid-price chart at one time to correct albums sold with different prices) whoever buys a track listen to it more than 75 times for sure during his lifetime. Also buying an album (most have more than 10 tracks nowadays) and listening more than 750 album"tracks/songs" streams.

I don't say economic equality is the way to go but it can't be that far away. It's really ridiculous. You have songs not charting on TOP 100 making more money than songs that were TOP 10 Hits based on streams. Shouldn't count more if anymore that you are willing to pay to listen to a song or have a song/album.

Also important to add that most streams are from lists created from Streaming services (people do not choose to listen to those songs specifically).

how long have the official charts been going on in the uk? i was skimming thru whitney houston's uk chart run..and she only had 4 #1's! over here she has something like 13 #1s.

and her duet with aretha franklin in 1989, i never heard of that over here! and i've been a whitney fan since 'how will i know' was a big hit over here. that's the song, i believe, that made her a huge pop star @ least over here.

The charts in UK exist since 14.11.1952 so all Elvis and Beatles songs are part of it. Billboard Hot 100 charts exist since 1958.

Some artist sometimes release different singles in US and Europe. Now is not very usual to happen but until 15 years ago was very usual (especially 3º and later singles from an album).

In US Whitney Houston had 11 #01 singles, 19 TOP 5 hits, 23 TOP 10 singles, 29 TOP 40's and 40 Hot 100 entries.

In UK she had 4 #01 singles, 13 TOP 5 hits, 17 TOP 10's, 34 TOP 40's and 40 TOP 100 entries.

We can say she was much more successful in US than in UK.
Most american female music artists enjoyed much more success in US than in UK.

Janet Jackson did even worst. She doesn't even have a UK #01 single (she had 17 TOP 10's including 2 #02 songs) and had 10 #01's in US Charts. Mariah Carey only had 2 #01 Hit's (and 24 TOP 10's) in UK despite having a record 18 #01's in US.

And if you look at the album charts you will find the same kind of differences. Mariah Carey latest album was #05 on Billboard and only peaked #40 in UK.

The few exceptions are Madonna, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Beyoncé They had similar success in both countries (yet Madonna and Britney were even more successful in UK than in US and both Rihanna and Beyoncé enjoyed a little bit more success in US than UK).

Whitney already had 3 UK #01's when she did the duet with Aretha. That means she was already tied with Sandie Shawn and Kylie Minogue as second female artist with most #01's in UK. Madonna became the female artist with most #01's in UK with La Isla Bonita, her 4th #01. As "Who's That Girl" and "Like a Prayer" were also #01 she only had 6 number ones. The record was held by Sandie Shawn since 1967. Female Artist were having a very hard time getting #01's in UK but Madonna, Whitney and Kylie were the exception.

mariah only had 2 #1's over there? dang! she has 18 over here!

3 now... as her Christmas song from 1994 just peaked #01 in 2020. It also peaked #01 there so 19 #01's in US now lol

thanks, but i wrote that post a year ago ;)

All the Beatles UK Top 10 songs are composed by a Beatle. That itself speaks volume.
I'll rather quality not quantity.. but that's me.

It's not surprising at all. The Beatles were only active between late 1962 - 1970, so naturally successful artists who were / are still active after 10 years, let alone over 20 will surpass the Beatles in this category. Because of what the Beatles achieved in such a short space of time I suppose it's understandable that some would assume they were around much longer.
The Beatles, George Martin = perfect combination.

yeah since i live in the u.s i'm always amazed on the achievements of artists on both sides of the atlantic. to see acts who were huge here and see any differences in their uk achievements. for example the backstreet boys were one of the top pop selling acts of all time here, but never achieved a #1 on the hot 100 singles chart. *when they were in the top 10, the competition was very stiff. big hits just never left the top 10, incl. their singles*. but they have a #1 hit in the uk. and i would be obsessed with the hot 100 chart when they were in it back in the day.

over here, their version of 'twist and shout' went to the top 10, but i think their version is a cover version.

Michael now has 44 Top 10 hits... so you mean 54 with Jackson 5 and The Jacksons?

Elvis had 21 posthumous new TOP 10's. That means he had 56 TOP's while active and alive.

Michael had 4 posthumous new TOP 10'S so that means:
40 songs were Top 10 while active and alive (where he is credited)
50 songs were Top 10 While active and alive (counting his uncredited hits with J5 and The Jackons)

But we would have to do that wiht a lot of uncredited acts.
Imagine if you count Paul McCartney Hits also with The Beatles and The Wings?

That would give him 53 total (16 of his own - and credited with the Wings - plus 9 uncredited with the Wings and 28 uncredited with the Bealtes) all while still active and alive (no posthumous yet).

And don't forget to add 17 uncredited Top 10's to Cliff Richard with The Shadows too. That would bring his total to an AMAZING and UNMATCHED 85 TOP 10 singles (while active and alive!)

But i guess it's fine to count just the ones they are credited on (for all artists).

i'd have to recount mj's overall hot 100 tally, last i checked he was @ 42, but i counted 'we are the world' and 'we are the world 25' which peaked @ #1 & #2 respectively. and are you saying mj had 4 posthumous top 10's in the uk or in the u.s.? i didn't understand that last part...over here he would have 2 posthumous top 10's 1 with justin timberlake and 1 with drake. when he passed, bb had a rule that older songs couldn't re-chart on the hot 100, so he flooded the hot 100 recurrents chart.

well with elvis, i know that the hot 100 didn't start until 1958, so his hot streak prior to that isn't counted. but i believe elvis is in the all time top 10 hot 100 artists' list.

If all Elvis Top 10's were counted he would have 36 so he would be ahead of The Beatles but behind Madonna. Until the 90's all Elvis singles used to be taken into account while doing these counting.

Some of Elvis', and a couple of Cliff's were actually the same release hitting the chart twice: 1950s singles entering both sides of the disc separately due to data collection methods counting them as different singles instead of the same or double A-sides.

This has been amended Brian. Thank you.

His singles re-releases in CD-single during the 2000's decade were a gold move as got him another 19 TOP 10's putting him way ahead of both Madonna and Cliff Richard. While he was still alive Elvis Presley got 55 TOP 10 Hits.

Yeah, and you were encouraged to get them all by the box set given away with the first one. Genius. Got him another three #1s as well!