Dua Lipa's Official Top 20 biggest songs in the UK revealed

Dua Lipa's journey to the top of the pop pyramid is a lesson in hustling until you become a superstar. 

Originally appearing in 2015 with a series of singles that seemed to signify Dua as an alt-pop singer-songwriter for a modern generation, kind of like Lana Del Rey but with bangers (which made sense given, at the time, the two shared management). There was, admittedly, a bit of a stop-gap between Dua's debut and her truly catching on with the wider public (she released at least 7 singles before her self-titled debut album, which was pushed back from its original release date a few times). But when she hit...she hit.

We will (obviously) discuss the impact of New Rules in greater detail below, but it was the incendiary moment where all of Dua's work paid off. Ever since her debut single New Love, she had been diligently touring pretty much constantly for two years, and when her first UK Number 1 single arrived in a storm of viral buzz, she met the moment with aplomb.

And that difficult second album? Not so difficult after all, it turns out. Taking the lessons Dua had learnt from her debut album and running with them, Future Nostalgia was a confident and astute manifesto for Dua Lipa as a genuine pop superstar. Alongside The Weeknd and Doja Cat, it helped usher in a full-blown disco revival and planted Dua firmly on top.

And now, she's ready to do it all again. Dua's third album Radical Optimism is almost here, preceded by three singles that all broke the UK Top 10; the snappy Houdini, the ABBA-esque thrust of Training Season and the hypnotic Illusion.

Now, with a total of four Number 1 singles to her name (and it may well be five soon) it seems like the best possible time to reveal Dua's Official Top 20 biggest songs on the UK's Official Chart.

Gird your loins, because all of these hits are Hotter than Hell (hey hey hey heyyy!!!). 

See where all of Dua Lipa's singles and albums have charted in the UK here

5. Cold Heart (Pnau Remix) (with Elton John)

Released: 2021
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1
Total UK chart units: 2.3 million

Fitting that, as the Future Nostalgia era came to a close, Dua's third Number 1 single was a bridge between pop's past and its future. Splicing together several hits from Elton John's back catalogue (Rocket Man, Kiss The Bridge, Sacrifice and Where's The Shoorah?), Cold Heart was a jubilant celebration. Let's not mention the fact Dua didn't join Elton on stage at Glastonbury, though. That still hurts.

4. Levitating

Released: 2020
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 5
Total UK chart units: 2.4 million

While Dua has never been the type of artist to fully embrace social media (although we do enjoy her Insta grid of all her holiday snaps), Levitating got a big, big boost thanks to taking over TikTok during the pandemic. Stalling at Number 5 in the UK, it did better in the US, peaking at Number 2 there and becoming her biggest single across the pond.

3. Don't Start Now

Released: 2019
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 2
Total UK chart units: 2.6 million

Now that's how you start a second album era. It's hard to overstate just how impressive the understated, stylish trailer for Don't Start Now shook the foundations of pop standom when it debuted in the weeks leading up to Don't Start Now's debut. It was confident, striking and (visually and sonically) a level up from where Dua had ended her first album cycle.

Don't Start Now's signified that Dua had truly transformed into a pop star, but its biggest legacy just might be helping usher in a fully-fledged disco revival, along with tracks by The Weeknd (Blinding Lights) and Doja Cat (Say So). Overall, it's Dua's third most-streamed track in the UK (295 million).

2. New Rules

Released: 2017
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1
Total UK chart units: 3.1 million

New Rules was the right hit at the right time. Dua had accrued serious hype (becoming one of the nominees for the BRITs Critics Choice Award and making the longlist for the BBC's Sound Of...2016 poll) but it hadn't really translated into crossover success just yet. Be The One had hit the Top 10, as had Sean Paul collab No Lie, but when her self-titled debut album dropped, it was all about New Rules. 

Accompanied by an instant-classic music video (where Dua and her girlfriends are stuck in a kind of purgatory, running through the rules until they stick), Dua met the moment and the momentum, New Rules reached Number 1 in 2017, becoming the first Number 1 song by a British female in two years. It helped usher in an entirely new part of her career. It's her second-most streamed song (341 million) and obviously her most streamed video (47 million video streams) but it still pales in comparison too...

1. One Kiss (with Calvin Harris)

Released: 2018
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1
Total UK chart units: 3.4 million

One Kiss is (quite literally) all it takes. Dua did what any other big pop girl would do, and used the momentum of her first true breakout hit to engineer and even bigger second one, and she picked the perfect producer to link-up with to achieve it. 

What makes the perfect summer song? Is it a retro production that takes you back to Ibiza? A smooth, cooing vocal performance from its main star? Or a earworm of a chorus so strong it'll be stuck in your head for days? Well, One Kiss had all of these to its merit (the best bit of the song? The way the refrain somehow comes back harder each and every time, by the time the final chorus hits, you're basically having a stroke) and used everything to its advantage.

Dua's second UK Number 1 single (and Calvin's ninth!) is by far her most successful in the Official Chart. It's claimed 3.4 million total chart units, including 376 million audio and video streams (the most of any Dua song) and over 279,000 digital downloads (ditto).