Oasis: Their 10 fastest-selling singles

This week marks 15 years since the release of one of the most anticipated and fastest-selling British singles of the ‘90s – Oasis’ D’You Know What I Mean.

The lead single from Oasis’ third album Be Here Now to this day remains the band’s fastest-selling single of their career. Shifting in excess of an astonishing 370,000 copies in its opening week, D’You Know What I Mean outperformed even the likes of giants Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger in each of their respective first weeks of release, even though the two (What's The Story) Morning Glory tracks remain Oasis biggest-selling singles.

D'You Know What I Mean, a grandiose, feedback-driven, endlessly layered track that featured a nonsensical chorus, clocked in at an impressive seven and a half minutes. Of course it went straight to Number 1. Spending a total of 18 weeks in the Official Singles Chart, it held the top spot for only a week in July 1997, intersecting the six-week non-consecutive run at the top for Puff Daddy’s breakthrough single I’ll Be Missing You.

D’You Know What I Mean was Oasis’ first single for 16 months, followed the ubiquitous Don’t Look Back in Anger and became the sixth in an impressive run of 18 consecutive Top 5 singles. And let’s not forget the video: Coloured smoke! Post-apocalyptic theme! Army helicopters! Liam’s enormous parka! Noel with a Flying V! Liam not flicking the V (for once). Aww, bless the 90s.

The enormous success of the band’s previous blockbusting album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, which spent 10 weeks at Number 1 and a total of 147 weeks on the Official Album Chart, saw Oasis being catapulted into superstardom, putting pressure on Noel Gallagher to follow suit with something extraordinary. The excitement and media attention that preceded the release of Oasis' new single, resulted in a huge first week sale, and has to date sold 730,000 copies in the UK, making it the third biggest-selling single of their career on home turf.

When Be Here Now was released in August 1997, reviews were bordering on ecstatic and the album sold over 660,000 copies in its first week. Although Be Here Now eventually received its fair share of criticism - included being somewhat written off by its composer - it remains a chart-busting signature piece of a time when Britpop was slowly descending from its zenith. Well, Liam still likes it!

Be Here Now yielded two further singles: Stand By Me, which charted at Number 2 in October 1997, and All Around The World which reached Number 1 in January 1998. Perhaps surprisingly, both tracks can be found in the Top 10 fastest-selling Oasis singles.

OfficialCharts.com can exclusively reveal Oasis' Official Top 10 fastest-selling UK singles, as compiled by the Official Charts Company. (figures reflect rounded first-week UK sales of each single):

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