Official Charts Flashback April 2006: Gnarls Barkley – Crazy

To celebrate the introduction of streaming into the Official Singles Chart, we look back at another huge milestone from April 2006, when Gnarls Barkley's Crazy became the first track to get to Number 1 on downloads alone. It's since sold over a million copies!

This weekend sees another landmark occasion in the 62-year history of the Official Singles Chart as the streaming of tracks is counted toward the chart for the very first time.

To mark this latest evolution of the Official Charts, we take a look back at another milestone in chart history, when Gnarls Barkley became the first song ever to reach Number 1 on sales of downloads alone.

The Official Download Chart was launched in 2004 – this year we celebrate a Decade of Digital – but when it came to the Official Singles Chart, the CD single was still in control. When downloads were first introduced into the Official Singles Chart in 2005, only those sales in the week before the physical (i.e. the CD) version of the track was released counted.

Often, to maximise the chance of a high chart position, artists would either release both formats at once or release the download the week before, so that every sale would count. Even the bigger names releasing this way couldn’t make it to Number 1, but it was unassuming duo Gnarls Barkley – aka well-known music producer Dangermouse and vocalist CeeLo Green) who would change the chart landscape for ever.

Their debut single Crazy, an insanely catchy soulful, electronic track, caught the public’s attention thanks to Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, and on release jumped ahead of the pack to land at Number 1, where it would stay for an astonishing nine weeks. The duo decided to ‘delete’ the physical format so the public wouldn’t tire of the song, but Crazy still ended up as the bestselling single of 2006, shifting almost 820,000 copies that year. Altogether it’s sold over a million.

The duo scored one more Top 10 – Smiley Faces – and a Number 2 album, St Elsewhere. Follow-up album The Odd Couple reached Number 19, producing one Top 40 single Run.

After a Top 3 feature on Kelis’s 2007 hit Lil Star, CeeLo went it alone in 2010, his debut solo single Forget You spending two weeks at Number 1. He’s had four Top 40 hits in total.

Watch the video for CeeLo Green’s solo Number 1 Forget You before we count down the 4 songs that Gnarls Barkley beat to the top.

2: Ne-Yo – So Sick

Ne-Yo’s debut single spent a week at Number 1 before Crazy came along to ruin his fun. There were four more chart-toppers to come, however, so he probably didn’t feel too bad: Closer (2008), Beautiful Monster (2010), Give Me Everything (2011, featuring on a Pitbull tune with Nayer and Afrojack) and Let Me Love You (2012). Ne-Yo has scored 18 Top 40 hits altogether.

3: Morrissey – You Have Killed Me

Earning only his second Top 3 hit since he went solo in 1988, Morrissey has scored 34 Top 40 hits on his own, including 10 Top 10s. His highest peak with the Smiths was a reissue of This Charming Man in 1992, which reached Number 8. Check out our countdown of Morrissey's Top 10 most downloaded tracks.

4: Embrace – Nature’s Law

Slipping two places, Nature’s Law was Embrace’s highest chart peak when it went straight in at Number 2. Their first hit came in 1997 when the Fireworks EP reached Number 34. All You Good Good People became their first Top 10 later that year. The band have scored 18 Top 40 hits, six of which went Top 10.

5: Orson – No Tomorrow

This former Number 1 was a debut hit for these guys, and the first of four Top 40 singles. After the band broke up, band members Jason Pebworth and George Astasio became part of songwriting group The Invisible Men, writing hits for Jessie J, Iggy Azalea, Sugababes, DJ Fresh and even had a hand in the most amazing Pop Gem, On The Metro by Girls Aloud.

Not sure where the real video for this song ended up, but here’s Torvill and Dean skating to it, anyway.

See the full Top 40 from this chart week.

This time last year…

"I don't care! I love it!" Yes, Robin Thicke's reign was over (at least temporarily), as ballsy duo Icona Pop, with a little help from Charli XCX, burst in at the top of the Official Singles Chart with the long-awaited release of anarchic anthem I Love It. will.i.am entered the Top 3 with a Bang Bang and the dear departed Wanted were straight in at Number 4 with She Walks Like Rihanna. Check out the full Top 40 from this week in 2013.