Passenger's Let Her Go becomes one of the UK’s biggest selling singles

Let Her Go has become one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all-time, while 2013 has seen the greatest number of million-selling singles since 1998!

Passenger's Let Her Go has become the latest single to break through the million copies sales barrier, according to Official Charts Company sales data released today by British recorded music trade body The BPI.

Let Her Go is the 141st single to sell over a million copies in the entire history of the UK’s Official Singles Chart, and the fourth single released this year to do so. 2013 is shaping up to be the biggest annual haul for million selling singles since 1998, when Cher’s Believe topped the year-end chart and there were also million plus sales for Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, Run DMC Vs Jason Nevins’ It’s Like That and Boyzone’s No Matter What.

Singer/songwriter Passenger’s success caps a remarkable run of huge singles sales this year: In June, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky FT Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers became the first track released this year to sell a million copies, doing so only 11 weeks after its release. It was followed three weeks later into the Million Sellers Club by Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines FT TI and Pharrell Williams, which reached the sales landmark in a remarkable eight weeks. 24-year-old Swedish DJ and producer Avicii was next to join the list, with the millionth sale of his Number 1 single, Wake Me Up, taking place in the first week of October. And now in December Passenger (AKA Mike Rosenberg) becomes the first British artist to score a million-seller this year!

On reaching the hallowed one million copies sales landmark, Mike told OfficialCharts.com: “It feels wonderful but completely ridiculous if I'm honest (laughs)! For the last five years I’ve been busking and playing tiny gigs in pubs, so for one of my songs to suddenly get so popular is not only a dream come true, but also a huge surprise.”

Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of the Official Charts Company, adds: "Congratulations to Passenger and his label Nettwerk on scoring only the third independent million selling single this Millennium. Let Her Go is not only one of the singles of the year, it is one of the classics of the digital era – as this achievement underlines.”

"The last few years have shown how much the digital revolution has completely revitalised the singles market,” says The BPI’s Gennaro Castaldo. “And this latest landmark of four million-sellers in one year underlines just how popular the format has become again."

With four weeks of the chart year remaining, the average weekly sales for a Number 1 single in 2013 are at their highest level for over a decade. For the year to date, the top-selling track on the weekly Official Singles Chart has sold an average of 109,319 copies – the highest tally since 2002. For 12 consecutive weeks from April to July of this year the Number 1 single sold over 100,000 copies and has done so in over half (25) of the chart weeks (48) of the year to date.

© 2013 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

You can see the full list of the UK’s 141 Official Million-Selling Singles below:

The UK's 141 Official Million-Selling Singles

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1950s

1940s

© 2013 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.