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The Official Top 20 biggest selling groups of all time revealed!
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To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Official Singles Chart, we reveal The Official Top 20 Biggest Selling Groups Of All Time!
In just over a week we’ll be blowing out the candles on a very big birthday cake to celebrate 60th glittering years of the Official Singles Chart. To whet your appetites for the big day, we’ve already revealed the Official Top 10 biggest selling male artists and biggest selling female singles artists of all time, and to today we reveal The Official Top 20 Biggest Selling Groups Of All Time!
The Beatles top the chart with a combined singles sales total of 22.1 million singles. This makes John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr not only the biggest selling group in the history of the Official Singles Chart, but with a 400,000 lead over Elvis Presley, it also the biggest selling act of all time, too.
To date The Beatles have enjoyed 31 Top 40 hits (including 17 Official Number 1 singles). Their first hit was Love Me Do which peaked at Number 17 in 1962 (it would eventually climb up to Number 4 in 1982 after being re-issued to celebrate its 20th anniversary). The Beatles' biggest selling track, however, is their fifth single, She Loves You, which peaked at Number 1 in 1963.
The UK’s second biggest selling singles group of all time is Queen. The quartet have a combined sales total of 12.8 million singles, and their biggest selling track is of course Bohemian Rhapsody.
Taken from the band’s fourth album, 1975’s A Night At The Opera, Bohemian Rhapsody reached the top of the Official Singles Chart on November 2 of that year giving the band their first ever Number 1 single. It would occupy the top spot for nine weeks and sold over a million copies. Following the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in November 1991, Bohemian Rhapsody would return to the top of the Official Singles Chart. In its five week stand, it sold nearly a million copies again, making it the only single to become an Official Christmas Number 1 on two separate occasions and claim the top spot in four different calendar years (1975, 1976, 1991 and 1992). The band’s Greatest Hits album is the UK’s biggest selling album of all time.
ABBA are at Number 3 with a combined sales total of 11.3 million copies. The Swedish group, who disbanded in 1982, enjoyed 25 Top 40 hits (including nine Number 1s). Their biggest selling track is 1976’s Dancing Queen.
The Top 5 is completed by The Rolling Stones (Number 4) who have a combined sales total of 10.1 million singles, and Oasis (9.079 million combined single sales) who have leapfrogged Take That (9.078 million) to take fifth place.
The Official Top 20 Biggest Selling Groups Of All Time are as follows:
| ARTIST | COMBINED SALES TOTAL | BIGGEST SELLING SINGLE | |
| 1 | BEATLES | 22.1 MILLION | SHE LOVES YOU |
| 2 | QUEEN | 12.8 MILLION | BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY |
| 3 | ABBA | 11.3 MILLION | DANCING QUEEN |
| 4 | ROLLING STONES | 10.1 MILLION | (I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION |
| 5 | OASIS | 9.079 MILLION | WONDERWALL |
| 6 | TAKE THAT | 9.078 MILLION | BACK FOR GOOD |
| 7 | SPICE GIRLS | 8.0 MILLION | WANNABE |
| 8 | BEE GEES | 7.6 MILLION | HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE |
| 9 | U2 | 7.5 MILLION | WITH OR WITHOUT YOU |
| 10 | STATUS QUO | 7.2 MILLION | ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD |
| 11 | BOYZONE | 7.1 MILLION | NO MATTER WHAT |
| 12 | BLONDIE | 7.037 MILLION | HEART OF GLASS |
| 13 | BLACK EYED PEAS | 7.034 MILLION | I GOTTA FEELING |
| 14 | BONEY M | 6.859 MILLION | RIVERS OF BABYLON / BROWN GIRL IN THE RING |
| 15 | SLADE | 6.856 MILLION | MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY |
| 16 | WESTLIFE | 6.830 MILLION | UPTOWN GIRL |
| 17 | UB40 | 6.6 MILLION | RED RED WINE |
| 18 | MADNESS | 6.15 MILLION | BAGGY TROUSERS |
| 19 | POLICE | 6.1 MILLION | DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME |
| 20 | WHAM! | 5.9 MILLION | LAST CHRISTMAS / EVERYTHING SHE WANTS |
© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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R
ruby12
where is BLACKPINK?
D.M. Thraam
Who the is Take That? I have never heard of them. Have heard of most of the others.
Final_Remains
A British boy band. They were huge.
Jorge_carrillo
of the TOP 3 only ABBA is Back
B
bluetop1970
Erm, only ABBA are 100% alive.
TekViper
There is one Group that should be on the list that isn't and that being Alabama.
In the eighties Alabama had a set of 21 straight #-1 hits.
I was just reading that Alabama has out sold the Beatles and Elvis Presley
combined. Alabama has had #41 hits up to this point. For comparison ( King Straight ) - George Straight has had 50 #1 hits.
B
bluetop1970
Ala who?
MAGA
Make America Great Again
Never heard of 5 of them. Lol. Guess not That big. The Beatles were overrated no talent hype.
Final_Remains
This is more a dunk on yourself than the groups. Just because you don't know enough about music to have heard of them, that doesn't mean they wern't big. It just means that you are musically ignorant.
B
bluetop1970
Bit harsh. He’s not a Brit, give him a break!
Disgruntled52
Funny that. I thought Status Quo would have topped the table since they have sold in excess of 118 million units.
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4442614
Miguel Ángel Martín Ramírez
Falta SUPERTRAMP
MH
Michael Hoey
It doesn't really matter what the list is based on, The Beatles are the most successful artists......ever! Tell me another artist that has been at Numbers 1,2,3,4 and 5 in the charts at the same time
Disgruntled52
4 April 1964. Not decrying the achievement but one look at the Billboard Top Ten tells the story. Apart from The DC5 (great group, even if they did emanate from Tottenham) all the other songs pale into insignificance. And if I recall correctly, most if not all those songs were actually released the year before so they didn't exactly take the USA by storm.
B
bluetop1970
DC5?
M
Musicfan217
Actually it does matter, Beatles fanboy!! They are not the most successful artists ever, Elvis Surpassed them and without him, the group would never have even existed. And the Bee Gees had 5 songs in the US top 10 at the same time. And Ed Sheerhan more than surpassed the Beatles measly top 5 placings, when he took the entire top 14 a few years ago. You clearly are living in the passed. Beatles records are literally being smashed all the time, as they become less and less relevant with every generation.
Barabbarab
And who cares when the list is based on "BIGGEST SELLING SINGLE", this is totally meaningless list.
Make list of "The Official Top 20 Biggest Selling Groups Of All Time" Worldwide TOTAL SALES based on ALL releases/Formats.
Final_Remains
It not meaningless. It is simply one metric out of many... All are valid and all should be considered.
Z
ZX
why only twenty?