The Top 40 biggest songs and albums of the decade by female artists

We count down the biggest hits by women in the 2010s in the UK.

Friday March 8 is International Women's Day, and to mark the occasion we look at the highest achieving female artists in the UK chart this decade.

Since 2010, the Top 100 singles led by female artists have notched up over 125 million combined sales – which includes physical, downloads sales and streams – and the Top 100 female artist albums account for 65.5 million combined sales.

But who's sold the most?

It should come as no surprise – unless you've not been near a radio or TV in the last decade or so – that Adele tops both our Top 40 rundowns. The London-born singer had had a hugely successful decade all over the world, and on home turf, she has a tally of 10.5 million, with her second album 21 accounting for 5.13 million of that grand total, to be the biggest album by a female artist not only this decade, but of all time. Her third album 25 is in second place, while her debut 19, from 2008, has still managed to shift 1.8 million since 2010.

MORE: British female artists with the most Number 1 singles

On the singles' Top 40, Adele reigns supreme with ballad Someone Like You thanks to 1.6 million downloads and 69.3 million streams. Three more Adele tunes make the Top 40: Hello (3), Rolling in the Deep (13), and Make You Feel My Love (30).

Adele performs When We Were Young from her 25 album.

Emeli Sande's debut Our Version of Events is third biggest album, with combined sales of 2.4 million, and the highest of four Rihanna albums in the Top 40 of the decade is in fourth place – it's Loud, with just over two million. There are four Rihanna-led songs in the singles' Top 40 too, with 2011's We Found Love the highest, on 1.42m downloads and 49.7m streams.

Sia does pretty well in the singles' Top 10, with Cheap Thrills, second overall, notching up 162 million streams and 536,000 downloads, and Chandelier in sixth.

Dua Lipa's 2017 Number 1 New Rules is the most streamed song of the decade by a female artist, with 169.9 million plays in the UK, and is the fourth biggest song overall, including its 245,000 downloads. Dua also appears again at 12 with her 2018 Number 1 One Kiss.

Dua Lipa with her Official Number 1 Award for New Rules

Jess Glynne has had seven Number 1s this decade, as both lead and featured artist, but her biggest song is These Days with Rudimental and Macklemore in 19th, while Ariana's biggest song of the decade is One Last Time in 22nd place.

The oldest song to make the singles' Top 40 is Mariah Carey's million-selling festive fave All I Want for Christmas is You, in 16th place, while Little Mix score three entries on this rundown, with Black Magic the highest.

The Official Top 40 biggest songs by female artists this decade:

	TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK	YEAR
1	SOMEONE LIKE YOU	ADELE	1	2011
2	CHEAP THRILLS	SIA	2	2015
3	HELLO	ADELE	1	2015
4	NEW RULES	DUA LIPA	1	2017
5	WE FOUND LOVE	RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS	1	2011
6	CHANDELIER	SIA	6	2014
7	HAVANA	CAMILA CABELLO FT YOUNG THUG	1	2017
8	CALL ME MAYBE	CARLY RAE JEPSEN	1	2012
9	LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO	ELLIE GOULDING	1	2015
10	LUSH LIFE	ZARA LARSSON	3	2015
11	ROAR	KATY PERRY	1	2013
12	ONE KISS	CALVIN HARRIS & DUA LIPA	1	2018
13	ROLLING IN THE DEEP	ADELE	2	2011
14	THIS IS ME	SETTLE/GREATEST SHOWMAN ENS	3	2017
15	GHOST	ELLA HENDERSON	1	2014
16	ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU	MARIAH CAREY	2	1994
17	WORK	RIHANNA FT DRAKE	2	2016
18	SHAKE IT OFF	TAYLOR SWIFT	2	2014
19	THESE DAYS	RUDIMENTAL/GLYNNE/MACKLEMORE	1	2018
20	DIAMONDS	RIHANNA	1	2012
21	HOLD MY HAND	JESS GLYNNE	1	2015
22	ONE LAST TIME	ARIANA GRANDE	2	2014
23	ALL ABOUT THAT BASS	MEGHAN TRAINOR	1	2014
24	SHOUT OUT TO MY EX	LITTLE MIX	1	2016
25	LET IT GO	IDINA MENZEL	11	2013
26	A THOUSAND YEARS	CHRISTINA PERRI	11	2011
27	FIREWORK	KATY PERRY	3	2010
28	WORK FROM HOME	FIFTH HARMONY FT TY DOLLA SIGN	2	2016
29	PRICE TAG	JESSIE J FT BOB	1	2010
30	MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE	ADELE	4	2012
31	BLACK MAGIC	LITTLE MIX	1	2008
32	ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD)	RIHANNA	1	2010
33	STARSHIPS	NICKI MINAJ	2	2012
34	BANG BANG	JESSIE J/GRANDE/MINAJ	1	2014
35	TOUCH	LITTLE MIX	4	2016
36	JAR OF HEARTS	CHRISTINA PERRI	4	2010
37	JUST GIVE ME A REASON	PINK FT NATE RUESS	2	2012
38	NEVER FORGET YOU	MNEK & ZARA LARSSON	5	2015
39	SUMMERTIME SADNESS	LANA DEL REY VS CEDRIC GERVAIS	4	2013
40	BURN	ELLIE GOULDING	1	2013

And here are the biggest albums by female artists this decade:

	TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK	YEAR
1	21	ADELE	1	2011
2	25	ADELE	1	2015
3	OUR VERSION OF EVENTS	EMELI SANDE	1	2016
4	LOUD	RIHANNA	1	2011
5	19	ADELE	1	2008
6	THE FAME	LADY GAGA	1	2009
7	TEENAGE DREAM	KATY PERRY	1	2010
8	WHO YOU ARE	JESSIE J	2	2011
9	LUNGS	FLORENCE & THE MACHINE	1	2009
10	1989	TAYLOR SWIFT	1	2014
11	HALCYON	ELLIE GOULDING	1	2013
12	I CRY WHEN I LAUGH	JESS GLYNNE	1	2015
13	BORN TO DIE	LANA DEL REY	1	2012
14	TALK THAT TALK	RIHANNA	1	2011
15	GREATEST HITS - SO FAR	PINK	5	2010
16	GLORY DAYS	LITTLE MIX	1	2017
17	BORN THIS WAY	LADY GAGA	1	2011
18	THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION	WHITNEY HOUSTON	3	2007
19	BACK TO BLACK	AMY WINEHOUSE	1	2006
20	THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE	PINK	2	2012
21	THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM	ALICIA KEYS	1	2009
22	LIONESS - HIDDEN TREASURES	AMY WINEHOUSE	1	2011
23	CEREMONIALS	FLORENCE & THE MACHINE	1	2011
24	LIGHTS	ELLIE GOULDING	1	2010
25	GET WEIRD	LITTLE MIX	2	2015
26	A PERFECT CONTRADICTION	PALOMA FAITH	2	2014
27	UNAPOLOGETIC	RIHANNA	1	2012
28	4	BEYONCE	1	2011
29	FALL TO GRACE	PALOMA FAITH	2	2012
30	RED	TAYLOR SWIFT	1	2012
31	HEAVEN	REBECCA FERGUSON	3	2011
32	TURN IT UP	PIXIE LOTT	6	2009
33	DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING	PALOMA FAITH	9	2009
34	BEYONCE	BEYONCE	2	2013
35	THE GIFT	SUSAN BOYLE	1	2010
36	MY LOVE - THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION	CELINE DION	5	2008
37	I AM SASHA FIERCE	BEYONCE	2	2009
38	RATED R	RIHANNA	9	2009
39	DELETED SCENES FROM THE CUTTING ROOM	CARO EMERALD	4	2010
40	MESSY LITTLE RAINDROPS	CHERYL COLE	1	2010