Best UK Number Ones Ever

Chris
3 May 2020

I hate it when people post on Twitter: “Here’s my list of the best…, what’s yours?”, because I simply can’t resist.

****GREATEST NO. 1 POLL****
As you all know, the only good music is CHART MUSIC with No.1 hit singles being the greatest. But which Number 1 is the best?
Reply or DM your top 10 in order by Sat 16th May and I'll do a Bruno Brookes-style Top 40 countdown if I get enough.
— David Bruce (@davidkbruce) May 2, 2020

Oh bugger. Off I go.

The list of every number one single in Official Charts history is here. There are over 1400 songs, and you notice quite a few things:

Several great artists never had a number one (Amy Winehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, etc.)
Many more had just a single number one with a song which was far from their best (ELO’s Xanadu, FFS!)
Quite a few stone cold classics never made it to the top (e.g. Last Christmas, Blue Monday, Wonderwall, Angels, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, My Generation, Vienna)

So if you want to make a list of your favourite number ones ever, the pool from which you have to pick is an odd one.

Anyway, I went down the list and ticked off the ones for my long list. There were 38 that made it. I expected the list to be eighties-dominated, but far from it, pop music’s greatest decade only got 13 (34%) of the nods. The spread over the decades was:

1960s: 0 (surprisingly)
1970s: 7
1980s: 13
1990s: 7
2000s: 7
2010s: 4

Here then is the long list:

20/05/1972	Metal Guru	T Rex
03/03/1973	Cum On Feel The Noize	Slade
07/12/1974	You’re The First The Last My Everything	Barry White
11/03/1978	Wuthering Heights	Kate Bush
27/01/1979	Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick	Ian Dury
03/02/1979	Heart Of Glass	Blondie
17/03/1979	I Will Survive	Gloria Gaynor
22/03/1980	Going Underground/Dreams Of Children	Jam
09/08/1980	The Winner Takes It All	Abba
10/01/1981	Imagine	John Lennon
11/07/1981	Ghost Town	Specials
05/03/1983	Billie Jean	Michael Jackson
30/04/1983	True	Spandau Ballet
04/06/1983	Every Breath You Take	Police
16/06/1984	Two Tribes	Frankie Goes To Hollywood
18/08/1984	Careless Whisper	George Michael
10/11/1984	I Feel For You	Chaka Khan
03/08/1985	Into The Groove	Madonna
09/09/1989	Ride On Time	Black Box
11/11/1989	All Around The World	Lisa Stansfield
14/04/1990	Vogue	Madonna
09/06/1990	World In Motion	Englandneworder
02/02/1991	3AM Eternal	KLF
17/10/1992	Sleeping Satellite	Tasmin Archer
05/12/1992	I Will Always Love You	Whitney Houston
02/03/1996	Don’t Look Back In Anger	Oasis
05/09/1998	If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next	Manic Street Preachers
26/08/2000	Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)	Spiller
29/09/2001	Can’t Get You Out Of My Head	Kylie Minogue
12/07/2003	Crazy In Love	Beyonce
24/07/2004	Lola’s Theme	Shapeshifters
31/07/2004	Dry Your Eyes	Streets
28/06/2008	Viva La Vida	Coldplay
01/11/2008	The Promise	Girls Aloud
09/10/2010	Written In The Stars	Tinie Tempah
04/05/2013	Get Lucky	Daft Punk Ft Pharrell
18/01/2014	Happy	Pharrell
20/12/2014	Uptown Funk	Mark Ronson

And now the hard bit – picking out just ten. After the usual agonising, I decided on the following. This is correct, by the way. I’m not explaining or arguing about any of them.

10. You’re The First The Last My Everything • Barry White