Best of the 20 Biggest-selling Singles in the UK 1998-2008

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Are these really the 20 biggest selling singles of the last 10 years in the UK? According to Channel 4, yes. Now pick a fave.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
15. GNARLS BARKLEY - CRAZY 19
9. KYLIE MINOGUE - CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD 13
20. LOU BEGA - MAMBO #5 6
13. EIFFEL 65 - BLUE 5
6. SHAGGY FT. RIKROK - IT WASN'T ME 5
3. BRITNEY SPEARS - BABY ONE MORE TIME 5
2. CHER - BELIEVE 3
18. CHEF - CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS 2
8. BAND AID 20 - DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? 2
16. LEONA LEWIS - BLEEDING LOVE 1
12. BOB THE BUILDER - CAN WE FIX IT 1
11. HEARSAY - PURE AND SIMPLE 1
10. SHAYNE WARD - THAT'S MY GOAL 0
14. ATOMIC KITTEN - WHOLE AGAIN 0
7. STEPS - TRAGEDYHEARTBEAT 0
5. TONY CHRISTIE, PETER KAY & FRIENDS - IS THIS THE WAY TO AMARILLO? 0
17. CLIFF RICHARD - THE MILLENNIUM PRAYER 0
4. GARETH GATES - UNCHAINED MELODY 0
19. SPICE GIRLS - GOODBYE 0
1. WILL YOUNG - EVERGREEN 0


Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:38 (sixteen years ago) link

Gnarls vs Kylie.

chap, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Gnarls to walk... hang on, Chef? ummmmm.... No, Gnarls it is.

Mark G, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:45 (sixteen years ago) link

Either Eiffel 65, Lou Bega, Shaggy or Cher.

Birth Control to Ginger Tom (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:48 (sixteen years ago) link

wtf @ chef.

special guest stars mark bronson, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:51 (sixteen years ago) link

Novelty "comedy" records frequently do well. See also: Peter Kay, Bob the Builder, Band Aid etc.

Birth Control to Ginger Tom (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link

wtf @ most of the list.

mark e, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link

lmao what a fucked up country

like a super-saiyan stuffed in a checkered shirt (cankles), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah, shoulda been more Garth Brooks.

Birth Control to Ginger Tom (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:54 (sixteen years ago) link

Novelty "comedy" records frequently do well. See also: Peter Kay, Bob the Builder, Band Aid etc.

― Birth Control to Ginger Tom (Noodle Vague), Monday, January 5, 2009 2:52 PM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but south park is not bob the builder. (tbh i don't even think i've heard 'chocolate salty balls' either.)

special guest stars mark bronson, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:54 (sixteen years ago) link

South Park merchandise about a million times more popular than Bob the Builder with under 10s at the point when that song was released.

Birth Control to Ginger Tom (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:55 (sixteen years ago) link

you're telling a guy who has a 'respect my authority' t-shirt

special guest stars mark bronson, Monday, 5 January 2009 13:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Just be glad that Isaac Hayes has infiltrated this shite.

Yehudi Menudo (NickB), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Bleeding Love presuambly suffering more than most here by illegal downloads. thought it would be higher. not sure where 'Umbrella' would place (low 20s/high 30s maybe).

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 13:58 (sixteen years ago) link

Cher vs Britney vs Kylie vs Gnarls.
Although actually, it's Kylie vs Gnarls.
Then again, if I'm being totally honest, isn't it really Cher?
Yes, it's Cher.

mike t-diva, Monday, 5 January 2009 14:01 (sixteen years ago) link

lmao what a fucked up country

― like a super-saiyan stuffed in a checkered shirt (cankles), Monday, January 5, 2009 1:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lex pretend, Monday, 5 January 2009 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link

and it's not something to be fucking proud of, brits in this thread.

lex pretend, Monday, 5 January 2009 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link

Most of these are horrible. Voted Kylie.

Geir Hongro, Monday, 5 January 2009 15:21 (sixteen years ago) link

would like to compare this list with other countries equivalents

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link

Eiffel 65 is probably the one that I'd most like to hear again, but probably Kylie

Joint Dark Energy Mission (I am using your worlds), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link

Shaggy

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link

American list would be pretty much identical with the reality pop stars switching country and the novelty songs replaced by Maroon 5.

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link

Songs that have sold over 2 million copies in the US over the past decade:

"Low", Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
"Apologize", Timbaland presents OneRepublic
"4 Minutes", Madonna
"Before He Cheats", Carrie Underwood
"Big Girls Don't Cry", Fergie
"Crazy", Gnarls Barkley
"Don`t stop the music",Rihanna
"Disturbia",Rihanna
"Fergalicious", Fergie feat. will.i.am
"Girlfriend", Avril Lavigne
"Glamorous", Fergie feat. Ludacris
"Gold Digger", Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
"Hips Don't Lie", Shakira feat Wyclef Jean
"How to Save a Life", The Fray
"I Kissed a Girl", Katy Perry
"Kiss Kiss, Chris Brown
"Laffy Taffy", D4L
"No One", Alicia Keys
"Smack That", Akon feat. Eminem
"The Boy Is Mine", Brandy and Monica
"Umbrella", Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
"Unwritten", Natasha Bedingfield
"You're Beautiful", James Blunt

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:52 (sixteen years ago) link

for real? 'Evergreen' sold less in the UK than all of those, with a mere 1.8 million. i'm surprised even Madonna beats that on US sales. bigger market obv but still.

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link

These are mostly download-era songs though; with the glaring exception of "The Boy Is Mine", the earliest is (I think) "You're Beautiful", from July '05 (possibly later). A similar American list would be skewed because their chart is primarily based on airplay since physical sales over there have been, by and large, piddling for a fair while (Bright Eyes was #1 in the sales chart of physical singles once, wasn't he?). A representative view of the biggest singles of the decade would involve, like, formulas and stuff. Or asking that feller on Billboard with the massive eyebrows.

William Bloody Swygart, Monday, 5 January 2009 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link

(Bright Eyes was #1 in the sales chart of physical singles once, wasn't he?)

― William Bloody Swygart, Monday, 5 January 2009 15:58 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Morrissey as well.

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 16:04 (sixteen years ago) link

never!

Mark G, Monday, 5 January 2009 16:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Or asking that feller on Billboard with the massive eyebrows.

lol Fred Bronson

xhuxk e. xheese (jaymc), Monday, 5 January 2009 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link

and it's not something to be fucking proud of, brits in this thread.
I thought the Lex loved all this stuff? Apart from the novelty/charity type shit obv. I don't even know what's going on any more.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Monday, 5 January 2009 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link

there are 5 songs there i like (and they're pretty much the standards, yr britneys and kylies and leonae)

lex pretend, Monday, 5 January 2009 16:52 (sixteen years ago) link

bump

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2009 15:01 (sixteen years ago) link

This list is about 1/10th as good as I'd have expected. I keep being suckered into thinking we are living through some kind of golden age

Ismael Klata, Friday, 9 January 2009 15:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Kiley > Shaggy > Gnarls > Leona > Ike > wtf?

Et tu, Crut? (The Reverend), Friday, 9 January 2009 15:09 (sixteen years ago) link

Cher is the worst thing in it

Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 9 January 2009 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link

not that i'm a fan or anything, but britney is probably the standout here.

unlike a lot of people, i could never stomach that kylie track. 'spinning around' was sort of nice though

Charlie Howard, Friday, 9 January 2009 15:14 (sixteen years ago) link

Worst thing is The Millennium Prayer. Or Gareth Gates' laughable attempt at Unchained Melody.

Best, dunno. Probably Britney.

ailsa, Friday, 9 January 2009 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link

That US list is better than I thought it would be, to be honest.

ps Gnarls

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Friday, 9 January 2009 16:20 (sixteen years ago) link

Cher > Gnarls > Kylie, and the rest just makes me sad.

Ein Herz für Briten (Trackpants Tree), Friday, 9 January 2009 20:58 (sixteen years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 11 January 2009 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Monday, 12 January 2009 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link

"Tragedy" is better than all the rest of these put together.

how can you mend a broken hat? (edwardo), Monday, 12 January 2009 03:51 (sixteen years ago) link

i agree Tragedy would be better than hearing all of the others at the same time

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 12 January 2009 11:14 (sixteen years ago) link

The trumpet.

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 12 January 2009 11:15 (sixteen years ago) link

Nice to see that Morrissey got a vote for Bob The Builder

Yehudi Menudo (NickB), Monday, 12 January 2009 12:19 (sixteen years ago) link


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