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• Artists With Most number 1 Singles on the UK Singles Chart

List of Best Selling Singles in the UK

As of 2012, the best selling singles in the UK were:

• Candle in the Wind 1997 by Elton John. Selling nearly 5 million copies, Elton John holds a record in the number of singles sold in the UK. The song which he dedicated to the late Diana, Princess of Wales is a version of his 1973 hit Candle in the Wind. In addition to being the best selling single in the UK, Candle in the Wind is also the best selling single in the world to date, selling over 33 million copies.

• Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid. Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for a fund raising campaign for Ethiopia in 1984, the song remained at #1 position for five consecutive weeks and sold a million of copies within a single week after being released. Until the release of Candle in the Wind by Elton John in 1997, Do They Know It’s Christmas was the top selling single in the UK. To date, 3.7 million of copies have been sold.

• Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The best selling Queen single is the third best selling single in the UK of all times. Since its release in 1975, 2.4 million copies have been sold in the UK. Worldwide, the single has been sold in over 3.6 million copies (excluding the UK), with the majority being sold in the United States.

• Mull of Kintyre/Girls’ School by Wings. The song was written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine as a tribute to Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland. It isn’t only the Wings’ greatest hit in the UK but it is also the first single in history to sell more than 2 million copies in Britain. But Mull of Kintyre/Girls’ School also went into history as one of most successful singles in regard to the UK Singles Chart rankings as it held #1 position for 9 weeks.

• You’re The One That I Want by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Just like Mull of Kintyre/Girls’ School, the single from the 1978 film musical Grease also topped the UK Singles Chart for 9 weeks. And it isn’t far from Wing’s most successful singles in terms of sales either because as of 2012, 2 million copies have been sold in the UK.

• Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The song reached #1 not only on the UK Singles Chart but also topped many charts outside Britain. Despite its extremely slow progress and controversy about both its sleeve and lyrics, it became one of the best selling singles of the 1980s and all times. With 2 million copies sold, Relax is the 7th best selling single in the UK in history.