[Zeus555]

The Official Top 20 biggest selling groups of all time revealed!

03/11/2012

By Dan Lane

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.

[musicjukebox123]

Amazing to see Beatles are getting on for double their second place group Queen, that is amazing. Am really pleased to see Take That there and high up.
Good to see figures for the boybands though not surprised Boyzone are higher than Westlife they sold a lot of singles in the 90's.
Great to see The Police make the list also.

[Astra 1A]

Thought The Shadows would feature as they had tons of big hits with Cliff and without him.

[Zeus555]

Astra 1A - The OCC have decided not to add the Sales
of Cliff Richard & The Shadows Hits, to those of The Shadows.

That's why The Shadows are not in the List. They would
be, if their Cliff Richard Hits were added in. (They'd be
about 2nd or 3rd).

Likewise, when they did the Best Selling Females List,
they only counted Rihanna's Hits, where she was the main
Artist. So, she was given 11.4 Million UK Singles Sales,
as 3.7 Million Sales were not counted, where she was
the 'Featured' Artist. (She's sold 15.1 Million UK Singles).

As regards the Groups List, Girls Aloud have sold
4,300,000 UK Singles - enough to be the 36th Best
Selling Group.....

[kenny12]

That's not a list of 'The UK's top 20 best selling groups of all time'

It's a list of 'The best selling songs by groups in the UK.'


If this list was about the best selling UK groups, The Spice Girls would be higher than both Take That and Oasis as they have sold many more records in total.

[So 3008]

Originally Posted by kenny12

That's not a list of 'The UK's top 20 best selling groups of all time'

It's a list of 'The best selling songs by groups in the UK.'


If this list was about the best selling UK groups, The Spice Girls would be higher than both Take That and Oasis as they have sold many more records in total.

No, it's a list of the best selling groups based on UK single sales.

[MrMeatAndPotato]

Originally Posted by kenny12

That's not a list of 'The UK's top 20 best selling groups of all time'

It's a list of 'The best selling songs by groups in the UK.'


If this list was about the best selling UK groups, The Spice Girls would be higher than both Take That and Oasis as they have sold many more records in total.

And Take That and Oasis would be higher than the Spice Girls when it came to talent

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by So 3008

No, it's a list of the best selling groups based on UK single sales.

...for one song.

Why not take all UK groups, add up their TOTAL record sales and then determine the UK's Best Selling Groups of All Time.

There's a thought.

[So 3008]

Originally Posted by kenny12

...for one song.

Why not take all UK groups, add up their TOTAL record sales and then determine the UK's Best Selling Groups of All Time.

There's a thought.

NO it is not for one song! It's their TOTAL UK single sales for EVERY single that act has released in the UK. The songs at the side of each name is just the groups biggest single put there as a matter of interest.

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by So 3008

NO it is not for one song! It's their TOTAL UK single sales for EVERY single that act has released in the UK. The songs at the side of each name is just the groups biggest single put there as a matter of interest.

Which I would have thought was obvious, I mean did anyone think that She Loves You sold 22 million in this country alone

Amazing that Oasis' biggest selling one didn't make it to number one.

Nor did Bee-gees for them, but did for Take That, how odd.

[kenny12]

My bad.

But my point still stands that the only way to determine the UK's Biggest Selling Groups of All Time is to list total record sales.

Not just singles, not just albums, RECORDS.

How can one determine the 'best-selling' anything accurately without counting all records sold - not just selected types of releases? Makes no sense.

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

My bad.

But my point still stands that the only way to determine the UK's Biggest Selling Groups of All Time is to list total record sales.

Not just singles, not just albums, RECORDS.

How can one determine the 'best-selling' anything accurately without counting all records sold - not just selected types of releases? Makes no sense.

It's a thread about UK singles sales in this country. Not sure why your getting a cob on the vacuous Girls are top 10, surely that's ok.

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by seansnotmyname@

It's a thread about UK singles sales in this country. Not sure why your getting a cob on the vacuous Girls are top 10, surely that's ok.

But it's not made clear in the title.... "The UK's Best Selling groups of All Time"

"The best-selling groups based on SINGLES sold within the UK" would be a more accurate title.




The only way to determine the best selling group/female/male is to state how much they have sold in total. Easy.

If you're not going to do that - at least make sure you make it clear in the title exactly what cock eyed way of measuring sales you are using!

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

But it's not made clear in the title.... "The UK's Best Selling groups of All Time"

"The best-selling groups based on SINGLES sold within the UK" would be a more accurate title.




The only way to determine the best selling group/female/male is to state how much they have sold in total. Easy.

If you're not going to do that - at least make sure you make it clear in the title exactly what cock eyed way of measuring sales you are using!

It's explained in the opening post though. Do we really need to police every thread title for total accuracy, shall we start with yours, could be fun

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by seansnotmyname@

It's explained in the opening post though. Do we really need to police every thread title for total accuracy, shall we start with yours, could be fun

Only counting singles sales in the UK alone is not an accurate measure of "The best selling of all time."




Shakin' Stevens has sold more singles in the UK than Frank Sinatra...

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

Only counting singles sales in the UK alone is not an accurate measure of "The best selling of all time."




Shakin' Stevens has sold more singles in the UK than Frank Sinatra...

Again the OP explained it, If shaky has sold more then Frank it's a fact about singles, but less embarrassing than The Spice Girls selling more.

Yet Sinatra was around before singles, so not surprising.

Mind you talking about making 5 mill when it's less then that, and not even taking into account production costs, now that seems downright dishonest. You should get angry about that.

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by seansnotmyname@

Again the OP explained it, If shaky has sold more then Frank it's a fact about singles, but less embarrassing than The Spice Girls selling more.

Yet Sinatra was around before singles, so not surprising.

Mind you talking about making 5 mill when it's less then that, and not even taking into account production costs, now that seems downright dishonest. You should get angry about that.

Viva Forever! has already made $4,800,000 (around £3,000,000) through advance ticket sales.

I've seen the press release with my own two old blue eyes.

It's a fact to the best of my knowledge.

I'm sure you'll see the same figure reported in the mainstream press very soon (if it hasn't been reported somewhere already) with all the promotion coming up this month before the big preview on November 27th.

P.S "Best Selling of All Time" is still misleading if you're only counting singles. The End.

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

Viva Forever! has already made $4,800,000 (around £3,000,000) through advance ticket sales.

I've seen the press release with my own two old blue eyes.

It's a fact to the best of my knowledge.

I'm sure you'll see the same figure reported in the mainstream press very soon (if it hasn't been reported somewhere already) with all the promotion coming up this month before the big preview on November 27th.

P.S "Best Selling of All Time" is still misleading if you're only counting singles. The End.

Well it's not FIVE million, so THAT'S a misleading title, but you did explain the rest in your OP so that was okay, as with this thread.

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by seansnotmyname@

Well it's not FIVE million, so THAT'S a misleading title, but you did explain the rest in your OP so that was okay, as with this thread.

No, my title says that Viva Forever! has already made almost $5,000,000. Which isn't misleading at all given that the figure is at least $4,800,000.

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

No, my title says that Viva Forever! has already made almost $5,000,000. Which isn't misleading at all given that the figure is at least $4,800,000.

and it hasn't made that because of production costs, stop it please. Nearly is an odd figure too, 200,000 is a long way from nearly for me.

Yet that's only if we're being horribly pedantic, which you clearly are being here.

edit: anyway you chuckled at my post in the other thread, so I'm willing to call it quits. sorry shouldn't be personal about the SGs but come on the thread title here, isn't really a big problem, is it?

also it's ot really

[kenny12]

Originally Posted by seansnotmyname@

and it hasn't made that because of production costs, stop it please. Nearly is an odd figure too, 200,000 is a long way from nearly for me.

Yet that's only if we're being horribly pedantic, which you clearly are being here.

"[The show] has taken over $4,800,000 in advance ticket sales"

is a direct quote from the XIX Press Release.

That is almost $5,000,000.

$200,000 is not too far a stretch when talking millions and millions darling.

[seansnotmyname@]

Originally Posted by kenny12

is a direct quote from the XIX Press Release.

That is almost $5,000,000.

$200,000 is not too far a stretch when talking millions and millions darling.

hey I changed my post, and I'm sure we could get a press comment that is almost identical to the OP here.

so what.

[Zeus555]

If it were A List of the UK's Top 20 Best Selling Groups,
based on their Album Sales, then, some of the Groups in
the Top 10 of the Singles List, would also be in the Albums
Top 10:,

THE UK's TOP 10 BEST SELLING GROUPS (ALBUMS)

(Their place in the Singles Groups Top 10, in Brackets)

1) The Beatles - 1st (1)
2) Queen - 2nd (2)
3) U2 - 3rd (9)
4) ABBA - 4th (3) @@@
5) Oasis - 5th (5)
6) Take That - 6th (6)
9) Rolling Stones - 9th (4)

@@@ = U2 may or may not have sold more UK Albums
than ABBA. So ABBA could be in 3rd place.

Pink Floyd would be 7th, Simply Red would be 8th, &
Westlife would be 10th.

[coun3spice]

the thread title is INCORRECT...

yes i agree... they should make it over all record sales...

[lucyloves]

It's nice to see Blondie and Madness in there, two of my all time favourite bands.