The UK singles chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1969 there was no official singles chart; however, The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources as New Musical Express (NME) before 10 March 1960 and Record Retailer from then until 15 February 1969 when Retailer and the BBC jointly commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the charts. The choice to use Record Retailer as the canonical source for the 1960s has been contentious because NME (which continued compiling charts beyond March 1960) had the biggest circulation of periodicals in the decade and was more widely followed. The longest duration of a single at number-one was eight weeks and this was achieved on three occasions: "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley in 1960; "Wonderful Land" by The Shadows in 1962 and "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies in 1969. The Beatles' song "She Loves You" became the best-selling single of all time in 1963, a record it held until 1977 when band member Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, surpassed it with "Mull of Kintyre". "She Loves You" was the best-selling song of the decade and one of fourteen songs believed to have sold more than one million copies in the 1960s.

Number-one singles

thumb|upright|[[The Beatles had seventeen number-one singles in the 1960s, more than any other artist. Their single "She Loves You" was the best-selling of the decade.]]

thumb|upright|[[Elvis Presley had eleven number-ones throughout the decade. "It's Now or Never" was the best-selling single of 1960 and spent an unsurpassed (but equalled) eight weeks at number one during the 1960s.]]

thumb|upright|[[Cliff Richard achieved seven of his number-one singles during the 1960s.]]

thumb|upright|[[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones (pictured left, with Janis Joplin) had two of his three number-one singles in the 1960s; the third was in 2009.]]

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="font-size:90%;"

|+Key

|-

!scope=row style="background-color:#FFFF99" |†

|Best-selling single of the year

|-

!scope=row style="background-color:lightblue" |‡

| Best-selling single of the decade|group="nb"|name="all"

!scope=col|Single|group=nb|name=RecordLabel

!scope=col|Week starting date The awarding of seventeen gold records to records released in the 1960s is documented and, notably, five were awarded to releases by The Beatles. Although The Righteous Brothers first released "Unchained Melody" in August 1965, it had more success after being re-released in the 1990s, reaching number one and selling more than one million copies.

{|class="wikitable sortable" border="1"

|-

!Artist

!Song

!Year of millionth<br/> sale

|-

| || "Apache" || align="center"| 1963

|-

| || "It's Now or Never" || align="center"|1960

|-

| || "Stranger on the Shore" || align="center"|1962

|-

| and The Shadows || "The Young Ones" || align="center"|1962

|-

| || "I Remember You" || align="center"|1962

|-

| || "She Loves You" || align="center"|1963

|-

| || "I Want to Hold Your Hand" || align="center"|1963

|-

| || "Can't Buy Me Love" || align="center"|1964

|-

| || "I Feel Fine" || align="center"|1964

|-

| || "Tears" || align="center"|1965

|-

| || "The Carnival Is Over" || align="center"|1965

|-

| || "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" || align="center"|1965–66

|-

| || "Green, Green Grass of Home" || align="center"|1966

|-

| || "Release Me" || align="center"|1967

|-

| || "The Last Waltz" || align="center"|1967

|-

| || "Congratulations" || align="center"|1968

|-

| || "Sugar, Sugar" || align="center"|1970.

|}

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Davis, Sharon. Every Chart-Topper Tells a Story: The Sixties. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 1997 , 288p.
  • Archive of all UK Number One Singles of the 1960s with images of original packaging