UK Singles Chart Records and Statistics - Lowest Selling Number One

Lowest Selling Number One

Unfortunately we cannot take into account many #1 singles from the 1950s and early 1960s as precise sales records were not kept. It was only in 1969 that cumulative totals for the entire UK were kept and although at their lowest then, they quickly rose. Therefore, the lowest selling number one by the 90s was Iron Maiden's "Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter". It was the heavy metal band's only #1 single and hitting the top for two weeks after Christmas 1990, it sold only 100,000. After a boom of sales in the 1990s with many tracks breaking 1 million and Elton John setting a record, singles sales declined as the 21st century began. After 2002, things got worse, and Kylie Minogue was able to beat Iron Maiden's record with her 7th UK #1, "Slow". This was broken in 2004 by Ja Rule featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti on their #1 single, "Wonderful", which sold around 65,000 copies during its chart run. By February 2005, this was the lowest selling number one single, however with sales being at their absolute worst in early 2005, this record is likely to have been broken several times. Subsequently, things have improved with the introduction of digital downloads into the UK chart.

Lowest weekly sale for a number one single is 17,694 copies held by Orson's "No Tomorrow". This was previously held by the re-issue of Elvis Presley's "One Night/I Got Stung", which sold 20,463 copies in its one week at #1. Presley broke his own record in doing so; the week before the re-issue of "Jailhouse Rock" had set an alltime low sales record with only 23,159 copies sold. Before this, the lowest weekly sale was from Eric Prydz's single, "Call On Me", which sold 23,000 copies upon its return to number one in October 2004. "No Tomorrow" is also the lowest selling number one in its first week at the top, destroying the records held by Elvis's "One Night".

The addition of downloads to the UK charts has made it harder to sell such low amounts overall, but has meant that singles can now reach number one with zero physical sales. The first, but not last, single to achieve this was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" in early 2006.