The Top 40 biggest singles of 2012 on the Official Chart

2012 was the biggest year for sales of singles in British history.
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In 2012 the Official Singles Chart commemorated its 60th anniversary, and sales of singles in the UK reached an all-time high.

The year also saw nine singles break the million sales barrier, with two doing so the same year they debuted. Those two tracks – Gotye and Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know and Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe – are at Number 1 and Number 2 on 2012's Official Top 40 biggest songs.

MORE: See the Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of 2012

US rockers Fun.’s We Are Young featuring Janelle Monae finished in third place with sales of 986,000 copies, and David Guetta and Sia’s Titanium  was Number 4, with sales of over 922,000 – Sia also found herself at Number 10 on the year-end countdown, with her feature on Flo Rida's Wild Ones shifting 695,000. 2012 X Factor winner James Arthur’s Impossible, at 5, was a speedy seller – 897,000 copies sold in just three weeks.

UK artists made up 45% of the biggest selling singles of 2012, appearing as lead artist(s) on a total of 18 tracks in the Top 40. James Arthur is the highest charting British male artist , Jessie J the highest charting British female artist (Domino, 8) and Rudimental the highest charting British group (Feel The Love, 16).

Meanwhile the US accounts for 32.5% of lead artists in the Top 40 with 13 tracks, and Barbados and France account take 5% each, thanks to Rihanna and David Guetta.

Rihanna and Flo Rida appear on the most tracks in the Top 40 with three each, while David Guetta, Sia, Nicki Minaj, Will.I.Am and 2012 break out stars Emeli Sande and Rita Ora each appear on two tracks.

Total singles sales increased by 6% from 177.9 million in 2011 to 188.6 million in 2012, with the Top 20 biggest selling tracks of the year each shifting over 500,000 copies each.

The final sales week of 2012 – Sunday, December 22, to Saturday, December 28 – was the year’s record week for digital sales, with more than 5.6 million downloads sold.

The full Official Top 40 biggest selling singles of 2012 below. See the full Top 100 here.

1 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW GOTYE FT KIMBRA
2 CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN
3 WE ARE YOUNG FUN. FT JANELLE MONAE
4 TITANIUM DAVID GUETTA FT SIA
5 IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR
6 GANGNAM STYLE PSY
7 STARSHIPS NICKI MINAJ
8 DOMINO JESSIE J
9 PAYPHONE MAROON 5 FT WIZ KHALIFA
10 WILD ONES FLO RIDA FT SIA
11 DIAMONDS RIHANNA
12 BENEATH YOUR BEAUTIFUL LABRINTH FT EMELI SANDE
13 DON'T YOU WORRY CHILD SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA/MARTIN
14 NEXT TO ME EMELI SANDE
15 WHISTLE FLO RIDA
16 FEEL THE LOVE RUDIMENTAL FT JOHN NEWMAN
17 MAMA DO THE HUMP RIZZLE KICKS
18 TOO CLOSE ALEX CLARE
19 SPECTRUM FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
20 SKYFALL ADELE
21 HALL OF FAME THE SCRIPT FT WILL.I.AM
22 CANDY ROBBIE WILLIAMS
23 DRIVE BY TRAIN
24 HOT RIGHT NOW DJ FRESH FT RITA ORA
25 PRINCESS OF CHINA COLDPLAY & RIHANNA
26 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT
27 BLACK HEART STOOSHE
28 R.I.P. RITA ORA FT TINIE TEMPAH
29 TROUBLEMAKER OLLY MURS FT FLO RIDA
30 SEXY AND I KNOW IT LMFAO
31 N****S IN PARIS JAY-Z & KANYE WEST
32 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN RIHANNA
33 LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN BRUNO MARS
34 CALL MY NAME CHERYL
35 TURN ME ON DAVID GUETTA FT NICKI MINAJ
36 STRONGER (WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU) KELLY CLARKSON
37 DON'T WAKE ME UP CHRIS BROWN
38 HEATWAVE WILEY FT MS D
39 THIS IS LOVE WILL.I.AM FT EVA SIMONS
40 WINGS LITTLE MIX

© 2013 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

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PJ

Paul John

0

2012 brought us all together with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, great year for music too. The only fly in the ointment of 2012 was our weather, the summer was simply a farce with phenomenal rainfall.