Artists with the most Top 10 singles in the UK

As Ed Sheeran racks up his 31st, we celebrate the titans of pop: the acts with more than 20 Top 10s.
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If you want to earn yourself a slot in pop's history books, you'll need a clutch of big hits on the Official Chart. As Ed Sheeran - who recently scored his 31st Top 10 with Number 1 hit Shivers - will tell you: numbers really count, and while getting even a couple of Top 10s would be a big deal for any artist, there are some stars who can't help but rack them up again, and again, and again.

Before we reveal all the artists who have managed to notch up 20 and over Top 10 hits, here are a few highlights.

They don't call him the King for nothing, and while he may not have been with us since 1977, Elvis Presley is still unbeaten when it comes to Top 10s in the UK. 76 of his hits have reached the top flight, kicking off in 1956 with Heartbreak Hotel, right up to the 2005 re-release of Way Down – both tracks peaked at 2.

Representing the UK is our very own rock and roll golden boy, Cliff Richard, who's made the Top 10 an astonishing 68 times as a credited artist, with his band the Drifters – better known as the Shadows – and then solo. His most recent Top 10, Thank You For a Lifetime, celebrated his 50th anniversary in music in 2008.

Top female artist is Madonna, whose 63 Top 10s put her in third place overall. Speaking of Top 10s, Madonna holds the record for most consecutive Top 10 peaks, scoring 36 between 1984 and 1994. Her first ever Top 10 was signature hit Holiday in 1984 and most recent Celebration in 2009.

MORE: Acts who have peaked at every position in the Top 10

A few hits behind, but still with a very impressive tally of 44, is the legendary Michael Jackson – his figure doesn't include hits with the Jackson 5, the Jacksons, or any other uncredited appearances. Kylie Minogue rounds out the Top 5, one of only three women with over 30 Top 10s under their belts.

Irish band U2 are sixth, with 33 to their name, and while you may expect The Beatles to be higher (they're eleventh, with 28), their star did burn brighter and briefer than many. One quirk is that if we included all his Beatles, Wings, solo singles and appearances on other tracks as a vocalist, Paul McCartney would be fourth with 55. However, it's direct credits that count, and alone, Sir Paul has 19. The legendary Elton John scored his 32nd Top 10 hit and first a lead artist since 2004 in September 2021 with Dua Lipa collaboration Cold Heart (Pnau Remix).

There's still plenty of scope for change in the upper reaches, with current regular Top 10 visitors likely to rack up even more, like Eminem (on 33), Rihanna (30), Drake (30), Calvin Harris (27), David Guetta (26) and Kanye West (21). ABBA also unprecedently joined the club in September 2021 when Don't Shut Me Down became their 20th Top 10 hit and first for four decades.

MORE: Artists with the most Number 1 singles on the UK chart

Bubbling under on 19 Top 10 hits include Beyoncé and Little Mix, both of which could hit the coveted mark of 20 top flight hits soon.

There are 35 acts with more than 20 Top 10 peaks on the UK chart. Here's the rundown:

POS ARTIST TOP 10 PEAKS
1 ELVIS PRESLEY 76
2 CLIFF RICHARD 68
3 MADONNA 63
4 MICHAEL JACKSON 44
5 KYLIE MINOGUE 34
6 U2 33
6 EMINEM 33
8 ELTON JOHN 32
9 ROBBIE WILLIAMS 31
9 ED SHEERAN 31
11 RIHANNA 30
11 DRAKE 30
13 THE BEATLES 28
14 CALVIN HARRIS 27
14 JUSTIN BIEBER 27
16 ROD STEWART 26
16 DAVID GUETTA 26
18 WESTLIFE 25
18 DAVID BOWIE 25
18 QUEEN 25
21 MARIAH CAREY 24
22 GEORGE MICHAEL 23
22 BRITNEY SPEARS 23
22 OASIS 23
25 PET SHOP BOYS 22
25 STATUS QUO 22
27 GIRLS ALOUD 21
27 DIANA ROSS* 21
27 THE ROLLING STONES 21
27 P!NK 21
27 KANYE WEST 21
32 THE SHADOWS** 20
32 TAKE THAT 20
32 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 20
32 ABBA 20

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

*Diana Ross's Top 10 tally includes hits credited to "Diana Ross and the Supremes", but not pre-1967 songs credited only to the Supremes.

** The Shadows' total includes any hits credited to the Shadows — with or without Cliff Richard – but not those scored under their previous name of the Drifters.

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Nomine Patris

0

Again a list distorted by streaming. This does not work.

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Andii

1

Once again comparing apples with oranges. Most of Sheeran's top ten hits are from a streaming+sales chart, where an entire album is allowed to flood the top ten. The likes of Madonna & Elvis had to release and promote individual singles to get their tally, so their achievement here is far greater than Sheeran's. Had the streaming+sales system been in place in 1987, I don't doubt the whole of True Blue would have been in the top ten.

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Blank

1

With 15 top tens by 1987, Shakin Stevens wouid certainly have been on earlier editions of this list. Possibly even top 20 or 10.

18 artists on the list debuted after then, another 2 or 3 had their first top 10 by 1987 but not enough to overtake Shaky or make it as high as they are today (George Michael, Madonna, U2, Pet Shop Boys)

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Bengy

2

"ABBA! With new music from the Swedish icons due by the end of 2019."

I think you need to update this story!!

CJ

Christian Jaramillo

0

But yet some people have the nerve to call Mariah local hahahah. We love to see her being up there with the most successful global artists!

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Lord Roughly

1

More updates needed e.g. Queen have 26 top 10 hits. Would be good to have all the GOAT charts updated instead of re-showing old lists with a couple of minor revisions.

NN

Nu No

0

They will probably update soon as Ed Sheeran will get another TOP 10 this week for sure.

DL

David Laing

1

What about Kanye West? He recently reached the 20 mark. I'm not a massive fan but think he deserves a mention.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

0

Let's not forget that Elvis have 21 posthumous TOP 10 singles (including 19 during this century already - most are old single re-edit as CD-Singles). While alive he never achieve the numbers Cliff Richard and Madonna have.

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Blank

0

He was still #1 at the time of death, Madonna obviously having zero at that time.

A

akira

0

Calvin Harris really ? DJ's shouldnt appear on this list. They dont sing, they just press play and only depends on featuring with pop stars. We talk about musicians here.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

0

I'm sure they will make a list of SOLO TOP 10's and Featured TOP 10's soon ;)

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Andii

0

I'm no great fan, but he likely does more in the production of his music than someone like Elvis did, a good vocalist who sang songs written for him by other people.

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EW

1

How have the positions been calculated? They don't seem very consistent to me.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

This is based on the UK weekly official single sales charts. It's the number of singles that were TOP 10 on the chart during at least 1 week by each act. It includes singles released after some acts passing (Elvis had 21 of his TOP 10 singles in UK after his death).

During this decade streams are also part of the chart (in fact on the past years most of the chart is streaming and not sales anymore - sadly some songs get to be sales TOP 10 and don't even chart on the TOP 100 based on that if they don't also have streams).

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EW

1

I was pointing out the discrepancy in the positions where sometimes a shared position was followed correctly (ie joint 8th being followed by a 10th) and sometimes incorrectly (joint 19th being followed by a 20th). Looks like this has been fixed now.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

0

Oh! You're right! I was looking at the list names and TOP 10's but did not notice that. They just corrected that! (#20 are now #23)

But now all the #26 on the end should be #28 as there are 3 #25's.

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Dneaeade

3

So many artists I love in there George Michael, Britney Spears, Pet Shop Boys. MJ and Madonna were obvious but I never thought Kylie was so high, wow. I'm so proud of her. Congrats. :)

NG

Nuno Gouveia

2

These are the numbers of singles (and now songs including streamed album tracks) that reached TOP 10 in UK. If streams were available since the 60's I'm sure The Beatles, Elvis, Cliff, Michael Jackson, Kylie and Madonna would have more than 100.

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Andii

2

Yes, I don't doubt it, especially as the Beatles single releases were mostly distinct from what was on the albums.

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Sunshine Gal

1

and that's surprising about the beatles! over here in the u.s. they're the #1 all time act on the hot 100. madonna technically has more top 10's than them though with 38...but they still hold the all time record for a group with 34.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

Some of beatles singles in UK were not allowed to chart as were considered EPs for having 4 or more tracks but they did chart on US singles chart.

Madonna released more singles in UK (and Europe) than in US. She would have had more TOP 10's in US and even #01 songs if some of her airplay only hits have been released as commercial singles in US too. Also some songs, like "Into The Groove" (UK first #01) were not allowed to chart as it was a 12" maxi-single release only (yet it was the best selling 12" maxi-single from the 80's according to Billboard).

Also some songs that were TOP 100 or miss the chart in US were TOP 10 in UK (some even #01 like her duet with Britney or #02 like "American Life" or "Sorry" or "Hollywood" ). On the other hand "Take a Bow", her longest US #01 did not make it to the UK TOP 10 (peaked #17).

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Sunshine Gal

1

yeah i chat with piran all the time and we always discuss how different the uk and u.s. charts can be. how artists can be big here and not do much over there and vice versa.

but with the beatles, they still have chart feats on both the hot 100 and 200 charts that are still unbroken! not even matched. and like over there i'm sure madonna or another artist would still have chart feats that haven't been matched yet.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

Sure they do. The real problem here is not how tracks can chart on their own (sure that now big artists have advantages on these kind of records) but how too much weight the streaming have on the charts - completely out of proportions.

Streaming is really taking over the charts now and sales are not longer important and the reason is simple.

For chart purpose:
1500 streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles sold for chart (are counted twice for abuns and single charts so in reality 750 streams are 1 album and 75 are a single)

Money that Streams and sales make relation:

60.000 PAID streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles dowloaded (that's 30.000 streams for 1 album and 3.000 streams for each song.)

120.000 (1/4 paid and 3/4 free as it happens in reality) Streams = 1 album sold + 10 singles sold (60.000 streams for 1 album downloaded and 6.000 for 1 song download). The song needed to be streamed 40 times more than chart recognizes to have economical equality!

In the past they even made rules for album prices to chart (an album sold at less than £5 could not chart), singles maximum number of tracks, etc... but now that doesn't matter in a out of this world way. They don't care anymore if the album is been given away as long as it's on streaming format and not download or physical.

Spot the differences? Streams are way out of proportion on the charts. Chartswise speaking it counts 97% more for the chart while sales count 3% comparing to the money they make money that its the inverse proportion (it's crazy!!!). This is chart manipulation in favor of most streamed acts (that are younger artists and labels want to promote as much as possible). These charts became a marketing tool for record labels and that's all.

I mean... even if was not just for sales (as the charts was always based on even having a mid-price chart at one time to correct albums sold with different prices) whoever buys a track listen to it more than 75 times for sure during his lifetime. Also buying an album (most have more than 10 tracks nowadays) and listening more than 750 album"tracks/songs" streams.

I don't say economic equality is the way to go but it can't be that far away. It's really ridiculous. You have songs not charting on TOP 100 making more money than songs that were TOP 10 Hits based on streams. Shouldn't count more if anymore that you are willing to pay to listen to a song or have a song/album.

Also important to add that most streams are from lists created from Streaming services (people do not choose to listen to those songs specifically).

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Sunshine Gal

1

how long have the official charts been going on in the uk? i was skimming thru whitney houston's uk chart run..and she only had 4 #1's! over here she has something like 13 #1s.

and her duet with aretha franklin in 1989, i never heard of that over here! and i've been a whitney fan since 'how will i know' was a big hit over here. that's the song, i believe, that made her a huge pop star @ least over here.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

The charts in UK exist since 14.11.1952 so all Elvis and Beatles songs are part of it. Billboard Hot 100 charts exist since 1958.

Some artist sometimes release different singles in US and Europe. Now is not very usual to happen but until 15 years ago was very usual (especially 3º and later singles from an album).

In US Whitney Houston had 11 #01 singles, 19 TOP 5 hits, 23 TOP 10 singles, 29 TOP 40's and 40 Hot 100 entries.

In UK she had 4 #01 singles, 13 TOP 5 hits, 17 TOP 10's, 34 TOP 40's and 40 TOP 100 entries.

We can say she was much more successful in US than in UK.
Most american female music artists enjoyed much more success in US than in UK.

Janet Jackson did even worst. She doesn't even have a UK #01 single (she had 17 TOP 10's including 2 #02 songs) and had 10 #01's in US Charts. Mariah Carey only had 2 #01 Hit's (and 24 TOP 10's) in UK despite having a record 18 #01's in US.

And if you look at the album charts you will find the same kind of differences. Mariah Carey latest album was #05 on Billboard and only peaked #40 in UK.

The few exceptions are Madonna, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Beyoncé They had similar success in both countries (yet Madonna and Britney were even more successful in UK than in US and both Rihanna and Beyoncé enjoyed a little bit more success in US than UK).

Whitney already had 3 UK #01's when she did the duet with Aretha. That means she was already tied with Sandie Shawn and Kylie Minogue as second female artist with most #01's in UK. Madonna became the female artist with most #01's in UK with La Isla Bonita, her 4th #01. As "Who's That Girl" and "Like a Prayer" were also #01 she only had 6 number ones. The record was held by Sandie Shawn since 1967. Female Artist were having a very hard time getting #01's in UK but Madonna, Whitney and Kylie were the exception.

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Sunshine Gal

2

mariah only had 2 #1's over there? dang! she has 18 over here!

NN

Nu No

1

3 now... as her Christmas song from 1994 just peaked #01 in 2020. It also peaked #01 there so 19 #01's in US now lol

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Sunshine Gal

0

thanks, but i wrote that post a year ago ;)

S

Sarah

1

All the Beatles UK Top 10 songs are composed by a Beatle. That itself speaks volume.
I'll rather quality not quantity.. but that's me.

S

Sarah

3

It's not surprising at all. The Beatles were only active between late 1962 - 1970, so naturally successful artists who were / are still active after 10 years, let alone over 20 will surpass the Beatles in this category. Because of what the Beatles achieved in such a short space of time I suppose it's understandable that some would assume they were around much longer.
The Beatles, George Martin = perfect combination.

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Sunshine Gal

0

yeah since i live in the u.s i'm always amazed on the achievements of artists on both sides of the atlantic. to see acts who were huge here and see any differences in their uk achievements. for example the backstreet boys were one of the top pop selling acts of all time here, but never achieved a #1 on the hot 100 singles chart. *when they were in the top 10, the competition was very stiff. big hits just never left the top 10, incl. their singles*. but they have a #1 hit in the uk. and i would be obsessed with the hot 100 chart when they were in it back in the day.

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Sunshine Gal

0

over here, their version of 'twist and shout' went to the top 10, but i think their version is a cover version.

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Sunshine Gal

3

pretty cool about elvis! the billboard hot 100 started in 1958 and elvis was in the army @ the time...but if the hot 100 conceptualized before that, no doubt he'd give the beatles a run for the $ in the top 10 dept. ;). and with mj, he has 7 additional uk top 10's with j5 and 5 more with the jacksons. so he'd have about 56 uk top 10's total.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

Michael now has 44 Top 10 hits... so you mean 54 with Jackson 5 and The Jacksons?

Elvis had 21 posthumous new TOP 10's. That means he had 56 TOP's while active and alive.

Michael had 4 posthumous new TOP 10'S so that means:
40 songs were Top 10 while active and alive (where he is credited)
50 songs were Top 10 While active and alive (counting his uncredited hits with J5 and The Jackons)

But we would have to do that wiht a lot of uncredited acts.
Imagine if you count Paul McCartney Hits also with The Beatles and The Wings?

That would give him 53 total (16 of his own - and credited with the Wings - plus 9 uncredited with the Wings and 28 uncredited with the Bealtes) all while still active and alive (no posthumous yet).

And don't forget to add 17 uncredited Top 10's to Cliff Richard with The Shadows too. That would bring his total to an AMAZING and UNMATCHED 85 TOP 10 singles (while active and alive!)

But i guess it's fine to count just the ones they are credited on (for all artists).

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Sunshine Gal

0

i'd have to recount mj's overall hot 100 tally, last i checked he was @ 42, but i counted 'we are the world' and 'we are the world 25' which peaked @ #1 & #2 respectively. and are you saying mj had 4 posthumous top 10's in the uk or in the u.s.? i didn't understand that last part...over here he would have 2 posthumous top 10's 1 with justin timberlake and 1 with drake. when he passed, bb had a rule that older songs couldn't re-chart on the hot 100, so he flooded the hot 100 recurrents chart.

well with elvis, i know that the hot 100 didn't start until 1958, so his hot streak prior to that isn't counted. but i believe elvis is in the all time top 10 hot 100 artists' list.

NG

Nuno Gouveia

1

If all Elvis Top 10's were counted he would have 36 so he would be ahead of The Beatles but behind Madonna. Until the 90's all Elvis singles used to be taken into account while doing these counting.

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Blank

0

Some of Elvis', and a couple of Cliff's were actually the same release hitting the chart twice: 1950s singles entering both sides of the disc separately due to data collection methods counting them as different singles instead of the same or double A-sides.

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Brian Quinn

5

Kylie Minogue actually has 34 Top 10 Single Hits.

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Official Charts

5

This has been amended Brian. Thank you.

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tracyhodgkins

3

It's a bit of a pity the official charts company counts reissues in chart statistics these days. None of Sir Cliff's 68 top tens are reissues. It's remarkable that his total of 68 top ten singles represents more than half of his hit singles.

DG

David Gibbs

6

Nice to see the King still there.These were amassed when it meant someone had actually gone out a bought a single.Not the simple click of a button you have these days.Well done the lot of them.

NN

Nu No

2

His singles re-releases in CD-single during the 2000's decade were a gold move as got him another 19 TOP 10's putting him way ahead of both Madonna and Cliff Richard. While he was still alive Elvis Presley got 55 TOP 10 Hits.

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Andii

1

Yeah, and you were encouraged to get them all by the box set given away with the first one. Genius. Got him another three #1s as well!