The Top 40 most streamed tracks of 2012 revealed

The Official Charts Company’s end of year figures reveal Somebody That I Used To Know and Call Me Maybe were to most listened to tracks of 2012. Plus: See the Top 40 in full!
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The Official Charts Company’s end of year figures reveal Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye and Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen were to most listened to tracks of 2012.

Not only were Gotye FT Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know and Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe the most purchased singles in the UK during 2012, but they were also the most streamed tracks of 2012, too.

British music fans streamed audio tracks more than 3.7 billion times during 2012, an increase of 42% on the previous year’s estimate of 2.6 billion streams, according to the latest Official Charts Company data.

Gotye and Carly Rae Jepsen’s tracks are joined in the year end Official Streaming Chart Top 5 by David Guetta FT Sia’s Titanium (Number 3), Fun. FT Janelle Monae’s We Are Young (4) and Nicki Minaj’s Starships (5), who were all also in the Top 10 most purchased tracks of last year.

However, the Official Streaming Chart uniquely highlights the difference between what the British public are purchasing, and what they are actually listening to.

Acts and tracks who performed disproportionately well include French electronic band M83, whose single Midnight City places 125 positions higher in the year end streaming run-down compared to the singles sales chart. Similarly, streams of AVICII’s Levels and Skrillex’s Bangarang outperform actual track purchases, each ranking 44 places higher on the Official Streaming Chart.

Other beneficiaries of streams over sales include Ed Sheeran (pictured) and Lana Del Rey. Both artists have multiple entries from their latest albums on the year end chart, suggesting British consumers are using these growing music services to stream full albums, or to preview them before purchasing.

You can see the full Official Streaming Chart of 2012 Top 40 below:

  TRACK TITLE ARTIST OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART
END OF YEAR SALES POSITION
1 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW GOTYE FT KIMBRA 1
2 CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN 2
3 TITANIUM DAVID GUETTA FT SIA 4
4 WE ARE YOUNG FUN. FT JANELLE MONAE 3
5 STARSHIPS NICKI MINAJ 7
6 WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS 56
7 TOO CLOSE ALEX CLARE 18
8 WILD ONES FLO RIDA FT SIA 10
9 DRIVE BY TRAIN 23
10 DOMINO JESSIE J 8
11 DRUNK ED SHEERAN 71
12 PAYPHONE MAROON 5 FT WIZ KHALIFA 9
13 LEGO HOUSE ED SHEERAN 82
14 THE A TEAM ED SHEERAN 118
15 LEVELS AVICII 59
16 VIDEO GAMES LANA DEL REY 87
17 N****S IN PARIS JAY-Z & KANYE WEST 31
18 WHISTLE FLO RIDA 15
19 FEEL THE LOVE RUDIMENTAL FT JOHN NEWMAN 16
20 PARADISE COLDPLAY 45
21 EARTHQUAKE LABRINTH FT TINIE TEMPAH 52
22 PRINCESS OF CHINA COLDPLAY & RIHANNA 25
23 TAKE CARE DRAKE FT RIHANNA 67
24 GANGNAM STYLE PSY 6
25 BORN TO DIE LANA DEL REY 95
26 SPECTRUM FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 19
27 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT 26
28 TURN ME ON DAVID GUETTA FT NICKI MINAJ 35
29 BANGARANG SKRILLEX FT SIRAH 73
30 HALL OF FAME THE SCRIPT FT WILL I AM 21
31 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN RIHANNA 32
32 NEXT TO ME EMELI SANDE 14
33 MAMA DO THE HUMP RIZZLE KICKS 17
34 GOOD FEELING FLO RIDA 47
35 DIAMONDS RIHANNA 11
36 DON'T YOU WORRY CHILD SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA/MARTIN 13
37 MOVES LIKE JAGGER MAROON 5 FT CHRISTINA AGUILERA 58
38 MIDNIGHT CITY M83 163
39 212 AZEALIA BANKS FT LAZY JAY 44
40 SHAKE IT OUT FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 141

© 2013 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

The UK’s first Official Streaming Chart was published in May 2012 by the Official Charts Company. It is the first chart which ranks audio streams from both ad-funded and subscription streaming services in the UK, which reflects the increasing interest in the new generation of music services such as Spotify, Deezer, Napster and We7

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