List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 2000s
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. In the 2000s the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday, and the top 40 singles were revealed each Sunday on BBC Radio 1. Before the advent of music downloads, it was based entirely on sales of physical singles from retail outlets, but since 2005 permanent downloads have been included in the chart compilation.
During the 2000s, 275 singles reached the number-one position on the chart. Over this period, Westlife were the most successful group and music act at reaching the top spot, with 11 number-one singles. Rihanna and Jay-Z's song "Umbrella" spent 10 weeks at number one in 2007, the longest spell at the top of the charts since Wet Wet Wet's 1994 hit "Love Is All Around", which topped the charts for 15 weeks. The Internet allowed music to be heard by vast numbers of people on social networking sites such as YouTube and Myspace; it also increased piracy.
This and the introduction of the UK Singles Downloads Chart in 2004 led to a decrease in record sales and a reduction in the number of copies sold of a number-one record on the singles chart. Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" became the first song to reach the top of the charts based on downloads alone in 2006, remaining at number one for nine consecutive weeks.
Physical single sales had been falling for more than a decade but digital single sales finally turned the trend around in 2008 with combined physical and digital single sales growing 33% over the previous year. Lily Allen made herself known on the Internet through her Myspace page, and following this exposure, her debut single "Smile" peaked at number one. Three years later, her single "The Fear" topped the chart for four consecutive weeks, being the longest running number one single of 2009.
Reality television shows played an important, influential role on the charts during the decade. Hear'Say won the original series of Popstars in 2000 and topped the charts with their debut single "Pure and Simple". A trend developed as this feat was replicated by Pop Idol winners Will Young and Michelle McManus, and runners-up Gareth Gates and Sam & Mark; 2002 Fame Academy winner David Sneddon, and the winner of the first series of The X Factor, Steve Brookstein, in 2005. Reality television winners did especially well during the Christmas season; every Christmas number one from 2005 to 2008 came from an X Factor winner. Shayne Ward reached number one in 2005 with "That's My Goal", and he was followed by Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson and Alexandra Burke. Girls Aloud, the winners, also had the Christmas number one in 2002 with "Sound of the Underground." Kelly Clarkson, the winner of the first series of American Idol achieved her first UK number-one single, "My Life Would Suck Without You", in 2009.
The first number one of the decade, the double-A side "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun" by Westlife, was a holdover from the end of 1999. "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine was the final number one of the decade.
In January 2005 a landmark was reached as Elvis Presley's "One Night" became the 1,000th song to reach number one in the singles chart.
Chart history
In 2000, 42 songs hit the top spot, a UK charts record for most number ones in a calendar year. The year 2000 also holds the record for most consecutive weeks with a new number one, with a different single hitting the number-one spot every week from 24 June to 16 September.Six songs returned to the top of the charts for two separate spells. These were; "Don't Stop Movin'" by S Club 7, "Gotta Get thru This" by Daniel Bedingfield, "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz, "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean and "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas. In addition, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" was number one in December 2009 and climbed back to the top in January 2010.
Number-one singles
| † | Best-selling single of the year |
| ‡ | Best-selling single of the decade |
scored two number-ones this decade with their debut single, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", and are one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet.
hit the top spot with "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "Born to Make You Happy" in 2000, and with "Toxic" and "Everytime" in 2004.
debuted at number one with their single "Bring Me To Life" and their album "Fallen" in 2003 and started their massive international success.
's "Crazy" became the first song to reach number one on downloads alone in 2006 and the first song since 1994 to spend longer than two months at number one.
saw her debut single, "A Moment Like This", reach number one in 2006. Two more chart-toppers followed, including "Bleeding Love" which had a 7-week reign at number one in 2007 and "Run" in 2008.
spent six weeks at number one with "Where Is the Love?" in 2003. In 2009, "Boom Boom Pow", "I Gotta Feeling" and "Meet Me Halfway" also reached the number-one spot.
scored two number-ones this decade with "Bag It Up" and "It's Raining Men", taking her total to four, after "Mi Chico Latino" and "Lift Me Up"
had more number-one singles than any other female act in the 2000s, with six. Their first number-one was "Freak Like Me" in 2002.
scored her second number one of the decade with "Can't Get You Out of My Head" in 2001, selling more than 1.1 million copies. It was the biggest-selling single by a female of the 21st century until 2011, when it was surpassed by Adele's "Someone like You".
holds the record for the most number-one singles by a female artist during the decade. She topped the chart for a fifth time in 2008 with "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
became the first female artist to score three number ones in a single year, with "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance" all topping the chart in 2009.
gained three number-one singles in the 2000s and one in 1999.
's "Sex on Fire" sold over 840,000 copies in 2008, making it one of the biggest songs of 2008 and the biggest hit by any American act during the 2000s. It spent a total of 68 weeks in the UK chart.
scored 7 number-one hits in 2000s, putting him second behind Westlife for the most number-ones during the decade.
had a 10-week run at the top of the UK Singles Chart, along with Jay-Z, with "Umbrella".
's "I Kissed a Girl" was one of the best-selling singles in 2008.
scored 6 number ones in the 2000s—two with Destiny's Child and four solo.
member and one solo.
was 15 weeks at the top spot, the most in this decade.
scored four number-ones in this decade.
scored four number-ones this decade.
scored two number one singles this decade: "Smile" in 2006 and "The Fear" in 2009, which stayed for four consecutive weeks at the top, being the longest running number one in 2009.
scored the last Christmas number one of the decade and their first UK number one with "Killing in the Name" after a successful Facebook campaign by DJ Jon Morter to stop another The X Factor winner's single dominating the Christmas charts.
scored four posthumous number ones, in 2002 on Junkie XL's remix of "A Little Less Conversation", and then in 2005 with "Jailhouse Rock", "I Got Stung" and "It's Now or Never" when all his number one singles were reissued and re-released to celebrate fifty years of his music.
Statistics by decade
By artist
The following artists achieved four or more number-one hits during the 2000s. A number of artists had number-one singles on their own as well as part of a collaboration. Madonna, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake's song "4 Minutes", for example, is counted for all three artists because they were credited on the cover, while "Where Is the Love?" does not count for Timberlake as he did not receive artist credit on that track in order to avoid overexposure.| Artist | Number-one hits |
| Westlife | 11 |
| Eminem | 7 |
| McFly | 7 |
| Sugababes | 6 |
| Madonna | 5 |
| 4 | |
| Beyoncé | 4 |
| Busted | 4 |
| Gareth Gates | 4 |
| Girls Aloud | 4 |
| Jay-Z | 4 |
| Nelly | 4 |
| Oasis | 4 |
| Elvis Presley | 4 |
| Britney Spears | 4 |
| U2 | 4 |
| Robbie Williams | 4 |
| Will Young | 4 |
Artists by total number of weeks at number one
Songs by total number of weeks at number one
- A. Total includes appearances on Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" and "Déjà Vu".
- B. Total does not include two weeks spent at number one at the end of 1999 with "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun".
- D. Total includes collaboration with Dizzee Rascal.
- E. Total includes Band Aid 20.
- F. Total includes credit as Brian Potter.
- G. Total includes three weeks spent as The X Factor finalists with "Hero".
Million-selling and Platinum records
In July 2013, the BPI started a process of automatic certification regardless of original release dates, and since July 2014 audio streaming is included in the calculation of units at 100 streams equivalent to 1 sale or shipment. Hence, many of the singles released in the 2000s have been awarded certification in the 2010s.
For singles selling 1 million copies during the 2000s see List of best-selling singles of the 2000s in the United Kingdom
For a full list of singles which were released during the 2000s and have sold 1 million copies see List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom and sort the table by release date
For Platinum singles released during the 2000s see List of Platinum singles in the United Kingdom awarded since 2000