STARS ON 45

We remember 45 of the best-selling singles over the 45 years since the first issue of What Hi-fi?

The first copies of What Hi-fi? were printed way back in 1976 when the Sex Pistols were gearing up to take over 1977, and a Labour government was par for the course rather than some strange aberration. Southampton won the FA Cup and Liverpool won the league title for the ninth time. Even Concorde made its first commercial flight; so buckle up for a supersonic trip down memory lane as we take you through the biggest selling singles from 1976 to the present day. Be warned, there are a few turkeys here along with the classic trimmings.

BROTHERHOOD OF MAN Save All Your Kisses For Me/ Let’s Get Together (1976, Pye)

A long time ago in a universe far away, the United Kingdom used to win the Eurovision Song Contest on a regular basis – and this two-boy, two-girl outfit, who had been recording since 1969, laid waste to the opposition.

WINGS Mull Of Kintyre/girls School (1977, Capitol)

One of Paul Mccartney’s massive post-beatles hits with his band Wings, that featured his wife Linda. The real star of this one is the caterwauling bagpipes. BONEY M Rivers Of Babylon/brown Girl In The Ring (1978, Atlantic)

It was German producer Frank Farian who concocted this seminal pop group whose hits, such as Daddy Cool, Ma

Baker, Painter Man and Rasputin, remain evergreen – as do those compelling performances on Top Of The Pops.

ART GARFUNKEL Bright Eyes/kahaar’s Theme (1979, CBS)

It was Paul Simon who wrote all of the Simon and Garfunkel hits, but Art had his moments, including this ditty taken from the only decent film ever made about rabbits, Watership Down.

THE POLICE Don’t Stand So Close To Me/friends (1980, A&M)

This song about a schoolgirl crush on her teacher was The Police’s third Number 1. 1980 also spawned Adam And The Ants, although Antmusic only got to Number 2.

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Don’t You Want Me/seconds (1981, Virgin)

Powered by synthesisers and lead singer Phil Oakey’s lop-sided hairdo, The Human League not only took out a long singleschart lease but also dominated the album charts with classic platter Dare. DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS Come On Eileen/dubious (1982, Mercury)

After topping the charts as Northern Soul-diers with Geno in 1980, Kevin Rowland redecorated the wheelhouse of HMS Dexy with Celtic strings for this hit.

CULTURE CLUB Karma Chameleon/that’s The Way (1983, Virgin)

After two flops, third single Do You Really

Want To Hurt Me became an international hit in 1982 that led to Boy George and his cohorts beginning a run of blue-eyed soul chart hits, including this one. BAND AID Do They Know It’s Christmas?/ Feed The World (1984, Mercury)

This charity single to raise money to

fight famine in Africa sold a whopping three million copies. To put those sales in perspective, Karma Chameleon sold 1.4 million the year before. Sir Bob Geldof then kick-started Live Aid in 1985.

JENNIFER RUSH The Power Of Love/i See A Shadow (1985, CBS)

This one surprisingly managed to outsell other 1985 hits such as the Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls, Mai Tai’s History, Level 42’s Something About You and Bryan Ferry’s Slave To Love. Not bad for a debut single, and, as it would turn out, one hit wonder. THE COMMUNARDS Don’t Leave Me This Way/sanctified (1986, London)

A wonderful cover of a Gamble and Huff-penned classic put ex-bronski Beat frontman Jimmy Somerville and future man of the cloth Richard Coles on top of the charts.

RICK ASTLEY Never Gonna Give You Up/ Instrumental Version (1987, RCA)

Stock, Aitken and Waterman spread hits thickly across worldwide charts in the late ’80s. This one gave rise to the latter-day phenomenon of Rick-rolling. Little known fact – SAW failed with their first act Brilliant, featuring Killing Joke’s Youth and the KLF’S Jimmy Cauty. CLIFF RICHARD Mistletoe And Wine/marmaduke (1988, EMI)

This Christmas chart topper gave the ever-youthful Sir Cliff yet another top seller. It outsold monster hits from 1988 like Yazz’s The Only Way Is Up, Kylie Minogue’s I Should Be So Lucky and the Bros monster I Owe You Nothing. BLACK BOX Ride On Time/(epsom Mix) (1989, Deconstruction)

This massive Italian House hit ‘sampled’ vocals from Loleatta Holloway’s Love Sensation without permission, which opened a can of worms. A model was hired for lip-synching duties.

THE Unchained RIGHTEOUS Melody/you’re BROTHERS My Soul And Inspiration (1990, Verve)

Originally a hit single back in 1965 when this B-side to Hung On You was flipped to the A-side and got to Number 14 in the chart. It rode to the top of the hit parade this year on the back of the film Ghost.

BRYAN ADAMS (Everything I Do) I Do It For You/she’s Only Happy When She’s Dancing (1991, A&M)

Another whose sales rode into the charts on the back of a cinema blockbuster, in this instance Robin Hood: Prince Of

Thieves starring Kevin Costner. It spent 16 long, long weeks at the top of the UK charts, to date the longest ever stay at the Number 1 spot. Personally we prefer the same year’s hits, Right Said Fred’s I’m

Too Sexy and KLF’S 3AM Eternal.

WHITNEY HOUSTON I Will Always Love You/jesus Loves Me (1992, Arista)

Yet another song from a soundtrack featuring Kevin Costner, this time as

The Bodyguard, but at least the singer Whitney Houston was also the leading lady. Sadly, there was no cameo for Dolly Parton, who wrote and originally recorded the song. MEATLOAF I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)/back Into Hell (1993, Virgin)

Take That may have charted with Relight My Fire this year, but Jim Steinman’s concoction of the Bat Out Of Hell 2 LP spawned this monster selling single. The same year gave us The Orb’s Little Fluffy Clouds.

WET WET WET Love Is All Around/i Can Give You Everything (1994, Precious)

Former Troggs singer Reg Presley laughed all the way to the bank when this cover version of his 1967 hit, featured on the Four Weddings And

A Funeral soundtrack, took up residency at the top of the charts. ROBSON & JEROME Unchained Melody/(there’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover (1995, BMG)

It’s quite embarrassing that these two British TV actors sold the most singles in 1995, a year when artists such as Oasis, Green Day, Pulp, Black Grape, Bobby Brown, R.E.M. and even the Boo Radleys released stone cold classics.

FUGEES Killing Me Softly/cowboys (1996, Columbia)

Fronted by Lauryn Hill, this single spent nearly half of 1996 in the charts with follow up singles Ready Or Not and their cover version of Bob Marley’s No Woman

No Cry taking care of another 26 weeks between them. ELTON JOHN Something About The Way You Look Tonight/candle In The Wind 1997 (1997, Rocket)

The biggest selling UK single of all time was a double A-side with a repurposing of Candle In The Wind, in the wake of the death of Elton’s close friend Diana, Princess of Wales. It sold close to five million copies – a good two million more than Do They Know It’s Christmas. CHER Believe (1998, Warner Bros)

Cher started her recording career in 1965 and, like Cliff Richard, stopped ageing but kept piling up the hits. Believe was released on a mind-boggling number of formats – and the 12-inch version of mixes lasted over 30 minutes. BRITNEY SPEARS …Baby One More Time/ Instrumental/autumn Goodbye (1999, Jive)

This was Britney’s debut single and launched a career that at its peak was higher than Mount Everest, before the court battles over legal guardianship of her affairs since 2008. Fatboy Slim’s

Right Here, Right Now was another monster from this year.

BOB THE BUILDER Can We Fix It (2000, BBC)

The UK charts have always loved a novelty hit, from Benny Hill singing about fast milkmen to Clive Dunn’s Grandad, to this kid’s TV character that also found success in the US and Germany. Neil Morrissey did the voice; the other Morrissey wisely sat this year out. SHAGGY It Wasn’t Me/(12”) Vocal (2001, MCA)

Reggae artist Orville Richard Burrell’s career started in 1991 and first spawned the monster hit Oh Carolina in 1993. This one was even bigger.

WILL YOUNG Anything Is Possible/evergreen (2002, Sony)

The first winner of the Pop Idol TV show, Young scored this massive hit and managed to sustain a career that continues to this day. After two seasons it was replaced by The X Factor, which gave us far too much Simon Cowell. BLACK EYED PEAS Where Is The Love?/sumthin’ For That Ass/(instrumental Version) (2003, A&M) It was their third LP Elephunk that led to this American hip-hip group, featuring producer, songwriter and singer Will.i.am, making it big worldwide. BAND AID 20 Do They Know It’s Christmas?/do They Know It’s Christmas? (2004, Mercury)

The charity supergroup added Dido, Justin Hawkins, Chris Martin and even Thom Yorke to the original team that included Paul Mccartney and Bono. TONY CHRISTIE/PETER KAYE Is This The Way To Amarillo/(club Mix)/the Laughing Record (2005, Universal)

A Comic Relief re-tool of Christie’s original 1971 hit brought it to a new audience. Other notable hits this year included The Killers’ Somebody Told Me, Snoop and Justin Timberlake’s Signs and the toilet flush of Have A Nice Day by Bon Jovi. GNARLS BARKLEY Crazy/just A Thought (2006, Warner Bros)

Singer-songwriter Ceelo Green and producer Danger Mouse’s collaboration not only topped the charts but never lost its flavour however many times you heard it. A one hit wonder – but what a hit.

LEONA LEWIS Bleeding Love/forgiveness (2007, Sony)

The third winner of X Factor saw her debut single A Moment Like This go to Number 1, while this was the biggestselling record in a year that saw stiff competition from Rihanna’s Umbrella. ALEXANDRA BURKE Hallelujah/candyman/without You (2008, Sony)

If you want to hear the best cover of this Leonard Cohen classic then look no further than Jeff Buckley’s 1994 debut LP

Grace. Still, one thing that didn’t have over the X Factor winner’s version is that Rita Ora is on backing vocals on this one.

LADY GAGA Poker Face/(tommy Sparks & The Fury Remix) (2009, Streamline) Taken from her debut LP, Fame, this single clocked up monster sales worldwide in 2009 as one of the biggest selling singles of all time. It has had 897million views on Youtube to date. EMINEM Love The Way You Lie/not Afraid (2010, Aftermath)

Eminem initially conquered the world in the late ’90s as the protégé of Dr. Dre, and even made a decent feature film in 8

Mile. With assistance from Rihanna, this was a massive international hit.

ADELE Someone Like You/someone Like You (Live) (2011, XL)

This was Adele’s first Number 1 hit, although debut Chasing Pavements got to Number 2 in 2008. The following year, this south London girl would record the theme song for the Bond film Skyfall. GOTYE Somebody That I Used To Know (2012, Vertigo)

Wouter De Backer was born in Belgium but works in Australia, and this single – featuring vocals from New Zealand singer Kimbra – spent five weeks at Number 1 and a total of 63 weeks in the chart. Modern day one-hit wonder-dom.

ROBIN THICKE Blurred Lines (Clean)/(no Rap)/ (Instrumental) (2013, Star Trak)

Thicke has enjoyed tremendous success as a singer, songwriter, actor and is even currently a judge on The Masked Singer. This track featuring Pharrell Williams – who also produced it – was an international monster. PHARRELL WILLIAMS Happy/just A Cloud Away (2014, Sony)

For our money, his collaboration with Daft Punk from 2013, Get Lucky, edges it. Still, this one’s an irresistibly upbeat soul number from Pharrell, who’s been one of the biggest artists in the world since 2003, and is now nearly two decades into his career. He still looks only 21. MARK RONSON Uptown Funk/feel Right (2015, Sony)

This British born producer/dj/songwriter has worked with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Jay-z and even Queens Of The Stone Age. This track, featuring Bruno Mars, sold on download like hot cross buns at Easter. DRAKE One Dance (2016, Cash Money)

Aubrey Drake Graham began his career as an actor before moving into music, where he has scored more hits than the

What Hi-fi? team have fingers and toes. Hotline Bling is great but this – featuring Wizkid and Kyla – is better. ED SHEERAN Shape Of You (2017, Atlantic)

Since his debut 2011 hit The A Team, Sir Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE has filled a sizeable mansion with hits. Sheeran’s 2017 Comic Relief Kurupt FM collaboration remains his stand-out moment, though. CALVIN HARRIS AND DUA LIPA One Kiss (2018, Columbia) We loved Acceptable In The 80s when it came out in 2006, but never imagined Harris would subsequently become an international star. This collaboration with Dua Lipa was his ninth Number 1. LEWIS CAPALDI Someone You Loved (2019, Universal/vertigo)

Had there been no iphone or Soundcloud there would be no Lewis Capaldi. This track stayed at the top of the UK charts for seven weeks, and Capaldi even scored success on the Billboard Hot 100. THE WEEKND Blinding Lights (2020, XO )

This ’80s retro synthwave track remains addictive, and was such a big hit that Abel Tesfaye got to serve up the half-time show at the Superbowl. No overnight success though, as Tesfaye has been making tracks since 2011.