How the chart-toppers have changed over the years

No 1 hits in minor keys were rare in the early years of the chart, the first being Mambo Italiano by Rosemary Clooney in January 1955.

From 1952 to 1977 there were just 25 minor-key chart-toppers, 6 per cent of the total, and in 14 of those years there were none.

A change came in 1978 (21% in minor keys) and 1979 (39%), coinciding with the emergence into the mainstream of genres like reggae, disco and electronic music.

Since then, songs in minor keys have made it to the top spot every year, though there have been only three occasions when they have outnumbered those in major keys, all of them recent: 2019 (58%), 2020 (55%) and 2022 so far (55%).

Fade-outs

Until the late 1950s almost every No 1 came to an abrupt halt. Then a trend began for songs to use a fade-out, which appeared on more than half (52%) of all No 1s by 1965 and reached a massive 93% in 1971.

The level stayed high for the next few years, hitting a full 100% in 1983. The trend was then downwards, falling below 50% in 1991 and hitting zero in 2011.

Since then only 23 No 1s have ended with a fade and there have been none so far this year.

Time signature

Songs with a strict four beats in a bar have not always been common: in 1953 36% of

No 1s were in waltz time, along with 21% in 1967, such as The Last Waltz by Engelbert Humperdinck.

But anything other than 4/4 time is now rare: there have been only 13 examples in the UK so far this century. The most recent was the version of You’ll Never Walk Alone by Michael Ball and Captain Tom Moore in April 2020.

The last No 1 in strict 3/4 time was Changes by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne in December 2003.

Duration

The average length of a charttopper passed three minutes for the first time in 1967 and four minutes in 1984. It peaked at an average of 4 mins 16 secs in 1997, thanks to songs like The Drugs Don’t Work by The Verve (five minutes and two seconds) and D’you Know What I Mean? by Oasis (a massive 7mins 21secs), but since then has fallen back, dipping as low as 3mins 7secs in 2019.

Soloists versus groups

Solo artists dominated the top spot for much of the 1950s, but in 1963 slumped to just 11% of No 1s with the rise of British guitar groups.

Since then solo acts have rarely managed to make it above 50%, with groups, duos or other collaborations scoring the majority of No 1s.