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List of instrumental number ones on the UK singles chart

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The UK Singles Chart is a record chart compiled on behalf of the British record industry. Since 1997, the chart has been compiled by the Official Charts Company (formerly The Official UK Charts Company and the Chart Information Network) and until 2005 (when digital downloads were included in the chart compilation), the chart was based entirely on sales of physical singles from retail outlets.[1][2] The UK Singles Chart originated in 1952, when New Musical Express (NME) published the first chart of singles sales.[3] The positions of all songs are based on week-end sale totals, from Sunday to Saturday,[4] but pre-1987 the charts were released on a Tuesday because of the need for manual calculation.[5]

Since inception there have been more than 1,400 number ones; of these, instrumental tracks have topped the chart on 30 occasions for a total of 96 weeks.[a] The Shadows have had the most instrumental number ones, with five between 1960 and 1963. Three other artists have had more than one instrumental number one: Eddie Calvert (in 1954 and 1955), Winifred Atwell (in 1954 and 1956) and Russ Conway (both in 1959). Calvert's track "O Mein Papa" stayed at the top of the charts for nine weeks, longer than any other instrumental single. The single "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" has been an instrumental number one for two different artists (Calvert and Perez Prado) in 1955. To date, Martin Garrix is the most recent artist to have an instrumental number one, with "Animals" in November 2013.

Number ones

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Artist Single Record label[b] Week ending date[c] Weeks at
number one[c] 		Reference
Mantovani "The Song from Moulin Rouge" Decca 14 August 1953 1 [7]
Eddie Calvert "O Mein Papa" Columbia 8 January 1954 9 [8]
Winifred Atwell "Let's Have Another Party" Philips 3 December 1954 5 [9]
Perez Prado "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" HMV 29 April 1955 2 [10]
Eddie Calvert "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" Columbia 27 May 1955 4 [8]
Winifred Atwell "Poor People of Paris" Philips 13 April 1956 3 [9]
Lord Rockingham's XI "Hoots Mon"[a] Decca 28 November 1958 3 [11]
Russ Conway "Side Saddle" Columbia 27 March 1959 4 [12]
Russ Conway "Roulette" Columbia 19 June 1959 2 [12]
The Shadows "Apache" Columbia 25 August 1960 5 [13][14]
Floyd Cramer "On the Rebound" RCA 18 May 1961 1 [15]
The Shadows "Kon-Tiki" Columbia 5 October 1961 1 [16]
The Shadows "Wonderful Land" Columbia 22 March 1962 8 [14]
B. Bumble and the Stingers "Nut Rocker" Top Rank 17 May 1962 2 [17]
The Tornados "Telstar" Decca 4 October 1962 5 [14]
The Shadows "Dance On!" Columbia 24 January 1963 1 [18]
Jet Harris and Tony Meehan "Diamonds" Decca 31 January 1963 3 [13][19]
The Shadows "Foot Tapper" Columbia 29 March 1963 1 [18]
Hugo Montenegro "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" RCA 13 November 1968 4 [20]
Fleetwood Mac "Albatross" Blue Horizon 29 January 1969 1 [14]
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards "Amazing Grace" RCA 15 April 1972 5 [14]
Lieutenant Pigeon "Mouldy Old Dough" Decca 14 October 1972 4 [21]
Simon Park Orchestra "Eye Level" Columbia 29 September 1973 4 [14]
Doop "Doop" Clubstitute 19 March 1994 3 [22]
The Chemical Brothers "Block Rockin' Beats" [d] Virgin 5 April 1997 1 [23]
Mr. Oizo "Flat Beat" F Communications 3 April 1999 2 [24]
ATB "9 PM (Till I Come)" Ministry of Sound 3 July 1999 2 [25]
Crazy Frog "Axel F" Ministry of Sound 3 June 2005 4 [26]
Mint Royale "Singin' in the Rain" Faith & Hope 14 June 2008 2 [27]
Martin Garrix "Animals" Spinnin' 23 November 2013 1 [28]
  1. ^ a b The track "Hoots Mon" is not fully instrumental but is classified nominally as an instrumental track and described as being accompanied by "some Scottish-sounding grunts and interjections at the end of each chorus".[11]
  2. ^ The record labels are those given by the OCC.[6]
  3. ^ a b The date and duration at number-one are referenced by the following:
    • 1950s: "Number 1 Singles – 1950s". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
    • 1960s: "All the Number One Singles – 1960s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
    • 1970s: "All the Number One Singles – 1970s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
    • 1990s: "All the Number One Singles – 1990s". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  4. ^ The track "Block Rockin' Beats" is not fully instrumental but is classified nominally as an instrumental track, it features a sampled spoken line ("back with another one of those block-rocking beats"), however the rest of the track is entirely instrumental.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Roberts, David (2005). Roberts, David (ed.). British Hit Singles & Albums (18th ed.). Guinness World Records. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-904994-00-8. OCLC 58454449.
  2. ^ "New singles formats to save the charts". BBC News. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  3. ^ "The story of the single". BBC. 23 March 2001. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  4. ^ "FAQ". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  5. ^ "UK Singles Charts: History of the Charts". When We Were Kids. Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "Artist Chart History". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  7. ^ Huey, Steve. "Mantovani: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  8. ^ a b Mawer, Sharon. "Eddie Calvert: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  9. ^ a b Mawer, Sharon. "Winifred Atwell: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  10. ^ Huey, Steve. "Pérez Prado: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  11. ^ a b c Mawer, Sharon. "Lord Rockingham's XI: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  12. ^ a b "Pianist Russ Conway dies". BBC News. 16 November 2000. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  13. ^ a b "The Shadows founder member dies". BBC News. 29 November 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e f McNair, James (10 December 2009). "Whatever Happened to the Hit Instrumental?". Mojo. Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  15. ^ "Country Music Hall of Fame To Welcome Floyd Cramer and Carl Smith". Broadcast Music Incorporated. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  16. ^ Boynton, Graham (25 September 2009). "Hank Marvin: 'We should have taken Harrison's advice and sung'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  17. ^ Perrone, Pierre (23 September 2008). "Obituarty: Earl Palmer". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  18. ^ a b "Rhythm magazine". Rhythm. March 2001. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012.
  19. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Jet Harris – Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  20. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Hugo Montenegro: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  21. ^ "1972-10-14 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  22. ^ "All the No.1s: Doop – Doop". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  23. ^ "1997-05-04 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  24. ^ Siegler, Dylan (April 2000). "Mr. Oizo". CMJ New Music (80). College Music Journal: 39. ISSN 1074-6978.
  25. ^ "1999-07-03 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  26. ^ "2005-06-03 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  27. ^ "2008-06-14 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  28. ^ "2013-11-23 Top 40 Official Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
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