Candle In The Wind is officially the biggest ever British single
By the Editor@EltonJohn.com
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the United Kingdom singles chart, new figures have been released by the Official Charts Company which show that Elton's Candle in the Wind '97, the tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, is the biggest-selling British single of the last 60 years. It sold 4.9 million copies - more than a million more than the second placed track, Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?
The single was in fact a double A-side - Something About The Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind '97. To mark this achievement we have just launched a beautiful live version of Something About The Way You Look Tonight here on the EltonJohn.com home page. This version is taken from Elton and the band's concert at Essar Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, on 12 July 2010.
The Official Charts Company rundown features 123 records that have sold more than one million copies in the UK - seven of the records included sold more than two million copies.
These are the UK's Top Ten best selling singles, according to the Official Charts Company:
1. Something About the Way You Look Tonight/ Candle in the Wind 97 - Elton John (1997) 4.9m sales
2. Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid (1984) 3.69m sales
3. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (1975) 2.36m sales
4. Mull of Kintyre/ Girls' School - Wings (1977) 2m sales
5. You're The One That I Want - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1978) 2m sales
6. Rivers of Babylon/ Brown Girl in the Ring - Boney M (1978) 2m sales
7. Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1983) 2m sales
8. She Loves You - The Beatles (1963) 1.9m sales
9. Unchained Melody/ (There'll Be Bluebells Over) The White Cliffs of Dover - Robson Green & Jerome Flynn (1995) 1.86m sales
10. Love Is All Around - Wet Wet Wet (1994) 1.85m sales
According to Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company, the release of the countdown and the anniversary it celebrates coincides with a period of "unprecedented demand" for the single. "This year [is] set to be the biggest year on record for sales of the format," he said. "This truly is the era of the super hit."
In 2002, the 50th anniversary of the UK singles chart, 76 singles had sold in excess of one million copies.Since then, the Official Charts Company has recorded a 62% rise in the number of singles to have sold a million or more.
The single's current success can be attributed to the rise in digital downloads, with 5.7m singles downloaded in the last week of 2011 alone.
Photo: In September 1997, the demand for Elton's tribute to Diana was unprecedented,
leading HMV Records in London to open a special till for customers not buying the record.