UK Singles Chart: 2007

There were no new acts joining the 30+ club this year. We had the final hits for Elvis Presley, Erasure, Iron Maiden and Simply Red. Of the 40 acts to have 30+ hits, 20 of them had their final hit by 2007 at time of writing and 20 were yet to have their final hit. Those with more hits to come are highlighted:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	124	My Baby Left Me
2	Cliff Richard	122	When I Need You
3	Elton John	68
4	Madonna	62
5	David Bowie	57
6	Status Quo	55
7	Queen	51
8	Michael Jackson	48
9	Paul McCartney	47	Dance Tonight
10	Rod Stewart	45
11	Diana Ross	43
=	Rolling Stones	43
13	Depeche Mode	42
14	Stevie Wonder	41
=	Pet Shop Boys	41	She's Madonna
=	Kylie Minogue	41	2 Hearts, Wow
17	UB40	40
18	U2	39	Window In The Skies
19	Prince	38
20	Janet Jackson	37
21	Tom Jones	35
=	Mariah Carey	35
=	Bon Jovi	35	(You Want To) Make A Memory
=	R Kelly	35	I'm A Flirt, Same Girl
25	Erasure	34	I Could Fall In Love With You, Sunday Girl
26	Frank Sinatra	33
=	Shakin Stevens	33
=	George Michael	33
=	Manic Street Preachers	33	Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, Autumnsong, Indian Summer
30	Iron Maiden	32	Different World
=	Simply Red	32	So Not Over You, Stay
32	Roy Orbison	31
=	Bee Gees	31
=	Whitney Houston	31
=	REM	31
36	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Tina Turner	30
=	Duran Duran	30
=	Morrissey	30

Take That move into 6th place for acts with most number ones bringing their total to 10. Sugababes had two number ones this year bringing their total to 6:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	21
2	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14
=	Westlife	14
5	Madonna	12
6	Take That	10	Shine
7	Abba	9
=	Spice Girls	9
9	Rolling Stones	8
=	Oasis	8
11	George Michael	7
=	Michael Jackson	7
=	Kylie Minogue	7
=	U2	7
=	Elton John	7
=	Eminem	7
=	McFly	7	Baby's Coming Back / Transylvania
18	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6
=	Blondie	6
=	Queen	6
=	Robbie Williams	6
=	Sugababes	6	Walk This Way, About You Now

R Kelly keeps his streak of hits every year since 1994 going and Cliff Richard finds himself back in the list with hits every year since 2001:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	R Kelly	1994
2	Robbie Williams	1996
3	Jennifer Lopez	1999
=	Westlife	1999
5	Snoop Dogg	2000
=	Nelly	2000
=	Sugababes	2000
8	Cliff Richard	2001
=	Ludacris	2001

The big change to the UK singles chart this year was that a physical single was no longer required to be eligible for the charts, so a song could chart from downloads alone. The number of new entries in the Top 40 fell to levels not seen since the 80s following a rapid rise of new entries in the Top 40 throughout the 90s and into the early 00s.

The first single to do this was "Blag Steal And Borrow" by Koopa which made them the first unsigned band to score a UK Top 40 hit.

Radio One DJ Chris Moyles decided to test the new chart rules by encouraging listeners to download "Honey To The Bee" by Billie which originally charted in 1999. It ended up reaching number 17 on this occasion.

We also had the return to the charts for "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins after it had appeared on a Dairy Milk advert. We also had "Beggin" by the Four Seasons and "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers chart for the first time whilst Led Zeppelin scored their second UK Top 40 hit with "Stairway to Heaven" thanks to the new rules following Led Zeppelins back catalogue now being available on download sites.

It was also the first year a bunch of Christmas hits returned to the charts at Christmas time, something which has happened every year since. There were also Christmas songs which never charted before that were charting for the first time this year. More information on this can be found in a previous blog post here.

Once again it was the X Factor winner who scored the Christmas number one, this time being Leon Jackson with "When You Believe". Previous years winner Leona Lewis scored her second number one with her second single "Bleeding Love".

X Factor 2 winner Shayne Ward had a couple of Top 10 hits this year but all other X Factor contestants from the first 3 series had now reached the end of their UK chart careers. Original Pop Idol runner up Gareth Gates was back in the charts after four years away but failed to reach the top ten for the first time with comeback single "Changes" which reached 14. His next single "Angel On My Shoulder" reached number 22 and would be his final hit.

Pop Stars: The Rivals winners Girls Aloud were still going strong with three top five singles this year including the number one "Walk This Way" in collaboration with the Sugababes which was a Comic Relief single.

The only other Girl Group to have a hit this year was the Spice Girls who returned after 7 years away with "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" which was a Children in Need single. It only made number 11 making it the first Spice Girls single that didn't make the top 2 and would be their final hit.

The successful comeback of Take That continued into 2007 with the number one record "Shine". Next single "I'd Wait For Life" didn't do so good reaching number 17 but their final single of the year "Rule the World" reached number two and would remain in the Top 100 until April 2009.

McFly had a successful year with the number one "Baby's Coming Back / Transylvania" and a number three with "The Heart Never Lies". Westlife had just one hit this year with "Home" which reached number three and they would only have one hit per year from now on.

Backstreet Boys had their final hit this year with "Inconsolable" which was their lowest charting single at number 24. The long forgotten boyband this year was Billiam who reached number 32 with "Beautiful Ones".

The most successful act of the year from a chart perspective was Timbaland. All of his hits were in collaboration with other people not only this year but in his entire chart history. He had number ones with "Give It To Me" featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake and "The Way I Are" featuring Keri Hilson & DOE, a number two with "Ayo Technology" featuring 50 Cent & Justin Timberlake, a number three with "Apologize" featuring One Republic and a number 25 with "Anonymous" featuring Bobby Valentino.

After three number twos Rihanna scored her first number one with "Umbrella" collaborating with Jay-Z and spent 10 weeks at number one, the longest since Wet Wet Wet in 1994.

Jay-Z's wife Beyoncé scored her third number one and first number one without his involvement. This time she was collaborating with Shakira on "Beautiful Liar". There was also a number one for chart debutant Sean Kingston with "Beautiful Girls".

There were 17 number ones overall this year, the lowest since 1995, but there were 8 number ones which were collaborations which is the most there had ever been to date. However Kanye West who to date had more hits that were collaborations than on his own scored his first number one "Stronger" which was a solo effort. This record has since been credited with influencing the mixing of Rap and Electronica that would become popular in years to come.

Despite there being 4 number ones this year that featured rappers it was overall a quiet year for Rap music in terms of quantity. It was also the end for 2Pac who had his final posthumous hit with "Pac's Life".

After a quiet 2006 we saw more Grime in the charts in 2007, most notable with three hits from Dizzee Rascal and the debut of N-Dubz with "You Better Not Waste My Time".

In terms of quantity the big genre of the year once again was Indie. Kaiser Chiefs scored their only number one in 2007 with "Ruby".

We also had chart debuts for the Fray with "How To Save A Life", Gossip with "Standing In The Way Of Control", Enemy with "Away From Here" and Reverend & The Makers with "Heavyweight Champion Of The World".

Many people would think the chart career of Ocean Colour Scene ended around the same time as TFI Friday. It actually lasted until 2007 with their final hit being "I Told You So". Another 90s band making their final appearance this year was Travis with "Selfish Jean".

A controversial offshoot of Indie music this year was New Rave which was in no way related to actual Rave music. At the forefront of this was the Klaxons who had hits with "Golden Skans", "Gravity's Rainbow" and their final hit was a cover of "It's Not Over Yet" by Grace. Other charting bands considered part of this movement had their only hits this year and they were Hadouken with "Liquid Lives", CSS with "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" and New Young Pony Club with "Ice Cream".

The big story in the Dance music world was the return to the charts for Robyn after 9 years away. She made number one with her comeback single "With Every Heartbeat" and followed this up with "Handle Me".

It was still a relatively quiet year for Dance music, but the Sub-Genre of Dance which was making the biggest impact was Electro House. Big tunes included "Proper Education" by Eric Prydz vs Floyd, "Let Me Think About It" by "'Perfect (Exceeder)" by Mason vs Princess Superstar.

We also had the chart debut for Calvin Harris with "Acceptable In The 80s" which he followed up with "The Girls". Although Calvin Harris predominantly collaborates with people on his singles, these singles were both solo efforts as was his entire first album. David Guetta scored his third single "Love Is Gone" featuring vocalist Chris Willis who also sang on his first single "Just a Little More Love" but wasn't credited.

T2 featuring Jodie Aysha brought us the first Bassline House record to chart with "Heartbroken" which was the only Bassline House record of the year. We only had one Trance record this year too in "Anthem" by Filo & Peri featuring Eric Lumiere. After no Drum & Bass records charted in 2006 we had one chart in 2007 which came from Pendulum with "Granite".

Cascada kept Eurodance alive in 2007 with two hits, "I Need A Miracle" and "What Hurts The Most". The other Eurodance record this year came from Kim Sozzi with the Cascada remix of "Break Up".

A trio of big names from the Dance Music world who began their chart careers in the 90s had their final hits this year. These were Faithless with "Music Matters", Chemical Brothers with "The Salmon Dance" and Groove Armada with "Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)".

In the Rock Music world we had the chart debut of Elliot Minor who's sound was a mixture of Rock and Classical Music. Their debut hit was "Parallel Worlds" and they also had hits with "Jessica" and "The White One Is Evil".

Then there was the debut of Enter Shikari, a band who's sound was a mixture of Metal and Electronic music. Their debut hit was "Anything Can Happen In The Next Half".

In the Punk world we had the final hits for Good Charlotte with "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" and Bowling for Soup with "High School Never Ends". There was another crossover record with the Gallows collaborating with rapper Lethal Bizzle on "Staring At The Rude Bois". Green Day had a hit with a Punk version of "The Simpsons Theme".

The Simpsons themselves were back in the charts in August for the first time since 1991 with "Spider Pig" which became the shortest single to ever chart at 1 minute 4 seconds. This record was short lived though as it was beaten in October by "The Ladies Bras" by Jonny Trunk & Wisbey which lasted just 36 seconds.

Shirley Bassey returned to the charts this year with her final hit "The Lightning Tree" making her the fourth 50s debutant to have a hit in the 00s after Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and Andy Williams.

We had the first act from Ukraine to have a UK Top 40 single this year with their Eurovision entry Verka Serduchka scoring his only hit with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai".

As previously mentioned, the mid-00s charts are remembered for having lots of Indie Music and this is still the case in 2007. At the same time we are seeing the lines between other genres getting more blurred. Maybe the various genres needed to join forces to push the Indie Music out of the charts. We have both David Guetta and Calvin Harris in the charts who we know have both collaborated with artists of every genre on the planet but they weren't doing that yet. Will Indie Music hold its ground in 2008? will there be more cross genre collaborations? and will any particular genre gain in popularity?