UK Singles Chart: 2008

Nobody joining the 30+ UK Top 40 hits club this year and none of the ones already in it had their final hits:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	124
2	Cliff Richard	123	Thank You For A Lifetime
3	Elton John	68
4	Madonna	65	4 Minutes, Give It 2 Me, Miles Away
5	David Bowie	57
6	Status Quo	56	It's Christmas Time
7	Queen	52	C-Lebrity
8	Michael Jackson	49	The Girl Is Mine 2008
9	Paul McCartney	47
10	Rod Stewart	45
11	Diana Ross	43
=	Rolling Stones	43
=	Kylie Minogue	43	In My Arms, The One
14	Depeche Mode	42
15	Stevie Wonder	41
=	Pet Shop Boys	41
17	UB40	40
18	U2	39
19	Prince	38
20	Janet Jackson	37
=	Mariah Carey	37	Touch My Body, Bye Bye
22	Tom Jones	35
=	Bon Jovi	35
=	R Kelly	35
25	Erasure	34
26	Frank Sinatra	33
=	Shakin Stevens	33
=	George Michael	33
=	Manic Street Preachers	33
30	Iron Maiden	32
=	Simply Red	32
=	Morrissey	32	That's How People Grow Up, All You Need Is Me
33	Roy Orbison	31
=	Bee Gees	31
=	Whitney Houston	31
=	REM	31
37	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Tina Turner	30
=	Duran Duran	30

Madonna and Take That each had a number one this year:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	21
2	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14
=	Westlife	14
5	Madonna	13	4 Minutes
6	Take That	11	Greatest Day
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
18	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6
=	Blondie	6
=	Queen	6
=	Robbie Williams	6
=	Sugababes	6

The run of hits every year since 1994 ended for R Kelly plus Robbie Williams and Jennifer Lopez also didn't have a hit this year meaning Westlife now have the longest streak and four acts have had a hit every year in the decade so far with one year to go:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Westlife	1999
2	Snoop Dogg	2000
=	Nelly	2000
=	Sugababes	2000
5	Cliff Richard	2001
6	Girls Aloud	2002
=	Nickelback	2002

The most successful act from a chart perspective this year was X Factor 3 winner Leona Lewis. She scored her third number one with "Run" and also scored a number two with the double a-side "Better In Time / Footprints In The Sand" and a number five with "Forgive Me".

X Factor 4 winner Leon Jackson scored a number three with his second hit "Don't Call This Love" but this would prove to be his final hit as the further singles he released failed to chart and he was dropped from his label. Fellow X Factor 4 contestants Same Difference had their one and only hit with "We R One" which made number 13. Beyond 2008 Leona Lewis and X Factor winner Shayne Ward were the only contestants from the first 4 series who would continue to have Top 40 hits.

Once again it was the X Factor winner who scored the Christmas number one, this time it was Alexandra Burke with "Hallelujah". This prompted a campaign for people to download the Jeff Buckley version which made number two. The original version by Leonard Cohen also charted which gave him his first UK Top 40 hit.

The X Factor finalists of Series 5 released a cover of Mariah Careys "Hero" as a charity record in November which made number one.

There was another TV show making an impact on the charts this year, Britains Got Talent. It was in it's second series and the winner, George Sampson scored a number 30 with the double a-side "Get Up On The Dance Floor / Headz Up". However, the bigger impact the show had was getting "Singin In the Rain" by Mint Royale to number one, 3 years after it first charted as a result of George Sampson dancing to it on the show.

Original Pop Idol winner Will Young was back in the charts after a year away with the number ten single "Changes". However he failed to reach the top ten for the first time with follow up "Grace" which made number 33 and would prove to be his penultimate Top 40 hit.

Pop Stars: The Rivals winners Girls Aloud scored their third and final number one this year with "The Promise" and had a number 9 with "Can't Speak French". The Sugababes had a mixed year reaching number three with "Girls" but failed to reach the top ten with "Denial". Similarly the Pussycat Dolls had a number three with "When I Grow Up" but failed to reach the top ten with "I Hate This Part".

There were a new Girl Group making their debut this year, The Saturdays. They reached number 8 with their debut hit "If This Is Love" and followed up with the number 5 single "Up".

There was also a new boyband, the Jonas Brothers. They had their only two hits this year with "S.O.S." and "Burnin' Up / When You Look Me In The Eyes", both of which failed to reach the top ten. Billiam had their second and final hit with "My Generation" which reached number 23. When I went to listen to it on YouTube as I'd never heard it before, I found the video had been uploaded in 2016 and had just 1 view!

 McFly got off to a good start with the number two hit "One For The Radio" and followed up with the number four "Lies". However their next hit "Do Ya / Stay With Me" only made number 18 meaning they failed to reach the top ten for the first time.

It was a case of back to the 90s boyband wise this year. New Kids on the Block returned to the charts after 14 years away with "Summertime" which proved to be their lowest charting single reaching number 34. They did however release further singles which failed to chart.

Take That continued their successful comeback with the number one "Greatest Day". We had the comeback after 8 years away for Boyzone with the number five "I Love You Anyway". The follow up "Better" only made number 22 meaning they failed to reach the top ten for the first time. We also had a solitary hit for Westlife who had never gone away with "Us Against The World" which made number 8, their first single not to reach the top five.

There were a notable amount of female solo acts making their chart debuts in 2008. Adele scored a number 2 with her debut "Chasing Pavements". She had a further 3 hits this year but failed to reach the top 10 with any of them.

Duffy debuted shortly after Adele and scored a number one with "Mercy" and followed up with the number 3 hit "Warwick Avenue". Her success was short lived as she failed to reach the top 10 with her following 2 singles this year and that would be the last we'd see of her in the Top 40.

From America we had the debut of Katy Perry who got to number one with her debut "I Kissed A Girl". She followed this up with "Hot 'n' Cold" which made number 4. There were also debuts for Miley Cyrus with "See You Again" and Demi Lovato with "This Is Me".

Once again there was more Indie Music than any other genre in the charts in 2008, but it was generally less guitar driven than it had been a few years earlier. Coldplay scored their first number one with "Viva La Vida" and also had a top ten hit with "Violet Hill".

We also had the Ting Tings score and number one with their debut hit "That's Not My Name". They had a further three hits in 2008 including the top ten hit "Shut Up And Let Me Go".

Kings of Leon scored their first number one with "Sex On Fire". This was also their first top ten hit and their follow up "Use Somebody". Their sound had now moved away from the Garage Rock they were doing in the early days. I was seemingly the end for Garage Rock this year with the White Stripes being the last of the big four bands to have their final hit with "Conquest".

We also had the final hits for Razorlight with "Wire to Wire", Zutons with "Always Right Behind You", Fratellis with "Mistress Mabel" and Automatic with "Steve McQueen". The Kaiser Chiefs also had their final hit "Never Miss A Beat" before a 6 year hiatus from the charts.

R&B music was starting to become more Dance orientated this year which could be heard in number ones by Ne-Yo with "Closer" and Estelle ft Kanye West with "American Boy".

The bulk of the R&B music in 2008 came from already established chart acts, but we had debuts for American Idol contestants Jordin Sparks with "No Air" and Jennifer Hudson with "Spotlight". There was also the debut for Beyoncé's sister Solange who had her only hit with "I Decided".

The most notable rapper making their debut in 2008 was Flo Rida. He reached number 2 with his debut hit "Low" featuring T-Pain. He followed up with two further collaborations, "Elevator" featuring Timbaland and "In The Ayer" featuring Will I Am.

Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris collaborated on "Dance Wiv Me" which gave them both their first number one. This was a Dance and Grime crossover hit.

We also had the debut of Ironik with "Stay with Me" and followed up with "I Wanna Be Your Man". Although these weren't Dance oriented records, they both used high pitched vocal sampling, something that had been done a lot in Dance Music.

With several Dance orientated records from other genres, Dance Music itself seemed to be suffering from a chart perspective. It had been on the decline for a few years now but by 2008 the quantity of Dance music in the charts was at its lowest since the 80s.

The previous year had seen the rise of Electro House but in 2008 it was more or less finished from a chart perspective with the only record you could consider Electro House to chart being "Baditude" by Spoon, Harris & Obernik.

Having had the first Bassline House Top 40 hit the previous year, this year saw a continuation of that but there were only four Bassline House Top 40 hits, "What’s It Gonna Be" by H Two O featuring Platnum, "My Destiny" by Delinquent featuring KCat, "Daddy-O" by Wideboys featuring Shaznay Lewis and "Love Shy (Thinking About You)" by Platinum.

The new Dance genre in the charts this year was Jumpstyle, but both Jumpstyle records came from acts who had previously charted with different genres of music. These were Scooter with "Jumping All Over The World" and Ultrabeat vs Darren Styles with "Discolights". It would be the final hits for all three acts.

There were very few actual House records charting in 2008, but the biggest of these was "Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz which made number 2 meaning all 3 Eric Prydz hits had made the top 2.

A number of older Dance records had a makeover this year and charted. These were "Something Good 08" by Utah Saints, "Toca's Miracle 2008" by Fragma, "Disco's Revenge 2008" by Gusto, "Infinity 2008" by Guru Josh Project and "Raindrops (Encore Une Fois)" by Sash featuring Stunt.

The big success story in Dance Music this year though was Eurodance artist Basshunter. He made number one with his debut "Now You're Gone" and had a further 4 hits in 2008. Cascada also had a hit with "Because the Night".

Guns n Roses were back in the charts after 13 years away with their final hit "Chinese Democracy". Metallica had their final hit with "The Day That Never Comes", but it was overall a quiet year for the heavier side of Rock music.

Many people lump any music from the 21st Century as being the modern era. However by the time we get to the penultimate year of the 00s we find that chart music has changed a lot. We began with a lot of Dance Music, then saw the rise of Indie Music which is still going strong in 2008 but is on the decline. At the same time we are seeing the lines between different genres get more blurred. We know from the past few years that cross genre music has become more of a thing, will we start to see that more in 2009?