UK Singles Chart: 2010

Status Quo become the first 60s debutant to score a Top 40 hit in the 10s which would be their final hit. Kylie Minogue becomes the first 80s debutant to have a hit in the 10s and joining the 30+ UK Top 40 hits club with their final hits are Paul Weller, who also has what's most likely the last ever double a-side in the Top 40, and Mary J Blige. Those highlighted are the ones with more hits to come:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	124
=	Cliff Richard	124
3	Elton John	69
4	Madonna	66
5	David Bowie	57
=	Status Quo	57	In The Army Now (2010)
7	Queen	53
8	Michael Jackson	50	Hold My Hand
9	Paul McCartney	47
10	Kylie Minogue	46	All The Lovers, Get Outta My Way, Better Than Today
11	Rod Stewart	45
12	Pet Shop Boys	44
13	Diana Ross	43
=	Rolling Stones	43
=	Depeche Mode	43
16	Stevie Wonder	41
=	U2	41
18	UB40	40
19	Prince	38
=	Mariah Carey	38
21	Janet Jackson	37
22	Tom Jones	36
=	Bon Jovi	36
24	R Kelly	35
25	Erasure	34
=	George Michael	34
=	Manic Street Preachers	34	(It's Not War) Just The End Of Love
28	Frank Sinatra	33
=	Shakin Stevens	33
=	Morrissey	33
31	Iron Maiden	32
=	Simply Red	32
=	Whitney Houston	32
34	Roy Orbison	31
=	Bee Gees	31
=	REM	31
=	Jay-Z	31	On To The Next One
=	Robbie Williams	31	Shame
39	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Tina Turner	30
=	Duran Duran	30
=	Paul Weller	30	No Tears To Cry / Wake Up The Nation
=	Mary J Blige	30	I Am

No change for those with the most number ones:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	21
2	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14
=	Westlife	14
5	Madonna	13
6	Take That	11
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

Just 3 acts with more than 6 years of consecutive hits with the Sugababes having their final hit in 2010:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Westlife	1999
2	Sugababes	2000
3	Kanye West	2004

After failing to get the Christmas number one, previous years X Factor winner Joe McElderry had the first number one of the year with "The Climb". He followed up with "Ambitions" which would be his final Top 40 hit.

There was another campaign to prevent the X Factor winner getting Christmas number one, this time it was to get "4.33" by John Cage to Christmas number one which was dubbed the "Cage Against the Machine version". However it only made number 21 and X Factor winner Matt Cardle had the Christmas number one with "When We Collide".

It was the most successful year generally for X Factor contestants to date with 8 number ones coming from X Factor contestants. The 2010 finalists had a number one with "Hero", JLS had number ones with "The Club Is Alive" and "Love You More", Alexandra Buke had a number one with "Start Without You" and we had number one debuts from Diana Vickers with "Once" and Olly Murs with "Please Don’t Let Me Go".

X Factor 2 winner Shayne Ward had his final hit with "Gotta Be Somebody" leaving Leona Lewis as the only contestant from the first four series who’s chart career was yet to end. She had her only hit this year with "I Got You". We also had the debut from the previous year’s X Factor contestants Jedward who collaborated with Vanilla Ice on "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)".

There was a new boyband in the Top 40 in 2010, The Wanted. They debuted at number one with "All Time Low" and followed up with the number two "Heart Vacancy" and also had a hit with "Lose My Mind".

Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow collaborated on the number 2 hit "Shame" in October and the following month the first Take That comeback single to feature Robbie Williams, "The Flood" also reached number two. We also had a Top 10 from Boyzone with "Gave It All Away" which was the first Boyzone single since the death of band member Stephen Gately but it had been recorded before his death and therefore featured his vocals.

Aside from the Sugababes, the only Girl Groups in the Top 40 in 2010 were the Saturdays who had top ten hits with "Missing You" and "Higher" and Girls Can’t Catch who had their second and final hit at the beginning of the year with "Echo". Girls Aloud member Nadine had her only Top 40 hit with "Insatiable" and Cheryl had her second number one with "Promise This".

The most successful act from a chart perspective in 2010 was Dizzee Rascal. He had number ones with "Dirtee Disco" and "Shout for England" in collaboration with James Corden and a number two with "You Got the Dirtee Love" in collaboration with Florence & the Machine.

Once again Electropop was the big genre of the year. This was being done by a range of artists that had previously been known to do other genres as well as artists that had only been known to do Electropop.

It was also a big year for EDM music with David Guetta scoring two number ones with "Getting Over You" in collaboration with Chris Willis and "Club Can’t Handle Me" in collaboration with Flo Rida. He also had hits with "Memories" ft Kid Cudi, "Commander" ft Kelly Rowland and "Who’s That Chick" ft Rihanna.

We also had debuts for Swedish House Mafia with "One (Your Name)", Steve Aoki with "Im In the House", Afrojack with "Take Over Control" and Tim Berg who would go on to be better known as Avicii with "Seek Bromance". We also had the number one "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be Cool vs D Cup It was a low key year for Calvin Harris though who just had a minor hit with "You Used to Hold Me".

In the Drum & Bass world it was the end of the chart career of Pendulum who’s final hit was "Witchcraft". We had the debut of former Bad Company UK member DJ Fresh with "Gold Dust" and the only Top 40 hit for Danny Byrd with "Ill Behaviour".

We saw Dubstep in the charts for the first time which came from Magnetic Man ft Angela Hunte with "I Need Air". There was also the debut of Katy B with "Katy On A Mission" and then Magnetic Man and Katy B collaborated on "Perfect Stranger". We also had a Dubstep tune from Chase & Status with "Let You Go".

Despite several rappers turning to Electropop there was still a fair amount of actual Rap music in the Top 40. Most successful of these was debutant BoB who had number ones with "Nothin On You" which featured another debutant, Bruno Mars, and "Airplanes" which featured Paramore singer Hayley Williams. He also had a hit with "Magic" which featured Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo.

Another notable debutant was Drake who’s debut "Find Your Love" made number 24. His next single "Right Above It" in collaboration with Lil Wayne made number 37 but his third single "What’s My Name" in collaboration got him into the top ten for the first time at the end of the year and would eventually make number one.

From the UK we had the debut of Tinie Tempah who reached number one with his debut "Pass Out" he also had a number one with "Written in the Stars". There were also debuts for Skepta with "Bad Boy" and Professor Green with "I Need You Tonight".

It was a quiet year for R&B music, mainly because most R&B acts were doing Electropop instead. There was however a number one for Cee Lo Green with "Fuck You".

It was an even quieter year for Indie Music with the only top ten Indie hit being "Radioactive" by Kings of Leon.

Perhaps having a bigger year than both Indie and R&B was the Glee Cast. They debuted with the number two "Don’t Stop Believin" and they would have 17 Top 40 hits in 2010.

We also had the debut of Justin Bieber with "One Time". He also had hits with "Baby" which was the highest charting at number three, "Eenie Meenie" and "Somebody to Love".

There were three new nationalities on the charts in 2010. We had the first act from the Virgin Islands, Iyaz, who had a number one with "Replay" and followed up with "Solo" and "So Big". He was also an uncredited vocalist on "Pyramid" by Charice who was the first act from the Philippines to have a Top 40 hit. Then there was Gramophonedzie who was the first act from Serbia to have a Top 40 hit with "Why Don’t You".

Although 2010 doesn’t seem to different to 2009 from a chart perspective, the debuts of Drake and Justin Bieber seem to indicate the 10s have arrived. That said, their debuts were more low key than one would expect given how they would dominate the charts in years to come. I personally don’t remember Drake breaking through, I think he was already established once I acknowledged his existence. I do however remember Justin Bieber breaking through and given all the hype surrounding him I’m quite surprised he didn’t at least have a number one.

In some ways the chart seems to have come full circle by 2010. In the beginning we had Traditional Pop and not much else, then as the years went by more and more genres were coming into the charts but by 2010 its mainly Electropop and not much else. The next biggest genre in terms of quantity is EDM but it’s not drastically different from Electropop. Will things change in 2011?