UK Singles Chart: 2015

Joining the 30+ Top 40 singles club in 2015 were Britney Spears and Justin Bieber:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits	Year of Last Hit
1	Elvis Presley	124		2007
=	Cliff Richard	124		2009
3	Elton John	69		2009
4	Madonna	68	Living for Love	2015
5	David Bowie	58		2013
=	Status Quo	57		2010
7	Queen	53		2009
8	Michael Jackson	51		2014
9	Paul McCartney	49	Only One, FourFive Seconds	2015
=	Kylie Minogue	49		2014
11	Rod Stewart	45		2001
12	Pet Shop Boys	44		2009
13	Diana Ross	43		2005
=	Rolling Stones	43		2005
=	Depeche Mode	43		2009
16	Stevie Wonder	41		2005
=	U2	41		2009
=	Rihanna	41	FourFive Seconds, Bitch Better Have My Money	2015
19	UB40	40		2005
20	Mariah Carey	39		2013
=	Jay-Z	39		2013
22	Prince	38		1997
=	R Kelly	38		2014
24	Janet Jackson	37		2006
=	Bon Jovi	37		2013
26	Tom Jones	36		2009
=	George Michael	36		2012
28	Erasure	34		2007
=	Manic Street Preachers	34		2010
=	Robbie Williams	34		2013
=	Kanye West	34	Only One, FourFive Seconds, All Day	2015
=	Justin Bieber	34	Where Are U Now, What Do You Mean, Sorry, I'll Show You, Love Yourself, Company, Mark My Words, The Feeling, No Pressure	2015
33	Frank Sinatra	33		1993
=	Shakin Stevens	33		2005
=	Morrissey	33		2009
36	Iron Maiden	32		2007
=	Simply Red	32		2007
=	Whitney Houston	32		2009
=	Eminem	32		2014
40	Roy Orbison	31		1992
=	Bee Gees	31		2001
=	REM	31		2005
43	Lonnie Donegan	30		1962
=	Beatles	30		1996
=	Tina Turner	30		2004
=	Duran Duran	30		2005
=	Paul Weller	30		2010
=	Mary J Blige	30		2010
=	Glee Cast	30		2011
=	Britney Spears	30	Pretty Girls	2015

Tinie Tempah scored his 6th and 7th 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	12
7	Abba	9
=	Spice Girls	9
9	Rolling Stones	8
=	Oasis	8
=	Eminem	8
=	Rihanna	8
11	George Michael	7
=	Michael Jackson	7
=	Kylie Minogue	7
=	U2	7
=	Elton John	7
=	McFly	7
=	Robbie Williams	7
=	Calvin Harris	7
=	Tinie Tempah	7	Not Letting Go, Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)
22	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6
=	Blondie	6
=	Queen	6
=	Sugababes	6
=	Britney Spears	6
=	David Guetta	6

Kanye West keeps his streak of hits every year since 2004 going:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Kanye West	2004
2	Rihanna	2005
3	Chris Brown	2006
4	Calvin Harris	2007
5	Flo Rida	2008
6	Jason Derulo	2009
=	David Guetta	2009
=	Pitbull	2009

2015 was the first full year that streaming was included in the charts. The most notable impact this had on the charts was a big reduction in the number of Top 40 hits overall. There were just 204 new entries in 2015, the last time there had been less than that was in 1959 when it was still a Top 30.

We also had the first instance of an act having multiple Top 40 hits resulting from the release of a new album. The artist in question was Justin Bieber, who was also the most successful act of the year from a chart perspective.

He scored his first ever number one with his 27th Top 40 hit "What Do You Mean?" which was number one on three separate occasions. He then scored his second number one with "Sorry". Then came the release of his album giving him 7 songs in the Top 40 at the same time. The following week "No Pressure" entered the Top 40 giving him 8 songs in the Top 40. Then the following week "Love Yourself" knocked "Sorry" of the top giving him his third number one of the year.

"Love Yourself" stayed at number one until the week before Christmas week when charity record "A Bridge Over You" by Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir claimed Christmas number one before "Love Yourself" reclaimed the top spot the following week.

X Factor winner Louisa Johnson only managed number 9 with "Forever Young" which made it the first X Factor winners song not to reach number one.

Previous years winner Ben Haenow had his second and final hit with "Second Hand Heart" which was a duet with Kelly Clarkson. There was also the only hits for the previous years contestants Fleur East with "Sax" and boyband Stereo Kicks with "Love Me So".

There were also the only hits for the 2013 series contestants Luke Friend with "Hole in my Heart" and Karen Harding with "Say Something". It was also the end for 2012 contestant Ella Henderson who's final hits were as featured vocalist on "Glitterball" by Sigma and "Here For You" by Kygo.

Little Mix, the 2011 winners, scored their third number one with "Black Magic" and had another hit with "Love Me Like You". It was the year Zayn Malik left One Direction but they carried on without him until the end of the year when they went on hiatus. Amongst their hits was the number one "Drag Me Down". Olly Murs had hits with "Seasons" and "Kiss Me" but neither made the top ten.

From the US X Factor, Fifth Harmony had their second Top 40 hit in as many years with "Worth It". Outside of X Factor there were no other boybands or girl groups in the Top 40 in 2015.

The most successful act from a chart perspective in 2014, Jess Glynne, had a successful 2015 as well with three number ones bringing her total to 5. These were "Hold My Hand", "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself" and "Not Letting Go" with Tinie Tempah.

Electropop was still big in 2015 with number ones such as "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellis Goulding and "King" by Years and Years. However it's popularity was clearly fading. Flo Rida, one of the main rappers in Electropop in previous years returned to making Rap music with "GDFR" and turned to Funk with "I Don't Like It I Love It" which is his last hit at the time of writing. The other rapper best known for Electropop, Pitbull continued in that genre with "Time Of Our Lives" but this was his last Top 40 hit at the time of writing.

The biggest genre in 2015 quantity wise was Deep House and it's sub genres Tropical House and Future House.

There were the number one hits "Cheerleader" by OMI, "Are You With Me" by Lost Frequencies, "House Every Weekend" by David Zowie, "Easy Love" by Sigala and "Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)" by KDA ft Tinie Tempah & Katy B. The first two number ones from Justin Bieber were also Tropical House records.

The DJ credited with starting Tropical House music, Kygo, made his chart debut in 2015 with "Firestone". There was also the debut of the DJ credited with starting Future House, Tchami with "Promesses".

Calvin Harris also made a Deep House record in 2015 with "How Deep Is Your Love". There was still plenty of the generic EDM hits in the charts though, Calvin Harris also had a hit with "Pray to God" and David Guetta and Afrojack collaborated with Nicki Minaj on "Hey Mama".

Former Swedish House Mafia members Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso were back in the charts as Axwell Λ Ingrosso with the hit "Something New". Also making their debut was fellow Swedish group Galantis with "Runaway (U & I)". There was also the debut of Major Lazer with "Lean On" which was in collaboration with DJ Snake and fellow chart debutant MØ.

Drum & Bass was still going in the charts with DJ Fresh returning to the genre with "Gravity" featuring Ella Eyre, who herself had two Drum & Bass hits of her own with "Together" and "Good Times". Sigma had three hits in 2015 and Ed Sheeran had a Drum & Bass hit with "Bloodstream" which had been remixed by Rudimental, who themselves had a hit with "Never Let You Go". There was also an official collaboration between Rudimental and Ed Sheeran with "Lay It All On Me" but this was a generic EDM record as opposed to Drum & Bass.

The big American Rap record of 2015 was "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth which featured on the Fast & Furious soundtrack and made number one. It was the debut for the singer Charlie Puth who followed this up with another number one "Marvin Gaye".

There wasn't a great deal of R&B in the charts in 2015, but a notable amount of it came from rappers singing with "Only One" by Kanye West ft Paul McCartney, "Hotline Bling" by Drake and "Beautiful Me" by Dappy. At the same time we had Rihanna make a Rap record with "Bitch Better Have My Money".

Having returned to Grime the previous year, Lethal Bizzle continued to make Grime in 2015 with "Fester Skank" and Skepta with "Shutdown". There was also the debut of Grime artist Stormzy with "WickedSkengMan 4" which he followed up with "Shut Up".

It was once again a quiet year for Indie Music, but we did have the number four hit "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon which is their only hit to date.

Adele was back in the charts for the first time since 2012 with the number one hit "Hello". She followed this up with "When We Were Young".

Aside from the notable reduction in quantity of hits, what other impact does streaming appear to have had on the charts? The notable difference has been the rise of Deep House and particularly Tropical House. It's often been said that this is background music with little substance which in a way makes it perfect music to stream. You have some house work to do, you want a bit of background noise but don't want something that distracts you, you find a Tropical House playlist on Spotify or Deezer etc and then play it which contributes to it's chart performance.

It's also seemed to make it more difficult for older chart acts to return to the charts. The earliest chart debutant to have a hit in 2015 was Paul McCartney, but these were collaborations with Kanye West. The next earliest was Madonna, but this was an EDM record produced by Diplo. The only other 20th Century debutants to have hits in 2015 were Shaggy, Usher and Britney Spears but they were all collaborating with more recent chart debutants.

Will we continue to see a similar story in 2016?