Record-Breakers and Trivia -  everyHit.com
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Best-Selling Artist
Cliff Richard has sold more singles than any other artist (21.0 million). The Beatles are the top group (20.8 million). Top female artist is Madonna (15.2 million).
Only five other acts have sold more than 10 million singles. They are Elvis Presley (20.0 million), Elton John (13.8 million), Michael Jackson (11.5 million), Queen (10.4 million) and Abba (10 million).
Best-selling all female group is The Spice Girls (7.5 million).
Most Top 40 Hits
Cliff Richard has been credited on 124 Top 40 hits (up to, and including, "Singing The Blues"; Sep 2009). This excludes re-entries too!
The record for most Top 40 hits by a female is held by Madonna with 66 (the most recent being "Celebration"; Sep 2009). Diana Ross trails with 57 (as of Dec 2005; Madonna caught up with Diana in July 2003 and overtook her in Nov 2003).  In addition, Diana Ross has nine uncredited Top 40 hits with the Supremes and Madonna has one with Nick Kamen.
The Shadows (often paired with Cliff) are the leading group with 56 (62 when their 6 hits as The Drifters are included.) Status Quo are the group in second place with 55 Top 40 hits (as of Nov 2005).
Most Weeks Spent on The Top 40
1060 by Elvis Presley (last there w/e 15th Dec 2007 with the re-issue of "Burning Love")
Top female artist is Madonna with 510 weeks (last there with "Celebration" : w/e 3rd Oct 2009) (and another 9 uncredited weeks on the Nick Kamen's 1986 hit "Each Time You Break My Heart")
The Shadows are the leading group with 587 weeks inside the Top 40 (including hits with Cliff Richard).
Longest Span of Hits
Overall, the most durable artist is Elvis Presley on 51 years, 7 months 6 days [2692 weeks] ("Heartbreak Hotel", w/e 12th May 1956 to the re-issue of "Burning Love" w/e 15th Dec 2007).
Cliff Richard trails very narrowly behind (and stands a very good chance of overtaking this record). From "Move It" (w/e 12th Sep 1958") to "Singing The Blues" (w/e 26th Sep 2009) is a stretch of 51 years, 0 months and 14 days [2663 weeks].
From her first hit ("Banana Boat Song", w/e 15th Feb 1957) to her latest ("The Living Tree", w/e 5th May 2007), Shirley Bassey's chart career has spanned 50 years, 2 months and 18 days [2620 weeks]. She, became the first artist to have a career of hits spanning more than 50 years and has the longest span of (a) original hits (ie. not re-releases) and (b) hits whilst still alive.
The record for longest span of hits by a group is for The Shadows from "Travellin' Light" (9th Oct 1959) to "Singin The Blues" (26th Sep 2009); a period of 49 years, 11 months and 17 days [2607 weeks]. This is all the more impressive if the date of their first hit together ("Move It", 12 Sep 1958) is used, although they were, at the time, known as The Drifters. This gives the aforementioned stretch of 51 years, 0 months and 14 days [2663 weeks] (as Cliff's backing group).
By making the Top 40 in Sep 2009, The Drifters broke a long-standing record which had been held by Perez 'Prez' Prado & His Orchestra (40 years, 3 months 12 days) [2103 weeks] (from "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" in Mar 1955 to the departure of "Guaglione" in July 1995).
Longest Continuous Run in The Top 40 by an Artist
135 weeks by Elvis Presley. From July 1960 ("A Mess Of Blues") until Feb 1963 (when "Return To Sender" left the chart) - a total of 12 hits.
Most Top 40 Hits in One Year
19 -  by Michael Jackson (as of w/e 8th July 2006). These were part of a commemorative sequence of releases. Furthermore, two other singles of 2006 sampled him: "Say Say Say" by Hi-Tack and "Somebody's Watching Me" by Beatfreakz (which sampled Jackson's vocal contribution to Rockwell's 1984 hit of the same title).
The record for most new Top 40 hits in one year is 12; held jointly by Elvis Presley (in 1957) and The Wedding Present (1992).
Most Simultaneous Top 40 Hits
13 - by Michael Jackson. The week after he died (the chart w/e 11th July 2009), he held positions 2, 10, 12, 13, 19, 25, 26, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40 with "Man In The Mirror", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "Smooth Criminal", "Beat It", "Black Or White", "Dirty Diana", "They Don't Care About Us", "Earth Song", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "You Are Not Alone", "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", "Bad".
Prior to this, the record had been 7 simultaneous Top 40 hits... by Elvis Presley (on two occasions in Nov 1957). This feat is still worthy of note as (a) he was still alive and (b) only a Top 30 listing was produced at that time.
On week ending 2nd Nov 1957, Elvis held positions no. 4, 12, 16, 20, 21, 24, 26 with  "Party", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "All Shook Up", "Trying To Get To You"), "Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do", "Loving You", and "Paralysed."
The folowing week he held positions 2, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25, 30 with "Party", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "Trying To Get To You", "All Shook Up", "Loving You", and "Paralysed."
Most Top 10 Hits
Elvis Presley has had most Top 10 hits (76 as of May 2005). Cliff Richard follows with 67 (most recent in Sep 2008).
Madonna overtook Paul McCartney in Nov 2005, and has now attained 60 hits (including those with Britney Spears / Justin Timberlake) (as of Oct 2009); the most by any female artist. McCartney has had 53 (28 with the Beatles, 14 solo, 10 with Wings, 1 with Ferry Aid).
No other artists have had 50 or more Top 10 hits.
Most Consecutive Top 10 Hits
Here, an artist must reach the Top 10 with every consecutive release. Re-entries are ignored; they can neither add to the tally nor be responsible for breaking a 'run'.
Madonna holds this record with 34 (from "Like A Virgin" in 1984 to "Secret" in 1994. The run was broken by "Take A Bow" which peaked at no. 16).
Top male artist is Cliff Richard with 23 (from "A Voice In The Wilderness" in 1960  to "The Minute You're Gone" in 1965. Run broken by "On My Word" which peaked at no. 12).
Two groups fare well in this respect; Westlife have 23 consecutive Top 10 hits Westlife (from "Swear It Again" in 1999 to "Us Against The World" in Mar 2008) and Oasis have the same total (from "Live Forever" in 1994 to "The Shock Of The Lightning" in 2008). However, the latter's run is over as "I'm Outta Time" stalled at number 12.
There is was an argument (from Beatles and Abba fans) that Oasis' run is broken after the fifth Top 10 hit ("Roll With It") by "Wibbling Rivalry: A Lot Of Swearing And Cussing / Even More Swearing And Cussing" - the release, by Creation Records, of an argument between the Gallagher brothers after a Radio One interview. It peaked at no. 52 in Nov 1995. But, for contractual reasons Creation released this under the name "Oas*s" (omitting the "i"), unintentionally protecting Oasis' unbroken chart run! Furthermore, a technical issue (related to the maximum number of formats of a release) led to a 12" single version of "Some Might Say" peaking separately at no. 71 a week after the main single topped the chart. Common consensus is that this should not be deemed to break the run of hits.
The Beatles and Abba each have 18 consecutive Top 10 hits. (Beatles from "A Hard Day's Night" 1964 to "Yesterday" in 1976, broken by "Back In The USSR" which stalled at no. 19.  Abba from "S.O.S." in 1975 to "One Of Us" in 1981, broken by "Head Over Heels" which peaked at no. 25).
Top all-girl group is Girls Aloud with 20 consecutive Top 10 hits (from "Sound Of The Underground" in 2002 to "The Loving Kind" in Jan 2009).
Both Westlife and Girls Aloud have, in fact, had tracks peak outside the Top 40 which, were we to include them, would break their consecutive Top 10 runs. But the tracks responsible for this were never declared as singles, merely album tracks which charted due to the popularity of their individual downloads.
Most Simultaneous Top 10 Hits
4 - by Frankie Laine.
For three weeks in 1953 (31st Oct - 14th Nov) Frankie had four singles in the Top 10. They were "Hey Joe", "Answer Me", "Where The Winds Blow", and "I Believe."
Most Hits Without Making The Top 10
Two artists have had 19 Top 40 hits without managing to reach the Top 10.
AC/DC's nearest miss was in 1988 when "Heatseeker" made no. 12.
The Super Furry Animal's best effort was "Northern Lites"; no. 11 in 1999 (as of Sep 2005).
Least successful Top 40 Acts
Of course, thousands of artists never make the Top 40 at all. Any entry into the chart is an achievement. But the least successful chart acts will be those who have spent a sole week at Number 40... and nothing else... ever! They are listed below.
Artists marked * have experienced success outside the Top 40 with another title. Artists which are greyed out have had more success with another single but they share the credit with a 'least successful' artist.
Year