2014 in British music charts
This is a summary of the year 2014 in British music charts.
The UK Singles Chart and UK Albums Chart are two of many music charts compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling singles/albums of the week in the United Kingdom. Since 2004 the chart has been based on the sales of both physical singles/albums and digital downloads, with airplay figures excluded from the official chart. From 6 July, audio streaming became incorporated into the singles chart which means that a song gets the equivalent of one 'chart sale' if it is streamed 100 times. The OCC continues to compile a sales chart and a streaming chart. A total of 38 singles and 32 albums have claimed the top spot in 2014.
Number one artists
In the singles chart, Pharrell Williams, Clean Bandit, Sam Smith, Route 94, DVBBS, Borgeous, 5 Seconds of Summer, Aloe Blacc, Sigma, Kiesza, Mr Probz, Secondcity, Ed Sheeran, Ella Henderson, Oliver Heldens, Ariana Grande, Rixton, Magic!, Nico & Vinz, Lilly Wood, Nicki Minaj, Meghan Trainor, Gareth Malone's All Star Choir, Band Aid 30, Mark Ronson and Ben Haenow have all claimed their first number 1 single as a lead artist. Williams, Smith, and Blacc had all reached number one as featured artists prior to 2014.In the albums chart, Robbie Williams and Bastille returned to the top of the charts, having reached number 1 in 2013 with Swings Both Ways and Bad Blood. You Me at Six, Bombay Bicycle Club, Katy B, Pharrell Williams, Elbow, Sam Bailey, Sam Smith, Collabro, Royal Blood, alt-J, George Ezra, Ella Henderson and Ben Howard have all claimed their first number 1 album.
"Rather Be" by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor have all spent the most weeks at number 1 in the singles chart with four and x by Ed Sheeran has spent the most weeks at number 1 in the albums chart with eleven.
Notable events and records
"Happy" by Pharrell Williams became the first song released in the 2010s to be certified triple platinum based on sales of more than 1.55 million and 25 million streams by July. With "Happy", Williams is the only act apart from The Beatles to achieve three million-selling singles in a 12-month period. "Happy" also became only the third single in chart history, and the first for over 50 years, to return to number 1 more than once.Cheryl broke the record for the most number one singles for a British female solo artist on 2 November with the release of "I Don't Care". The single sold over 82,000 copies in its first week and gave Cheryl her fifth UK number one. The record was previously jointly held by Rita Ora and Geri Halliwell.
"All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor became the first single ever to reach the top 40 on streams alone.
"Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran broke a record for the longest climb to number 1 within the top 40, having taken 19 weeks to reach the summit. On its return to number 1 on 13 December, it became the first song ever to peak at number 1 due to streaming, having sold less than the number 2.
The top 10 best-selling albums of the year were all by British artists.
Number ones
Number-one singles
The 'sales' figures since the chart week ending 12 July include a proportion for audio streams and cannot be compared to previous weeks. See separate 'Singles sales chart' below.| Best-selling single of the year |
Number-one albums
| Best-selling album of the year |
Number-one compilation albums
| Best-selling compilation of the year |
Year end charts
Biggest singles
This chart published by the Official Charts Company on 31 December 2014 is based on sales and streams for the whole of 2014.| Position | Sales position | Title | Artist | Peak position | Sales | Streams | Combined sales |
| 1 | 1 | "Happy" | Pharrell Williams | 1 | 1,500,000 | 35,000,000 | 1,850,000 |
| 2 | 2 | "Rather Be" | Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne | 1 | 1,130,000 | 39,700,000 | 1,527,000 |
| 3 | 3 | "All of Me" | John Legend | 2 | 851,000 | 34,900,000 | 1,200,000 |
| 4 | 4 | "Waves" | Mr Probz | 1 | 815,000 | 32,100,000 | 1,136,000 |
| 5 | 7 | "Thinking Out Loud" | Ed Sheeran | 1 | 735,000 | 27,500,000 | 1,010,000 |
| 6 | 5 | "Ghost" | Ella Henderson | 1 | 757,000 | ||
| 7 | 8 | "Stay with Me" | Sam Smith | 1 | 29,100,000 | ||
| 8 | 9 | "All About That Bass" | Meghan Trainor | 1 | 651,000 | ||
| 9 | 6 | "Timber" | Pitbull featuring Kesha | 1 | 744,000 | ||
| 10 | 13 | "Budapest" | George Ezra | 3 | |||
| 11 | 12 | "Sing" | Ed Sheeran | 1 | |||
| 12 | 16 | "Rude" | Magic! | 1 | |||
| 13 | 10 | "Let It Go" | Idina Menzel | 11 | 636,000 | ||
| 14 | 11 | "Shake It Off" | Taylor Swift | 2 | 0 | ||
| 15 | 17 | "Hideaway" | Kiesza | 1 | |||
| 16 | 14 | "My Love" | Route 94 featuring Jess Glynne | 1 | |||
| 17 | 15 | "Nobody to Love" | Sigma | 1 | |||
| 18 | 19 | "Money on My Mind" | Sam Smith | 1 | |||
| 19 | 22 | "Summer" | Calvin Harris | 1 | 600,000 | ||
| 20 | 18 | "Dark Horse" | Katy Perry featuring Juicy J | 4 | |||
| 21 | 29 | "Am I Wrong" | Nico & Vinz | 1 | |||
| 22 | 26 | "Prayer in C" | Lilly Wood & Robin Schulz | 1 | |||
| 23 | 27 | "Problem" | Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea | 1 | |||
| 24 | 30 | "I'm Not the Only One" | Sam Smith | 3 | |||
| 25 | 25 | "Bang Bang" | Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj | 1 | |||
| 26 | 21 | "I Got U" | Duke Dumont | 1 | |||
| 27 | "Don't" | Ed Sheeran | 8 | ||||
| 28 | 37 | "Blame" | Calvin Harris featuring John Newman | 1 | |||
| 29 | 20 | "Do They Know It's Christmas?" | Band Aid 30 | 1 | |||
| 30 | 23 | "Uptown Funk" | Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars | 1 | 6,000,000 | ||
| 31 | 33 | "Fancy" | Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX | 5 | |||
| 32 | "Chandelier" | Sia | 6 | ||||
| 33 | 24 | "Hey Brother" | Avicii | 3 | |||
| 34 | 34 | "Changing" | Sigma featuring Paloma Faith | 1 | |||
| 35 | 40 | "Gecko " | Oliver Heldens & Becky Hill | 1 | |||
| 36 | 28 | "I Will Never Let You Down" | Rita Ora | 1 | |||
| 37 | 32 | "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" | Paloma Faith | 6 | |||
| 38 | "Blame It on Me" | George Ezra | 6 | ||||
| 39 | 31 | "Say Something" | A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera | 4 | |||
| 40 | "A Sky Full of Stars" | Coldplay | 8 | ||||
| 41 | 38 | "Loyal" | Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne & Tyga | 10 | |||
| 42 | "Riptide" | Vance Joy | 10 | ||||
| 43 | "Steal My Girl" | One Direction | 3 | ||||
| 44 | "Counting Stars" | OneRepublic | 10 | ||||
| 45 | 35 | "How Long Will I Love You" | Ellie Goulding | 5 | |||
| 46 | "Crazy Stupid Love" | Cheryl featuring Tinie Tempah | 1 | ||||
| 47 | "Black Widow" | Iggy Azalea featuring Rita Ora | 4 | ||||
| 48 | "Wiggle" | Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg | 8 | ||||
| 49 | 36 | "Feelin' Myself" | will.i.am featuring French Montana, Wiz Khalifa & Miley Cyrus | 2 | |||
| 50 | "She Looks So Perfect" | 5 Seconds of Summer | 1 |
Note: figures without a reference must always be deduced from the two others according to these operations: Sales + = Chart sales / *100 = Streams / Chart sales - = Sales
Biggest-selling albums
| Position | Title | Artist | Peak position | Sales |
| 1 | x | Ed Sheeran | 1 | 1,689,000 |
| 2 | In the Lonely Hour | Sam Smith | 1 | 1,248,000 |
| 3 | Wanted on Voyage | George Ezra | 1 | 678,000 |
| 4 | Caustic Love | Paolo Nutini | 1 | 545,000 |
| 5 | Ghost Stories | Coldplay | 1 | 544,000 |
| 6 | A Perfect Contradiction | Paloma Faith | 2 | |
| 7 | Four | One Direction | 1 | |
| 8 | Never Been Better | Olly Murs | 1 | |
| 9 | The Endless River | Pink Floyd | 1 | |
| 10 | III | Take That | 1 | |
| 11 | 1989 | Taylor Swift | 1 | |
| 12 | Halcyon | Ellie Goulding | 1 | |
| 13 | Blue Smoke | Dolly Parton | 2 | |
| 14 | Partners | Barbra Streisand | 2 | |
| 15 | GIRL | Pharrell Williams | 1 | |
| 16 | Love in the Future | John Legend | 1 | |
| 17 | If You Wait | London Grammar | 2 | |
| 18 | AM | Arctic Monkeys | 2 | |
| 19 | Chapter One | Ella Henderson | 1 | |
| 20 | Bad Blood | Bastille | 1 | |
| 21 | No Sound Without Silence | The Script | 1 | |
| 22 | Royal Blood | Royal Blood | 1 | |
| 23 | Meet the Vamps | The Vamps | 2 | |
| 24 | Beyoncé | Beyoncé | 2 | |
| 25 | Rock or Bust | AC/DC | 3 | |
| 26 | Sonic Highways | Foo Fighters | 2 | |
| 27 | ' | Kasabian | 1 | |
| 28 | Since I Saw You Last | Gary Barlow | 2 | |
| 29 | 5 Seconds of Summer | 5 Seconds of Summer | 2 | |
| 30 | Christmas | Michael Bublé | 1 | |
| 31 | True | Avicii | 2 | |
| 32 | The Take Off and Landing of Everything | Elbow | 1 | |
| 33 | The 1975 | The 1975 | 1 | |
| 34 | Love in Venice | André Rieu | 4 | |
| 35 | Symphonica | George Michael | 1 | |
| 36 | Stars | Collabro | 1 | |
| 37 | It's the Girls! | Bette Midler | 4 | |
| 38 | Night Visions | Imagine Dragons | 9 | |
| 39 | Midnight Memories | One Direction | 3 | |
| 40 | Melody Road | Neil Diamond | 4 | |
| 41 | The Power of Love | Sam Bailey | 1 | |
| 42 | Motion | Calvin Harris | 2 | |
| 43 | Home | Rudimental | 1 | |
| 44 | Xscape | Michael Jackson | 1 | |
| 45 | Tribute | John Newman | 1 | |
| 46 | Native | OneRepublic | 9 | |
| 47 | Moon Landing | James Blunt | 1 | |
| 48 | Pure Heroine | Lorde | 4 | |
| 49 | Going Back Home | Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey | 3 | |
| 50 | Queen Forever | Queen | 5 |
Notes:'''
Biggest-selling compilation albums
| Position | Title | Peak position | Sales |
| 1 | Now 89 | 1 | 954,000 |
| 2 | Frozen | 1 | 937,000 |
| 3 | Now 88 | 1 | 701,000 |
| 4 | Now 87 | 1 | 645,000 |
| 5 | Disney Sing Along - Frozen | 2 | 405,000 |
| 6 | BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2014 | 1 | |
| 7 | Now Christmas | 2 | |
| 8 | Keep Calm and Chillout | 1 | |
| 9 | Now Disney | 4 | |
| 10 | Now 21st Century | 2 |
Notes: