List of UK top-ten singles in 1956
The UK Singles Chart is one of many music charts compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom. Before 2004, the chart was only based on the sales of physical singles. This list shows singles that peaked in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart during 1956, as well as singles which peaked in 1955 and 1957 but were in the top 10 in 1956. The entry date is when the single appeared in the top 10 for the first time.
Eighty-four singles were in the top ten in 1956. Eight singles from 1955 remained in the top 10 for several weeks at the beginning of the year, while "Make It a Party" by Winifred Atwell, "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell and "True Love" by Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly were all released in 1956 but did not reach their peak until 1957. "Meet Me on the Corner" by Max Bygraves, "Suddenly There's a Valley" by Petula Clark and "Twenty Tiny Fingers" by The Stargazers were the singles from 1955 to reach their peak in 1956. Eighteen artists scored multiple entries in the top 10 in 1956. Elvis Presley, Frankie Vaughan and Lonnie Donegan were among the many artists who achieved their first UK charting top 10 single in 1956.
The 1955 Christmas number-one, "Christmas Alphabet" by Dickie Valentine, remained at number-one for the first week of 1956. The first new number-one single of the year was "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Overall, eleven different singles peaked at number-one in 1956, with eleven unique artists having the most singles hit that position.
Background
Multiple entries
Eighty-four singles charted in the top 10 in 1956, with seventy-nine singles reaching their peak this year. The EP All Star Hit Parade consisted of six songs by different artists who are all credited for the individual songs but only counts as one entry in the table. Fourteen songs were recorded by several artists with each version reaching the top 10:- "A Tear Fell" - Lita Roza, Teresa Brewer
- "Blue Suede Shoes" - Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley
- "It's Almost Tomorrow" - David Whitfield, The Dream Weavers
- "Memories Are Made of This" - Dave King with The Keynotes, Dean Martin
- "More" - Jimmy Young, Perry Como
- "My September Love" - David Whitfield, Joan Regan
- "No Other Love" - Dave King, Ronnie Hilton
- "Only You " - The Hilltoppers, The Platters
- "Sixteen Tons" - Frankie Laine with The Mellomen, Tennessee Ernie Ford
- "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" - Bill Hayes, Tennessee Ernie Ford
- "The Great Pretender" - Jimmy Parkinson, The Platters
- "The Green Door" - Frankie Vaughan, Jim Lowe & The High Fives
- "Theme from The Threepenny Opera" - Dick Hyman Trio, Louis Armstrong with His All-Stars, Winifred Atwell
- "The Wayward Wind" - Gogi Grant, Tex Ritter
Ronnie Hilton was one of a number of artists with two top-ten entries, including the number-one single "No Other Love". David Whitfield, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Young, Perry Como and Tennessee Ernie Ford were among the other artists who had multiple top 10 entries in 1956.
Chart debuts
Thirty-six artists achieved their first top 10 single in 1956, either as a lead or featured artist. Of these, three went on to record another hit single that year: Dave King, The Goons and The Platters. Lonnie Donegan achieved two more chart hits in 1956. Elvis Presley had three other entries in his breakthrough year.The following table does not include acts who had previously charted as part of a group and secured their first top 10 solo single.
| Artist | Number of top 10s | First entry | Chart position | Other entries |
| 1 | "Join In and Sing Again" | 9 | — | |
| Bill Hayes | 1 | "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" | 2 | — |
| Lonnie Donegan | 3 | "Rock Island Line" | 8 | "Lost John"/"Stewball", "Bring a Little Water, Sylvie"/"Dead or Alive" |
| Eve Boswell | 1 | "Pickin' a Chicken" | 9 | — |
| Gary Miller | 1 | "Robin Hood" | 10 | — |
| Lou Busch | 1 | "Zambezi" | 2 | — |
| 1 | "Only You " | 3 | — | |
| 1 | "It's Almost Tomorrow" | 1 | — | |
| Don Cherry | 1 | "Band of Gold" | 6 | — |
| Edmund Hockridge | 1 | "Young and Foolish" | 10 | — |
| Dave King | 2 | "Memories Are Made of This" | 5 | "No Other Love" |
| The Keynotes | 1 | "Memories Are Made of This" | 5 | — |
| Jimmy Parkinson | 1 | "The Great Pretender" | 9 | — |
| Dick Hyman Trio | 1 | "Theme from The Threepenny Opera" | 9 | — |
| Billy May | 1 | "Main Title Theme from The Man with the Golden Arm" | 9 | — |
| Don Robertson | 1 | "The Happy Whistler" | 8 | — |
| Elvis Presley | 4 | "Heartbreak Hotel" | 2 | "Blue Moon", "Blue Suede Shoes", "Hound Dog" |
| Carl Perkins | 1 | "Blue Suede Shoes" | 10 | — |
| Morris Stoloff | 1 | "Moonglow and Theme from Picnic" | 7 | — |
| Johnny Dankworth | 1 | "Experiments with Mice" | 7 | — |
| Various Artists | 1 | "All Star Hit Parade " | 2 | — |
| 2 | "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas"/"Bluebottle Blues" | 4 | "The Ying Tong Song"/"Bloodnok's Rock 'N' Roll Call" | |
| Frankie Lymon | 1 | "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" | 1 | — |
| 1 | "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" | 1 | — | |
| Gogi Grant | 1 | "The Wayward Wind" | 9 | — |
| Tex Ritter | 1 | "The Wayward Wind" | 8 | — |
| Mel Tormé | 1 | "Mountain Greenery" | 4 | — |
| Anne Shelton | 1 | "Lay Down Your Arms" | 1 | — |
| 1 | "Born to Be with You" | 8 | — | |
| 2 | "The Great Pretender"/"Only You " | 5 | "My Prayer" | |
| 1 | "Hound Dog" | 2 | — | |
| Freddie Bell and the Bellboys | 1 | "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" | 4 | — |
| Jim Lowe | 1 | "The Green Door" | 8 | — |
| 1 | "The Green Door" | 8 | — | |
| Mitchell Torok | 1 | "When Mexico Gave Up the Rhumba" | 6 | — |
| Grace Kelly | 1 | "True Love" | 4 | — |
;Notes
The EP All Star Hit Parade, which peaked at number two in July, featured the following songs: "Out of Town" by Dickie Valentine; "My September Love" by Joan Regan; "Theme from The Threepenny Opera" by Winifred Atwell; "No Other Love" by Dave King; "A Tear Fell" by Lita Roza and "It's Almost Tomorrow" by David Whitfield. Dave King was the only artist from this set who had not recorded a top 10 single until this year but he appeared in the chart earlier in the year with "Memories Are Made of This", a number five entry in March.
Songs from films
Original songs from various films entered the top 10 throughout the year. These included "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Only You " & "The Great Pretender", "See You Later, Alligator" and "Giddy Up a Ding Dong", " The Tender Trap", "The Main Title Theme from "The Man with the Golden Arm", "Moonglow and Theme from Picnic", "Que Sera, Sera ", "A Woman in Love", "Rip It Up" and "True Love" .Additionally, several versions of The Ballad of Davy Crockett entered the chart as part of the "Crockett craze", inspired by the 1955 Disney film Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. Elvis Presley re-recorded his song "Blue Suede Shoes" for the 1960 film he starred in, G.I. Blues. "Hound Dog" was first recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets and featured in Rock Around the Clock, but Elvis Presley took the song into the top ten. Mel Torme's "Mountain Greenery" was a cover of a song that appeared in the 1948 film Words and Music. "My Prayer" by The Platters was originally recorded by Vera Lynn for the 1944 film "One Exciting Night".
Best-selling singles
Until 1970 there was no universally recognised year-end best-sellers list. However in 2011 the Official Charts Company released a list of the best-selling single of each year in chart history from 1952 to date. According to the list, "I'll Be Home" by Pat Boone is officially recorded as the biggest-selling single of 1956.Top-ten singles
;KeyEntries by artist
The following table shows artists who achieved two or more top 10 entries in 1956, including singles that reached their peak in 1955 or 1957. The figures include both main artists and featured artists. The total number of weeks an artist spent in the top ten in 1956 is also shown.| Entries | Artist | Country of origin | Weeks | Singles |
| 6 | Bill Haley & His Comets | 56 | "Rip It Up", "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Rock Around the Clock", "Rockin' Through the Rye", "See You Later Alligator", "The Saints Rock 'N' Roll" | |
| 4 | Elvis Presley | 35 | "Blue Moon", "Blue Suede Shoes", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Hound Dog" | |
| 4 | Winifred Atwell | 19 | "Let's Have a Ding Dong", "Make It a Party", "The Poor People of Paris", "Theme from The Threepenny Opera" | |
| 3 | Frankie Laine | 16 | "A Woman in Love", "Hawkeye", "Sixteen Tons" | |
| 3 | Lonnie Donegan | 24 | "Bring a Little Water, Sylvie"/"Dead or Alive", "Lost John"/"Stewball", "Rock Island Line" | |
| 2 | Dave King | 13 | "Memories Are Made of This", "No Other Love" | |
| 2 | David Whitfield | 18 | "It's Almost Tomorrow", "My September Love" | |
| 2 | Dickie Valentine | 7 | "Christmas Alphabet", "Out of Town" | |
| 2 | Frank Sinatra | 14 | "Love and Marriage", " The Tender Trap" | |
| 2 | 11 | "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas"/"Bluebottle Blues", "The Ying Tong Song"/"Bloodnok's Rock 'N' Roll Call" | ||
| 2 | Jimmy Young | 9 | "Chain Gang", "More" | |
| 2 | Nat King Cole | 2 | "Dreams Can Tell a Lie", "Too Young to Go Steady" | |
| 2 | Perry Como | 10 | "Hot Diggity ", "More" | |
| 2 | 15 | "My Prayer", "The Great Pretender"/"Only You " | ||
| 2 | Ronnie Hilton | 15 | "No Other Love", "Who Are We" | |
| 2 | Tennessee Ernie Ford | 12 | "Sixteen Tons", "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" | |
| 2 | Teresa Brewer | 19 | "A Tear Fell", "A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl" | |
| 2 | - | - | - | - |