Before 1969 there was no official singles chart. Before February 1969 - when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) chart was established - there was no official chart or universally accepted supply. The corporate regards a select period of the brand free slots new Musical Express chart (only from 1952 to 1960) and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the interval up to eleven February 1969, the place multiples of competing charts (none official) coexisted facet by facet.

The first primary on the UK singles chart was "Here in My Heart" by Al Martino for Best Online slots the week ending 14 November 1952. As of the week ending 18 December 2025, the UK singles chart has had 1,445 totally different number one hits. The UK singles chart began to be compiled in 1952. According to the Official Charts Company's statistics, as of 1 July 2012, Play online Slots 1,200 singles had topped the Official Singles Chart. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and previously MTV (Official UK Top 40), is the UK music business's recognised official measure of singles and Free slots albums recognition because it's the most complete research panel of its form, immediately surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, Free slots online capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums.

Record Mirror slots game started operating a Top 5 album chart in July 1956; from November 1958 onward Melody Maker printed the highest 10 albums. 7 inch EP and all singles needing to be below 20 minutes in size, as releases longer than 20 minutes could be classed as an album (with most longer EPs falling into the budget albums class). EPs taken out the listings between March 1960 - December 1967 (the information for the now 'Official' 1960s EP chart can be found in the Virgin Book of British Hit Singles).

The exact number of chart-toppers is debatable as a result of profusion of competing charts from the 1950s to the 1980s, but the standard listing used is that endorsed by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and subsequently adopted by the Official Charts Company.