Seventy years of the UK Official Singles Chart are being marked by the release of top 10s of the most-streamed songs, split into decades. The streaming number ones range from Singin' In The Rain by Gene Kelly in 1952, the Chart's first year, to As It Was, by Harry Styles in 2022.
The BBC will mark the anniversary on Radio 2 by broadcasting each of the most streamed songs from 1960-1999 during their Sounds Of The 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s shows on the weekend of November 11-12. There is also a one-off programme on BBC Sounds – Most Streamed Chart: 1952-1959 – which will showcase the songs from those years, presented by Ricky Wilson. BBC Radio 1 will also get in on the act by broadcasting the most-streamed songs released from 2000-2022.
The most streamed songs of the past 70 years include some classics – (Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay, by Otis Redding in 1968, for example, and 1988's Everywhere, by Fleetwood Mac. But there are a few surprises in there also – Fluorescent Adolescent, by Arctic Monkeys, only reached number 5 in then Chart, but was most-streamed song released in 2007.
