British Number Ones' for 2010s

2010

The first song of the 2010s was "The Climb" by Joe McElderry, the winner of the sixth series of the UK talent show The X Factor, which hit number one for the week ending 2 January 2010 (announced 27 December 2009). Subsequently, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga hit the top spot for the second time; the single was also number one for the week ending 19 December 2009. The first entirely new number one of the decade was "Replay" by Iyaz on the following week.

In an attempt to raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Simon Cowell to arrange a charity single. Cowell chose "Everybody Hurts", Brown agreed to waive VAT on the single and R.E.M. agreed to waive all royalties.^[2] The release was under the name Helping Haiti. The single featured many singers, most linked to Cowell's talent shows like: Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS, Cheryl Cole and Susan Boyle. The song went straight in at number one and remained there for two weeks.

The year saw the first number-ones for Tinie Tempah with "Pass Out", Diana Vickers with "Once", Roll Deep with "Good Times", Scouting for Girls with "This Ain't a Love Song", B.o.B with "Nothin' On You", Jason Derülo with "In My Head", Olly Murs with "Please Don't Let Me Go" and the first solo number-one for Cee Lo Green with "Forget You".

2010 was another X Factor dominated year, with chart toppers from JLS, Alexandra Burke, Diana Vickers, Olly Murs and Cheryl Cole (Judge), and Matt Cardle many of whom also featured on the Helping Haiti Single.

Lady Gaga, JLS, B.o.B, Tinie Tempah, Bruno Mars, Dizzee Rascal and Roll Deep all achieved two number one singles in 2010.

Despite only peaking at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, the biggest selling song of the year 2010 was Eminem and Rihanna's collaborative single "Love the Way You Lie".

2011

The first new number one of 2011 came from Rihanna with "What's My Name?", which featured Drake and topped the charts on 15 January 2011, after six weeks in the Top 10.

Bruno Mars became the first artist to achieve four number ones during the 2010s, when "The Lazy Song" topped the charts on 21 May 2011 – his other number ones being "Grenade", "Just the Way You Are" and "Nothin' On You" with B.o.B.

Artists who achieved their first number one singles during the year included: Drake with "What's My Name?", Jessie J with "Price Tag", Adele with "Someone Like You", Nicole Scherzinger with "Don't Hold Your Breath", Pitbull with "On the Floor", both Lauren Bennett and GoonRock with "Party Rock Anthem", both Afrojack and Nayer with "Give Me Everything", Example with "Changed the Way You Kiss Me", DJ Fresh and Sian Evans with "Louder", Dev with "She Makes Me Wanna", Cher Lloyd (Solo) with "Swagger Jagger", Nero with "Promises", both Wretch 32 and Josh Kumra with "Don't Go", Rizzle Kicks with "Heart Skips a Beat", One Direction (Solo) with "What Makes You Beautiful" and Sak Noel with "Loca People".

Adele's "Someone Like You" currently holds the title for most weeks at number one in 2011, having spent four consecutive weeks (and a further non-consecutive week) at the peak in February and March 2011. The single shares the title for most consecutive weeks in 2011 with LMFAO, whose "Party Rock Anthem" spent four consecutive weeks at the peak in April and May.

It was revealed on 2 October that a record had been broken regarding the most consecutive number-one singles by British artists. The record was broken by Dappy, whose single "No Regrets" become the eleventh consecutive number-one single from British artists, and was preceeded by the artists DJ Fresh, The Wanted, JLS, Cher Lloyd, Nero, Wretch 32, Olly Murs and Rizzle Kicks, Example, Pixie Lott and One Direction.

Key

 #   – nth single to top the UK Singles Chart

 re  – Return of a single to number one

 †   – Best-selling single of the year^[a]

By artist

The following artists have all spent more than a total of three weeks at the number-one spot during the 2010s. Six other artists have all spent a total of three weeks at the number-one spot. The figure for group LMFAO includes a collaboration with David Guetta, the figure for Pitbull includes a collaboration with Jennifer Lopez and the figure for Ne-Yo includes a collaboration with Pitbull.

Since April 1973, the British Phonographic Industry has been classifying singles and albums by the number of units shipped. The highest threshold is "platinum record" and is awarded to singles that have shipped over 600,000 units.^{[6][7][nb 1]} As of September 2011^[update], twelve singles from the 2010s have gone platinum.^[9] One single, Adele's "Someone Like You" has sold over one million units.^[10]