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NME (or New Musical Express) was a British weekly pop music newspaper. Record charts in the United Kingdom began life on 14 November 1952 when NME began compiling the first UK-wide sales-based hit parade. Prior to 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau chart was established, there was no one universally accepted source and many periodicals compiled their own chart. During this time the BBC used aggregated results of charts from the NME and other sources to compile the Pick of the Pops chart. In 1969, Record Retailer and the BBC commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the singles chart.

Prior to this, The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums, consider Record Retailer the canonical source for the British singles chart in the 1960s; Nevertheless, in the 1960s, NME had the biggest circulation of charts in the decade and was more widely followed. After 1969, the joint venture between Record Retailer and the BBC is widely considered as the beginning of the official UK Singles Chart. NME continued compiling its own chart until 14 May 1988.

Significantly, NME had the Sex Pistols' anti-monarchy single "God Save the Queen" at number-one during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The single, released by Virgin Records, was the highest-selling single of the week but had been banned by the BBC and some major retailers. To prevent it from reaching the top of the BMRB chart, for one week compilers "decreed that shops which sold their own records could not have those records represented in the chart", thus sales from Virgin Megastores were not counted. Despite reaching number-two on the official chart, it is sometimes referred to as reaching number one.

Number-one singles

Notes

1. ^ The names, singles, dates and duration of the number-ones are from the NME.
2. ^ There was no chart published for the week ending 26 December 1973. In the preceding week, "Merry Xmas Everybody" was the number-one single. In the next published chart, "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" claimed the top spot.
3. There was no chart published for the week ending 5 January 1977. For the week either side of this "When a Child Is Born" was the number-one single.
4. There was no chart published for the week ending 28 December 1977. For the week either side of this "Mull of Kintyre" was the number-one single.
5. ^ There was no chart published for the week ending 27 December 1978. For the preceding week, "Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord" was the number-one single. In the next published chart, "Y.M.C.A." claimed the top spot.
6. There was no chart published for the week ending 26 December 1979. For the week either side of this "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" was the number-one single.

References

Footnotes

1. ^ "Key Dates in the History of the Official UK Charts". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
2. ^ Smith, Alan. "50s & 60s UK Charts – The Truth!". Dave McAleer's website. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
3. ^ Leigh, Spencer (20 February 1998). "Music: Charting the number ones that somehow got away". The Independent. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
4. Warwick, Neil; Kutner, Jon; Brown, Tony (2004). The Complete Book Of The British Charts: Singles and Albums (3rd ed.). London: Omnibus Press. p. v. ISBN 1-84449-058-0. Until 15th February 1969, there was no officially compiled chart.
5. Smith, Alan. "Every No.1 in the 1960s is listed from all the nine different magazine charts!". Dave McAleer's website. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
6. ^ Ascherson, Neal (2 June 2002). "Is the UK OK?". The Observer. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
7. Murthi, R. S. (9 May 1993). "Infectious Rage of Punk". New Straits Times. p. 17. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
8. Donovan, Patrick (3 June 2002). "Melbourne & punk: 25 years on". The Age. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
9. Munckton, Stuart (2 August 2000). "When the oppressed express themselves". Green Left Weekly. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
10. "Sex Pistols reunite for anti-jubilee gig". BBC News. 28 July 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
11. O'Connor, Tim (27 June 1986). "John Lydon: Sex Pistols gone but the anger remains". Ottawa Citizen. p. F18. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
12. "Sex Pistols cover tops chart". BBC News. 14 March 2001. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
13. Rees, Lazell & Osborne 1995, pp. 217–351.

Sources

Rees, Dafydd; Lazell, Barry; Osborne, Roger (1995). Forty Years of "NME" Charts (2nd ed.). Pan Macmillan. ISBN 0-7522-0829-2.

• Lists of number-one songs in the United Kingdom
• New Musical Express
• 1970s in British music