Discover · The slow burn

The longest climbs to #1 on the UK Singles Chart

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey took the longest to reach #1 on the UK Singles Chart: it got there in its 103rd week on the chart, in December 2020, having first charted in December 1994.

The longest climbs to #1 on the UK Singles Chart
#	Song	Artist	Debut	First at #1	Reached #1 in week
1	All I Want For Christmas Is YouChristmas song	Mariah Carey	December 1994	December 2020	103
2	Last ChristmasChristmas song	Wham!	December 2007	December 2022	84
3	Choosin' Texas	Ella Langley	January 2026	September 2026	35
4	Perfect	Ed Sheeran	March 2017	December 2017	30
5	Rein Me In	Sam Fender & Olivia Dean	August 2025	February 2026	29
6	RE3 Lions	Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seed	June 2002	July 2018	28
7	End Of Beginning	Djo	February 2024	January 2026	28
8	Not Like Us	Kendrick Lamar	May 2024	February 2025	25
9	Running Up That Hill	Kate Bush	August 1985	June 2022	20
10	Thinking Out Loud	Ed Sheeran	June 2014	November 2014	19
11	Opalite	Taylor Swift	October 2025	February 2026	18
12	You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)	Dead Or Alive	November 1984	March 1985	17
13	The Power Of Love	Jennifer Rush	June 1985	October 1985	17
14	Stitches	Shawn Mendes	September 2015	January 2016	17
15	Think Twice	Celine Dion	October 1994	January 1995	16
16	Pink Pony Club	Chappell Roan	September 2024	March 2025	16
17	The Model/Computer Love	Kraftwerk	July 1981	January 1982	15
18	Don't Call Me Baby	Madison Avenue	November 1999	May 2000	15
19	Where Is My Husband	RAYE	September 2025	January 2026	15
20	Shotgun	George Ezra	March 2018	June 2018	14
21	Stick Season	Noah Kahan	October 2023	January 2024	14
22	Sailor Song	Gigi Perez	August 2024	November 2024	14
23	Move Closer	Phyllis Nelson	February 1985	April 1985	13
24	Havana	Camila Cabello feat. Young Thug	August 2017	November 2017	13
25	Dance the Night (from Barbie the Album)	Dua Lipa	June 2023	August 2023	13
26	Raindance	Dave & Tems	October 2025	January 2026	13
27	The Song from the Moulin Rouge	Mantovani	May 1953	August 1953	12
28	Only the Lonely	Roy Orbison	July 1960	October 1960	12
29	What a Wonderful World/Cabaret	Louis Armstrong	February 1968	April 1968	12
30	I Pretend	Des O'Connor	May 1968	July 1968	12
31	Imagine	John Lennon	October 1975	January 1981	12
32	Relax	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	November 1983	January 1984	12
33	Dreamer	Livin' Joy	August 1994	May 1995	12
34	Let's Get Ready to Rhumble	PJ and Duncan	July 1994	March 2013	12
35	Little Things Mean a Lot	Kitty Kallen	July 1954	September 1954	11
36	Eternal Flame	The Bangles	January 1989	April 1989	11
37	Before You Go	Lewis Capaldi	November 2019	January 2020	11
38	Roses	SAINt JHN	January 2020	March 2020	11
39	Messy	Lola Young	November 2024	January 2025	11
40	You Belong to Me	Jo Stafford	November 1952	January 1953	10
41	Three Coins in the Fountain	Frank Sinatra	July 1954	September 1954	10
42	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes	The Platters	January 1959	March 1959	10
43	Runaway	Del Shannon	April 1961	June 1961	10
44	Well I Ask You	Eden Kane	June 1961	August 1961	10
45	The Good the Bad and the Ugly	Hugo Montenegro	September 1968	November 1968	10
46	Brass in Pocket	Pretenders	November 1979	January 1980	10
47	Are You Ready for Love	Elton John	May 1979	August 2003	10
48	Poker Face	Lady Gaga	January 2009	March 2009	10
49	Paradise	Coldplay	October 2011	January 2012	10
50	These Days	Rudimental, Glynne & Macklemore	January 2018	March 2018	10
51	Sweet But Psycho	Ava Max	October 2018	December 2018	10
52	Blinding Lights	The Weeknd	December 2019	February 2020	10
53	Lemonade	Internet Money, Gunna & Toliver	August 2020	October 2020	10
54	Sweet Melody	Little Mix	October 2020	January 2021	10
55	Great Expectation	Sienna Spiro	July 2026	September 2026	10
56	Rock Around The Clock	Bill Haley And His Comets	January 1955	November 1955	9
57	As I Love You	Shirley Bassey	December 1958	February 1959	9
58	It Doesn't Matter Anymore	Buddy Holly	February 1959	April 1959	9
59	You're Driving Me Crazy	Temperance Seven	March 1961	May 1961	9
60	Reach for the Stars/Climb Ev'Ry Mountain	Shirley Bassey	July 1961	September 1961	9
61	Moon River	Danny Williams	November 1961	December 1961	9
62	Glad All Over	The Dave Clark Five	November 1963	January 1964	9
63	It's Over	Roy Orbison	April 1964	June 1964	9
64	King Of The Road	Roger Miller	March 1965	May 1965	9
65	Baby, Come Back	The Equals	May 1968	July 1968	9
66	Mony Mony	Tommy James And The Shondells	June 1968	July 1968	9
67	Albatross	Fleetwood Mac	December 1968	January 1969	9
68	Welcome Home	Peters and Lee	May 1973	July 1973	9
69	You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me ft. Lyn Paul	The New Seekers	November 1973	January 1974	9
70	ANNIE's SONG	John Denver	August 1974	October 1974	9
71	When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman	Dr. Hook	September 1979	November 1979	9
72	West End Girls	Pet Shop Boys	November 1985	January 1986	9
73	End of the Road	Boyz II Men	August 1992	October 1992	9
74	Titanium	David Guetta feat. Sia	August 2011	February 2012	9
75	Counting Stars	OneRepublic	August 2013	October 2013	9
76	Someone You Loved	Lewis Capaldi	November 2018	March 2019	9
77	Dance Monkey	Tones & I	August 2019	October 2019	9
78	Cold Heart	Elton John & Dua Lipa	August 2021	October 2021	9
79	abcdefu	GAYLE	November 2021	January 2022	9
80	Vampire	Olivia Rodrigo	July 2023	September 2023	9
81	Beautiful Things	Benson Boone	January 2024	March 2024	9
82	Comes A-Long A-Love	Kay Starr	December 1952	January 1953	8
83	Broken Wings	Stargazers	February 1953	April 1953	8
84	This Ole House	Rosemary Clooney	October 1954	November 1954	8
85	Give Me Your Word	Tennessee Ernie Ford	January 1955	March 1955	8
86	Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White	Eddie Calvert	April 1955	May 1955	8
87	Unchained Melody	Jimmy Young	May 1955	June 1955	8
88	Dreamboat	Alma Cogan	May 1955	July 1955	8
89	I'll Be Home	Pat Boone	April 1956	June 1956	8
90	Whole Lotta Woman	Marvin Rainwater	March 1958	April 1958	8
91	On the Street Where You Live	Vic Damone	May 1958	June 1958	8
92	The Day The Rains Came	Jane Morgan	December 1958	January 1959	8
93	What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?	Emile Ford and the Checkmates	October 1959	December 1959	8
94	Shakin' All Over	Johnny Kidd and the Pirates	June 1960	August 1960	8
95	Come Outside	Mike Sarne & Wendy Richard	May 1962	June 1962	8
96	Juliet	The Four Pennies	April 1964	May 1964	8
97	Go Now	The Moody Blues	December 1964	January 1965	8
98	I'll Never Find Another You	The Seekers	January 1965	February 1965	8
99	Keep On Running	The Spencer Davis Group	December 1965	January 1966	8
100	Fire!	The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown	June 1968	August 1968	8

How is this counted?

For every #1, the chart week in which it first reached the top, counting only the weeks it was on the chart: a song that dropped off and came back years later counts its weeks on the chart, not the years between.

Every week of the UK Singles Chart to Sep 18, 2026. About the data

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