So it's almost sixty years since the U.K. singles chart started, and the scary thing is I've been living for fifty eight of those. The first U.K. singles chart was in 1952 was published in The New Musical Express from a collection of fifty two record stores who divulged their sales that were collated by Percy Dickens and published on November 14. The "first" number one being Al Martino's "Here in my heart"

Since then there has been over 1'200 number one singles, taking us from the days of the 78rpm, 45rpm, cassette, & CD singles to the present day when downloads provide the bulk of sales.

Lots of us can say what the number one was when they were born, for me it was David Whitfield's "Cara Mia" that was just ending a ten week stay at the top. The fifties and indeed the very early sixties was still the age of the great ballad singers, as most records were still being purchased by moms & dads.

The official charts company to celebrate sixty years have compiled an official list of the million selling singles since the charts began. To take a look click here