List of UK charts and number-one singles (1952–1969)

In 1952, NME imitated an American idea from Billboard magazine and began compiling a chart based on physical sales of the release.

Rival publications such as Record Mirror, Melody Maker and Disc began to compile their own charts in the mid-to-late 1950s.

These choices have not been universally welcomed, particularly that of Record Retailer during the 1960s, when charts like NME had a significantly wider circulation and following.

Notable omissions from the canon are The Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown" and The Beatles' "Please Please Me" which both reached number one on the NME, Disc, and Melody Maker charts, topped the BBC's Pick of the Pops aggregated chart and - in the case of "19th Nervous Breakdown" - was announced as number one on Top of the Pops; however, in failing to top the Record Retailer chart, they are not generally regarded as number-one singles.

NME's co-founder Percy Dickins imitated the chart produced by American Billboard magazine and began to compile Britain's first hit parade in 1952.

These results were then aggregated to give a Top 12 chart (with 15 entries due to tied positions) that was published in NME on 14 November 1952.

[4] After this Record Retailer is regarded as the canonical source until February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) was formed.

On 24 March 1962, the paper stopped compiling its own chart and started publishing Record Retailer's Top 50.

[1] It formed as a rival to the existing charts published by NME, Record Mirror, and Melody Maker.

[1][4] The choice to use Record Retailer as the canonical source for the 1960s has been contentious because NME had the biggest circulation of periodicals in the decade and was more widely followed.

[4] The BBC first aired Pick of the Pops on its Light Programme radio station on 4 October 1955.

[12] During the World War II the station broadcast Nazi propaganda and was then used United States troops until September 1946 with English-sponsored programming resuming at the end of the year.

[21] Founded and financially backed by American Don Pierson the station introduced contemporary hit radio, popular in the United States, to the UK.

Elvis Presley had nineteen number-one singles between the main five charts before the "official" chart was established. These include thirteen that topped all the main charts published at the time and four not recognised in The Official Chart Company 's canon.
The Beatles had eighteen number-one singles on the five main charts before the BMRB was formed. Fourteen of them topped all the main charts published at the time, and three are not recognised by The Official Chart Company 's canon.
Cliff Richard was the last artist to top all five main charts, spending five or six weeks at the top of each chart with " The Young Ones ". Richard had the third most number-one singles during this era; four as a solo artist and six with The Shadows (one as "The Drifters").