The official UK singles chart was launched sixty years ago and it has recently been announced that since its launch there have been over 3.7 billion music singles sold. Interestingly if every single CD ever sold since the launch of the chart were laid together they would stretched around the earth over sixteen times.

The charts in the UK who are managed by the Official Charts Company have revealed that the best sales period for singles was during the 1980s. In this period there was around 640 million singles that were sold. The best selling single in this period was in 1984 with the song Do They Know It’s Christmas, which was produced for Band Aid.

The introduction of digital sales in 2000 meant that sales reached around 683 million during this period.

The managing director of the Official Charts Company, Martin Talbot, has revealed that there has been diligent research and attention to detail carried out to look into the singles charts statistics.

Official sales of music are majorly in doubt as the number of people illegally downloading music grows. There are currently campaigns across the world that are focusing on reducing the number of people illegally downloading music.