What Were The Top Ten Selling Singles In 1996?
The Cold Open
Britain in 1996 went football mad and pop crazed. Euro ’96 painted the country red and white, Gazza scored his dentist chair goal, and Baddiel and Skinner’s terrace anthem became a national hymn. Tony Blair’s New Labour campaign gathered speed while the Spice Girls seized control of the airwaves with a barrage of singles and slogans. Lads’ mags stacked shelves, Britpop headlined festivals, and clubland pulsed with trance pianos and handbag house. Babylon Zoo briefly hoodwinked the nation with a Levi’s advert, and a Leicester R&B singer declared his return from the top of the charts.
Here are the top ten selling singles in the UK in 1996.
1. Killing Me Softly – Fugees
Sales: 1,350,000 • Label: Columbia • Catalogue: 663 609 2
Lauryn Hill’s vocal and a skeletal hip hop beat reinvented Roberta Flack’s classic. Five weeks at No 1 and the year’s biggest single.
2. Wannabe – Spice Girls
Sales: 1,200,000 • Label: Virgin • Catalogue: VSCDT 1588
“Zig-a-zig-ah” became a battle cry. Seven weeks at No 1 launched the Spice Girls and ignited the era of Girl Power.
3. Spaceman – Babylon Zoo
Sales: 1,080,000 • Label: EMI • Catalogue: CDEM 415
A Levi’s advert sent this sci-fi single to No 1 for five weeks. Half the country bought it before realising the advert only played the intro.
4. Say You’ll Be There – Spice Girls
Sales: 900,000 • Label: Virgin • Catalogue: VSCDT 1622
Second single, second No 1. Four weeks at the top with PVC catsuits and desert kung fu filling every TV screen.
5. 2 Become 1 – Spice Girls
Sales: 870,000 • Label: Virgin • Catalogue: VSCDT 1623
Christmas No 1. A ballad with safe sex lyrics, candlelit harmonies, and three weeks at the top.
6. Return of the Mack – Mark Morrison
Sales: 850,000 • Label: Atlantic • Catalogue: AT 0010CD
Leicester’s own R&B export. Two weeks at No 1 and a transatlantic hit that still echoes through clubs.
7. Three Lions – Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds
Sales: 800,000 • Label: Epic • Catalogue: 663 785 2
“Football’s coming home” became a national mantra. Two weeks at No 1 and eternal life on terraces and pub jukeboxes.
8. Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit – Gina G
Sales: 760,000 • Label: Eternal • Catalogue: EW 0253CD
Eurovision gave Britain a global dancefloor smash. One week at No 1 and a UK disco staple forever after.
9. Children – Robert Miles
Sales: 720,000 • Label: Deconstruction • Catalogue: 74321 38586 2
Dream house perfection. Peaked at No 2 but sold enough to become one of the year’s defining singles.
10. Mysterious Girl – Peter Andre featuring Bubbler Ranx
Sales: 710,000 • Label: Melodian • Catalogue: 854 870 2
Shirtless in a waterfall with dreadlocked toasting for backup. No 1 eventually achieved on reissue, but 1996 belonged to its first surge.
