![\"Charts](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charts-Official-Charts-Gold-Platinum-Music-General-Single-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ NASA \/ Uwe Conrad)<\/p>\n
Sun 1 June 2025 17:30, UK <\/p>\n
It began to seep in in the twilight of the millennium\u2019s first decade, but the 2010s were the era when the album\u2019s cultural primacy finally started to ebb after over 50 years of lauded music expression. <\/p>\n
It was never completely quashed, though, fantastic records still and always will be cut across pop heights and alternative fringes as long as there\u2019s a music community. But the era of customised playlists, streaming immediacy, and the growing necessity for TikTok\u2019s<\/a> promotional arm for a moment blunted music fans\u2019 bandwidth and reverence for the cohesive statement of the album as a set of songs to be experienced as an arc.<\/p>\n Pop, by definition, is always the chart monster of any given decade, but the 2010s\u2019 shifting consumer priorities toward the dopamine hits of a trending single, likely attached to a viral video or big Netflix<\/a> show, naturally pushed the hip-hop and pop stars of the day to a royalty level of commercial stature. Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Bruno Mars all dominated the charts with numerous number-one singles that weren\u2019t so tethered to an essential album as previous pop behemoth Billboard 200 mainstays.<\/p>\n For anyone broadly in the rock and classic pop camp, the 2010s are the decade when many of the music world\u2019s heroes and icons seemed to drop like dominos with alarming acceleration. 2016 was peak year of high-profile deaths, David Bowie<\/a>, Prince, George Martin, Leonard Cohen, and George Michael among scores of other artists seemed to spell a sharp sense that the musical world many grew up in and were wedded to was truly passing.<\/p>\n A look at the longest-held number ones in the UK reveals little in the way of surprises. Third place at 11 weeks is Tones and I\u2019s irritating \u2018Dance Monkey\u2019, the silver medal\u2019s handed to bafflingly world-conquering Ed Sheeran with his insipid \u2018Shape of You\u2019 at a gobsmacking 13 weeks \u2013 and possessed with as much sex appeal as a damp tea cloth \u2013 and in at the coveted top spot is \u2018One Shot\u2019 from Drake coupled with Wizkid and Wyla.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to see how or why, considering the likes of Kendrick Lamar were crafting infinitely more electric hip-hop<\/a>, and Kanye West had yet to lapse into creatively bereft gospel rap and outright deep dives into fascist fancy.<\/p>\n So, what song held the number one spot the longest?<\/p>\n For the decade\u2019s chart milestones, we have to look over to America. In second place, as the Billboard Hot 100\u2019s longest-held number-one, is the piquant Latin pop fluff of Luis Fonsi\u2019s \u2018Despacito\u2019 featuring Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee. Staying put at the top spot for a staggering 16 weeks, the 2017 single and lead to\u00a0Vida\u00a0was the first Spanish-sung number to top the charts since Los del R\u00edo\u2019s Butlins nightmare \u2018Macarena\u2019 in 1996.<\/p>\n The 2010s\u2019 longest-held number one is the ultimate record breaker, beating Frankie Laine\u2019s 1950s standard with an unholy 19 weeks and only just matched with Shaboozey\u2019s \u2018A Bar Song\u2019 in 2024. It shouldn\u2019t have worked, but Georgian queer rapper Lil Nas X<\/a> \u2013 notable for attempting to flog 666 pairs of limited-edition Satanic Nike Airs bosting a drop of human blood each \u2013 sampled Nine Inch Nails and brought \u2018Achy Breaky Heart\u2019 jiver Billy Ray Cyrus for a confounding \u2018country rap\u2019 number with \u2018Old Town Road\u2019.<\/p>\n He struck gold, certified Diamond-selling less than a year after its release and standing as Lil Nas X\u2019s defining song in the eyes of many.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n Subscribe To The Far Out Newsletter <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ NASA \/ Uwe Conrad) Sun 1 June 2025 17:30, UK It began to seep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[64502,64503,77,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-151209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2010s","9":"tag-billboard-hot-100","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114611910356317325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}