List of UK top-ten singles in 1962

1960s in music in the UK
Events
This 2011 photograph shows the original plaque erected at the birthplace in Newent, Gloucestershire of legendary songwriter and producer Joe Meek, best known for writing and producing The Tornados' chart-topping hit "Telstar". The instrumental piece entered the UK top 10 in September 1962 and spent five straight weeks at number-one. It would later become the first song by a British group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US.
Cliff Richard had four top 10 singles this year, including "The Young Ones", the theme song from his film of the same name, which entered the chart at number-one in January and spent six weeks at the top spot. It remains Richard's biggest-selling single in the UK, with over 1.6 million copies sold there.

The UK Singles Chart is one of many music charts compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom.[1] Before 2004, the chart was only based on the sales of physical singles.[2][3] This list shows singles that peaked in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart during 1962, as well as singles which peaked in 1961 and 1963 but were in the top 10 in 1962. The entry date is when the single appeared in the top 10 for the first time (week ending, as published by the Official Charts Company, which is six days after the chart is announced).

Ninety-two singles were in the top ten in 1962. Seven singles from 1962 remained in the top 10 for several weeks at the beginning of the year, while "(Dance With The) Guitar Man" by Duane Eddy & the Rebelettes, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee and "The Next Time"/"Bachelor Boy" by Cliff Richard and The Shadows were all released in 1962 but did not reach their peak until 1963. "Moon River" by Danny Williams with Geoff Love and His Orchestra, "Midnight in Moscow" by Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen and "Stranger on the Shore" by Mr Acker Bilk were the singles from 1961 to reach their peak in 1962. Twenty-three artists scored multiple entries in the top 10 in 1962. Chubby Checker, The Four Seasons, Frank Ifield, Joe Brown and Tommy Roe were among the many artists who achieved their first UK charting top 10 single in 1962.

The 1961 Christmas number-one, "Moon River" by Danny Williams, remained at number one for the first two weeks of 1962. The first new number-one single of the year was "The Young Ones" by Cliff Richard and The Shadows. Overall, twelve different singles peaked at number-one in 1962, with Elvis Presley (4) having the most singles hit that position.

  1. ^ "The Official UK Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  2. ^ Roberts, David (2005). Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums (18th edition). Guinness World Records Limited. p. 14. ISBN 1-904994-00-8.
  3. ^ "New singles formats to save the charts". BBC News. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 21 February 2010.