List of UK top-ten singles in 1972

1970s in music in the UK
Events
This 2014 photograph shows the gold disc awarded to The Pipes & Drums & the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for one million worldwide sales of their recording of "Amazing Grace", which became the UK's best-selling single of 1972, spending nine weeks in the top 10, five of which were at number one.
Harry Nilsson, better known by his stage name Nilsson, achieved his one and only UK top 10 single this year with his cover version of "Without You". The song had been originally recorded in 1970 by the rock group Badfinger and was written by band members Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Nilsson's version of the song spent five weeks at number-one and became the UK's fourth best selling single of the year.
David Cassidy scored a total of three UK top 10 entries in 1972, including one with The Partridge Family. The highest-charting of these entries was his cover version of The Young Rascals' "How Can I Be Sure", which peaked at number-one in September.

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 1972, as well as singles which peaked in 1971 and 1973 but were in the top 10 in 1972. 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).

One-hundred and twenty-three singles were in the top ten in 1972. Seven singles from 1971 remained in the top 10 for several weeks at the beginning of the year, while "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues", "Shotgun Wedding" by Roy "C" and "Solid Gold Easy Action" by T. Rex were all released in 1972 but did not reach their peak until 1973. "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" by Cilla Black was the only single from 1971 to reach its peak in 1972. Twenty-one artists scored multiple entries in the top 10 in 1972. 10cc, Alice Cooper, Donny Osmond, Electric Light Orchestra, Lynsey de Paul, Roxy Music and Gary Glitter were among the many artists who achieved their first UK charting top 10 single in 1972.

The 1971 Christmas number-one, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)" by Benny Hill, remained at number-one for the first weeks of 1972. The first new number-one single of the year was "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" by The New Seekers. Overall, seventeen different singles peaked at number-one in 1972, with T. Rex and Slade (2) having the joint 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.