UK Singles Chart records and statistics were first compiled in 1969, and Frankie Laine had the first single to spend the most weeks at number one.
However the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart (only from 1952 to 1960) and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. 
