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. Since 2004 the chart has been based on the sales of both physical singles and digital downloads, with airplay figures excluded from the official chart. This list shows singles that peaked in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart during 2005, as well as singles which peaked in 2004 and 2006 but were in the top 10 in 2005. The entry date is when the song 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).
Two hundred and twenty-eight singles were in the top ten in 2005. Ten singles from 2004 remained in the top 10 for several weeks at the beginning of the year, while "When I'm Gone" by Eminem was released in 2005 but did not reach its peak until 2006. Fifty-two artists scored multiple entries in the top 10 in 2005. Akon, Arctic Monkeys, James Blunt, Kaiser Chiefs and The Pussycat Dolls were among the many artists who achieved their first UK charting top 10 single in 2005.
To mark Elvis Presley's 70th birthday, all eighteen of his UK number-one singles were re-released. The first single, "All Shook Up", came with a collectors' box that made it ineligible to chart again; each of the other seventeen reissues hit the UK top 5. Two of the three re-released singles which topped the chart - "One Night"/"I Got Stung" and "It's Now or Never" - were also the first and second singles in chart history to spend their only week in the top 10 at number-one before dropping out.
The 2004 Christmas number-one, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid 20, remained at number-one for the first week of 2005. The first new number-one single of the year was "Against All Odds" by 2004 X Factor winner Steve Brookstein. Overall, twenty-eight different singles peaked at number-one in 2005, with Elvis Presley (3) having the most singles hit that position.
Background
Elvis Presley sets chart records
Elvis Presley set several chart records in 2005. With a selection of his back-catalogue (all his UK number-one singles) being reissued to mark what would have been the late singer's 70th birthday, his seventeen entries were the most by any artist in the same year. It remains a record as of 2018, with Ed Sheeran's 2017 haul of eleven top 10s in a calendar year the closest anyone has come since (Sheeran had seventeen singles in the top 20 that year).
On 16 January 2005 (22 January 2005, week ending), the re-release of Presley's 1959 chart-topper "One Night"/"I Got Stung" became the 1000th number-one in the UK Singles Chart. "One Night"/"I Got Stung" also became one of the first singles to drop out of the top 10 entirely the week after topping the chart. The feat was repeated by another Presley classic, “It's Now or Never”, with its only week in the top ten spent on top of the chart. “Baby's Coming Back”/Transylvania” by McFly (2007) was the next single to join Presley on the list.
Multiple entries
Two hundred and twenty-eight singles charted in 2005, with two-hundred and seventeen singles reaching their peak this year (including the re-entry "Fairytale of New York" and a series of Elvis Presley re-releases which charted in previous years but reached a peak on their latest chart run). Cabin Crew and Sunset Strippers both reached the charts with a remixed version of "Waiting for a Star to Fall", under the title "Star to Fall" and "Falling Stars" respectively.
Fifty-two artists scored multiple entries in the top 10 in 2005. Elvis Presley had the most top ten singles in 2005 with seventeen in total. All the singles had been UK number-ones for Presley and they were re-released to mark what would have been his 70th birthday. Three of the singles peaked at number-one: "Jailhouse Rock" and "One Night"/"I Got Stung" in January (the 1000th number-one in the UK Singles Chart), and "It's Now or Never" in February. "A Fool Such As I"/"I Need Your Love Tonight", "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", "Wooden Heart", "Surrender", "Good Luck Charm", "(You're the) Devil in Disguise", "Crying in the Chapel" and "Way Down" all reached a high of number two in 2005. Of his other entries, "His Latest Flame"/"Little Sister", "Rock-A-Hula Baby"/"Can't Help Falling in Love", "She's Not You" and "A Little Less Conversation" each charted at number three, while "The Wonder of You" (4) and "Return to Sender" (5) completed his haul.