Which Band Will Top Official UK Singles Chart Next Odds: Oasis Favourites
Where have all the bands disappeared from in the UK singles chart?
It sounds like a ridiculous question - there are tons of bands around still. However, they barely spend any time at the top of the charts nowadays.
While there are still some huge groups around attracting big ticket sales for live shows, groups don't equal chart success anymore.
The last band to top the official UK singles chart was that, ahem, up-and-coming group The Beatles, who topped the chart for the first time in 54 years when their single Now and Then spent a week at the summit in November 2023.
Author Richard Osman recently pointed out some shocking stats about bands' time at the top of the UK singles chart on his The Rest is Entertainment podcast.
Weeks At #1 For Bands Through The Decades
He told how in the first half of the 1980s, bands spent 147 weeks at number one and 141 in the same period of the 1990s.
We extended the data for the entire decades to chronicle the decline of bands reaching the top of the charts.
Throughout the 1980s, groups spent 254 weeks at number one out of a possible 520 weeks, and that dipped only slightly to 247 weeks in the 1990s.
In the Noughties, there was a dip of nearly 100 weeks as groups spent 153 weeks at number one, and that was more than halved in the 2010s when bands hit the summit for 70 weeks.
However, that drop-off is nothing compared to the start of the 2020s. Granted, we are less than halfway through in early 2025, but bands have spent a measly three weeks atop the UK singles chart.
One of them was The Beatles, another was Little Mix - when their Sweet Melody single peaked at number one in November 2020 - and the other was BBC Radio 1's 24-member charity supergroup Live Lounge Allstars, who featured the likes of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Coldplay's Chris Martin.
They topped the charts with a cover of Foo Fighters' Times Like These in April 2020.
The stats come as a real surprise, but which group is the most likely on betting sites to become the next band to top the UK singles chart?
Perhaps, some big reunions can do the trick.
Which Band Will Top Official UK Singles Chart Next Odds
Band | Odds | Probability |
Oasis | 4/5 | 55.6% |
One Direction | Evens | 50% |
The Beatles | 11/8 | 42.1% |
Spice Girls | 6/4 | 40% |
Little Mix | 2/1 | 33.3% |
Black Sabbath | 3/1 | 25% |
The Rolling Stones | 4/1 | 20% |
Radio 1 Live Lounge Allstars | 9/2 | 18.2% |
*NSYNC | 5/1 | 16.7% |
Rage Against The Machine | 11/2 | 15.4% |
Destiny's Child | 6/1 | 14.3% |
Pulp | 7/1 | 12.5% |
Radiohead | 8/1 | 11.1% |
ABBA | 10/1 | 9.1% |
Queen | 12/1 | 7.7% |
The Masterplan (To Top The Charts)
Reunions don't get much bigger than Oasis' hotly-anticipated comeback later this year.
The Gallagher brothers, Noel and Liam, are expected to put aside their differences for long enough to share the stage this summer for an epic reunion tour - and it's just 4/5 on betting apps that this sparks a chart-topping performance from the Slide Away hitmakers.
Amid the fury over the prices for Oasis tickets last year ahead of their upcoming reunion, the band topped the album charts for the first time in 14 years as Definitely Maybe made the move from fifth to number one in early September.
🥇Thirty years later, ‘Definitely Maybe’ is back at the top of the UK Official Albums Chart, with ‘Time Flies... (1994 - 2009)’ and ‘(What's The Story) Morning Glory?’ also in the top 5!
— Oasis (@oasis) September 6, 2024
‘Live Forever’, ‘Don't Look Back In Anger’ and ‘Wonderwall’ have also made a return to UK… pic.twitter.com/yE4qjMsI20
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said at the time: "Congratulations to Oasis on Definitely Maybe’s return to Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.
"I was delighted to hear the news of Liam and Noel getting back together to reform as I never actually got the chance to see them live.
"There has been a palpable buzz in Manchester since the news of Oasis reforming broke and it very much feels like the city is having another big moment."
A similar Oasis buzz this summer could be a catalyst for one or more of their classic hit singles - Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger, Live Forever and Stand By Me - among many others - to top the charts when the group reform.
However, could another band reunion beat them to a number one?
Spice Girls have long been linked with a comeback, and if it were to get off the ground later this year then it could make the 6/4 on them to be the next band to top the UK singles chart look quite big.
What's more, Little Mix are just 2/1 to repeat their Sweet Melody feat from five years ago.
Number 1 For 1D?
One Direction are no strangers to topping the charts over the years, and a reunion could spark some more single success.
However, there will be a tinge of sadness if 1D do ever make a comeback.
Last October, the lads lost bandmember Liam Payne when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony, aged just 31.
It was rumoured that the group - made up of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and former member Zayn Malik - might reunite at this year's BRIT Awards to pay tribute to Liam.
While that didn't come to fruition, the Little Things hitmakers are likely to chart well again if they do ever reunite.
And it wouldn't be a huge shock if they got back together for a charity single to remember Liam on the one-year anniversary of his death later this year.
1D are just Evens to be the next band to top the UK Singles Chart, while the Radio 1 Live Lounge Allstars are 9/2 to do it again this decade, and *NSYNC (5/1) and Destiny’s Child (6/1) could also be in contention.
Ozzy's Chart Success?
While Oasis' reunion will no doubt be the talk of the summer in a few months, heavy metal fans are also in for a treat.
Black Sabbath recently announced they will play a farewell concert, Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park in their native Aston, Birmingham, in July.
It will be their last-ever performance and feature frontman Ozzy Osbourne - who has several health issues, including Parkinson’s disease - doing "little bits and pieces" with the band.
He recently said on his SiriusXM show Ozzy Speaks: "I’m not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath, but I am doing little bits and pieces with them.
"I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable."
It's just 3/1 that Ozzy's final performance with Sabbath sparks chart success for the Paranoid hitmakers.
The heavy metal spectacle will also feature performances from several other greats, including Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Slayer and Pantera.
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello is the musical director for Back to the Beginning, and the group know all about topping the UK singles chart, after doing so in 2009.
Their 1992 rock anthem Killing in the Name became Christmas number one off the back of a Facebook campaign against the then-chart domination of acts from Simon Cowell's The X Factor.
It's 11/2 for Rage to return to the top of the UK charts again soon, while ABBA and Queen are 10/1 and 12/1 longshots respectively.
* Reminder: These are hypothetical odds provided by industry experts.
