Hector Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 (edited) Years & Years' Official Top 20 biggest songs in the UK 19 January 2022 | By Ian Wade Since breaking through in 2014, Years & Years' Olly Alexander has become one of the UK's finest musical exports. First tasting chart success in a collaboration with Belgian DJ The Magician on the 2014 Top 10 song Sunlight, then-trio Years & Years really began to take off in their own right a few months later when Desire broke into the charts. Fast forward to 2021, frontman Olly announced that Years & Years would be continuing as a solo effort. 2021 turned out to be a major year for Olly Alexander, who returned to acting in the acclaimed It’s A Sin, duetted with both Elton John and Kylie Minogue, and saw in 2022 as part of the BBC’s New Year celebrations. With five Top 10 smashes, as well as a Number 1 album in the form of 2015’s Communion, Years & Years have racked up quite a catalogue. Ahead of the release of their third album (and first with Olly Alexander as a sole operator) Night Call, we’ve decided to take a look at Years & Years' biggest hits. Take a look at some highlights below, then jump into the full Top 20. 16. It’s A Sin (with Elton John) (2021) Official Chart peak: Number 47 UK Sales: 92,000 A topical remake of the Pet Shop Boys song that gave Olly’s hit drama its name (it was originally going to be called Boys until a show of the same name was discovered). He’d originally released a stripped-down version with piano, and then unveiled another version at The BRITs a few weeks later, this time recorded as a duet with Sir Elton John. The Pets also crop up just outside the Years & Years Top 20 with their duet with Olly on Dreamland. 10. Starstruck (2021) Official Chart peak: Number 31 UK Sales: 223,000 The first track released after Olly announced the slimming down of the band following the departure of Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen. Starstruck hit Number 31 in April 2021, helped no doubt by a remix that featured Kylie Minogue. It also made it into the Top 40 best-selling songs of 2021 list on pure sales. 4. Desire (2014) Official Chart peak: Number 22 UK Sales: 953,000 The band’s third single and first Top 40 in their own right, Desire hung around on the Top 100 for 45 weeks despite peaking at Number 22. They released a remix featuring Tove Lo which helped to prolong its chart life. 3. Shine (2015) Official Chart peak: Number 2 UK Sales: 1.1 million The fifth track to come off Communion, Shine peaked at Number 2 in July 2015. Olly had written for a new boyfriend and was trying to express the ‘overwhelming and unstable feeling of falling in love’ in song. They also made an interactive video for the song, which allowed viewers to choose between various elements of ‘light’, ‘dark’ and ‘shadow’ and was premiered during an ad break on Channel 4 which relied on viewer tweets during it as to what would happen next. 2. If You’re Over Me (2018) Official Chart peak: Number 6 UK Sales: 1.2 million The second single from Palo Santo started off as new entry at 38, taking its time to crawl up to a peak position of 6 across the summer of 2018, rebounding back and forth to that peak another two times. This song that reflected on a romance that had gone wrong was co-written in two hours by Steve Mac (who’d also helped Clean Bandit’s Symphony and Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You). 1. King (2015) Official Chart peak: Number 1 UK Sales: 1.8 million Disposing of Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do, King entered at Number 1 for a week in March 2015 to become the band’s first Top 10 hit and chart-topper. The song was recorded fairly early on in their career but they thought it sounded a bit lame, and could never decide as to what they wanted to do with it until stumbling on the idea of making it into an eighties-style dance pop track. King spent two months in the Top 10 and 59 weeks in the Top 100 overall. It was nominated for the Brit Award for Song of the Year and Video of the Year in 2006. Another accolade came in the form of Carly Rae Jepsen covering the song for Radio 1’s Live Lounge. Years & Years' Official Top 20 biggest songs in the UK POS TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR 1 KING YEARS & YEARS 1 2015 2 IF YOU'RE OVER ME YEARS & YEARS 6 2018 3 SHINE YEARS & YEARS 2 2015 4 DESIRE YEARS & YEARS 22 2014 5 EYES SHUT YEARS & YEARS 17 2015 6 PLAY JAX JONES/YEARS & YEARS 8 2018 7 SUNLIGHT MAGICIAN FT YEARS & YEARS 8 2014 8 SANCTIFY YEARS & YEARS 25 2018 9 TAKE SHELTER YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 10 STARSTRUCK YEARS & YEARS 31 2021 11 ALL FOR YOU YEARS & YEARS 47 2018 12 BREATHE YEARS & YEARS N/A 2018 13 REAL YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 14 WORSHIP YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 15 METEORITE YEARS & YEARS N/A 2018 16 IT'S A SIN ELTON JOHN/YEARS & YEARS 47 2021 17 COME ALIVE YEARS & YEARS/JESS GLYNNE 80 2018 18 MEMO YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 19 TIES YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 20 GOLD YEARS & YEARS N/A 2015 ©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved. https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/years-years-official-top-20-biggest-songs-in-the-uk__35018/ The quality of hits Edited January 19, 2022 by Hector Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protocol Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 “King” is iconic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rihannabiggestfan Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 King deserved to be a hit in the US too I should check out their other songs too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popboi. Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 IYAOM over Shine is surprising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Into The Void Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 4 minutes ago, Popboi. said: IYAOM over Shine is surprising oh wow off topic excited for new album friday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rihannabiggestfan Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Was the #9 song like a massive streaming hit or something? It's impressive that it's bigger than a top 40 hit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev8 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Love em Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dula Peep Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 It’s a Sin and Starstruck deserved to smash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillavend3r Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 If You're Over Me above Shine oh wow Shine was lowkey a cute lil hit while IYOM spent more weeks charting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popboi. Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 hour ago, rihannabiggestfan said: Was the #9 song like a massive streaming hit or something? It's impressive that it's bigger than a top 40 hit It’s an absolute fan fav and it has had pretty much the entire streaming era to get catalogue streams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfonso12 Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 King is such a classic, what an anthem, it's probably in my all-time top 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeferino Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 3 hours ago, rihannabiggestfan said: Was the #9 song like a massive streaming hit or something? It's impressive that it's bigger than a top 40 hit “Take Shelter” & “Real” are gems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polgg48 Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 album tomorrow lets recap, METEORITE semi killed their career everything went downhill in quality after that. after starstruck performance, if there is great promo single climbing on its own, then good luck othewise he should do TV gigs or full on acting series next. i found out this band on daily majestic casual heyday back then, stood out of the rest and acheived all chart and sales so fast after that. consider everything, they came so far holy. #rereleasereal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fememeist Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Don’t know his music and I feel like I won’t be into it, but he’s cute so good for him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms. Togekiss Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 shine is their best song Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 the quality decline is real Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reymiu Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 I was such a stan during their 1st era ! "Shine", "Desire", "Take Shelter", "Border" and "Eyes Shut" were my faves Let me check out his new album tomorrow then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexus Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 I love Olly but I'm kinda surprised they made a top 20 list of hit songs where 8 of them never charted King rightfully #1 All For You deserved better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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