Published January 7th, 2021
A new annual statement from WARM reveals which songs have had the most radio airplay in the United Kingdom during 2020.
We recently released an article about the most played songs and artists during 2020, radio (based on WARM data) vs online streaming (based on Spotify data). But, since the UK is Europe’s biggest music market, we thought it was only right to zoom into its radio top 150 chart. Discover the songs that British radio stations, and their audience, loved the most over this past year.
The list below gathers the top 150 songs. It includes both, expected and unexpected titles. Positioned at the very top is “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, a song released in November 2019 that is also the most streamed song on Spotify in 2020. While the #1 song is a very recent one, when scrolling down we find “Africa” at position #110, an 80’s classic by American rock band Toto. The hit was originally released back in 1982 and has proven to have no intentions of leaving the rankings anytime soon.
While most of the songs on the list were released between 2019 and 2020, the ranking has splashes of nostalgia as it includes some British classics. Positioned at # 86 is “Rolling In The Deep” by Adele, a song released 10 years ago. Similarly, at position # 119 is “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse, a song released in 2006.
The top 150 chart by WARM uses a 1:1 count based on 1046 monitored UK radio stations, the largest coverage of radio stations among other radio tracking platforms in the UK.
Check out the UK’s radio Top 150 songs in the chart below:
| Rank | Artist | Title | Plays |
| 1 | The Weeknd | Blinding Lights | 307386 |
| 2 | Dua Lipa | Don’t Start Now | 263216 |
| 3 | Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande | Rain On Me | 220650 |
| 4 | Jax Jones, Ella Henderson | This Is Real | 189019 |
| 5 | Tones And I | Dance Monkey | 186109 |
| 6 | Lewis Capaldi | Before You Go | 172919 |
| 7 | Harry Styles | Adore You | 172086 |
| 8 | Little Mix | Break Up Song | 168969 |
| 9 | Jubel Feat. Neimy | Dancing In The Moonlight | 166448 |
| 10 | Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber | I Don’t Care | 163520 |
| 11 | Maroon 5 | Memories | 153219 |
| 12 | Doja Cat | Say So | 148443 |
| 13 | Becky Hill ft. Shift K3Y | Better Off Without You | 146196 |
| 14 | Dua Lipa | Break My Heart | 143675 |
| 15 | Dua Lipa | Physical | 136406 |
| 16 | Kygo & Whitney Houston | Higher Love | 134281 |
| 17 | Harry Styles | Watermelon Sugar | 122665 |
| 18 | Topic, A7s | Breaking Me | 119476 |
| 19 | Ed Sheeran feat. Khalid | Beautiful People | 117736 |
| 20 | SAINt JHN | Roses | 116322 |
| 21 | Miley Cyrus | Midnight Sky | 115936 |
| 22 | Lady Gaga | Stupid Love | 112326 |
| 23 | Jonas Brothers | What A Man Gotta Do | 103234 |
| 24 | Lewis Capaldi | Hold Me While You Wait | 103159 |
| 25 | Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello | Señorita | 100331 |
| 26 | Joel Corry Feat. MNEK | Head & Heart | 98205 |
| 27 | Jason Derulo | Take You Dancing | 89272 |
| 28 | Regard & Raye | Secrets | 85640 |
| 29 | Tom Walker | Better Half of Me | 84988 |
| 30 | DJ Regard | Ride It | 84533 |
| 31 | Lizzo Feat. Ariana Grande | Good As Hell | 84297 |
| 32 | Jawsh 685 x Jason Derulo | Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) | 83555 |
| 33 | Stormzy Feat. Ed Sheeran & Burna Boy | Own It | 82878 |
| 34 | Mabel | Boyfriend | 81420 |
| 35 | Calvin Harris & Rag’n’bone Man | Giant | 80699 |
| 36 | Selena Gomez | Lose You To Love Me | 80589 |
| 37 | Ava Max | Kings & Queens | 80214 |
| 38 | Jax Jones, Martin Solveig, Raye, Europa | Tequila – Jax Jones & Martin Solveig Present Europa | 77046 |
| 39 | 220 Kid, Gracey | Don’t Need Love | 75874 |
| 40 | Clean Bandit & Mabel Feat. 24kGoldn | Tick Tock | 74113 |
| 41 | Kygo, Tina Turner | What’s Love Got to Do with It | 73539 |
| 42 | Sigala feat. Ella Henderson | We Got Love | 71343 |
| 43 | P!nk | Walk Me Home | 70346 |
| 44 | Khalid x Disclosure | Know Your Worth | 70200 |
| 45 | Sigala | Lasting Lover | 69744 |
| 46 | Sam Smith & Normani | Dancing With A Stranger | 69729 |
| 47 | Halsey | You should be sad | 68038 |
| 48 | Post Malone | Circles | 67808 |
| 49 | Sam Smith | Diamonds | 67239 |
| 50 | 24kgoldn feat. Iann Dior | Mood | 66940 |
| 51 | Sza & Justin Timberlake | The Other Side | 66471 |
| 52 | Becky Hill, Sigala | Heaven On My Mind | 64259 |
| 53 | Marshmello feat. Chvrches | Here With Me | 63931 |
| 54 | Little Mix | Holiday | 63299 |
| 55 | Dua Lipa | Hallucinate | 62915 |
| 56 | Freya Ridings | Castles | 62466 |
| 57 | Camila Cabello feat. Dababy | My Oh My | 62383 |
| 58 | Keith Urban, P!nk | One Too Many | 61486 |
| 59 | The Weeknd | In Your Eyes | 60835 |
| 60 | Justin Bieber ft. Quavo | Intentions | 60412 |
| 61 | Ava Max | Sweet but Psycho | 60117 |
| 62 | Calvin Harris feat. Sam Smith | Promises | 59721 |
| 63 | Billie Eilish | everything i wanted | 59461 |
| 64 | Benee feat. Gus Dapperton | Supalonely | 58260 |
| 65 | Katy Perry | Smile | 58251 |
| 66 | Dermot Kennedy | Power Over Me | 58216 |
| 67 | AnneMarie | 2002 | 57793 |
| 68 | Mabel | Don’t Call Me Up | 57411 |
| 69 | Anne-Marie | Birthday | 56951 |
| 70 | Ed Sheeran ft. Camila Cabello & Cardi B | South of the Border | 52887 |
| 71 | Powfu feat. beabadoobee | death bed (coffee for your head) | 51794 |
| 72 | Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber | Stuck with U | 51194 |
| 73 | Avicii | Wake Me Up | 51072 |
| 74 | Celeste | Stop This Flame | 50881 |
| 75 | Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams | Get Lucky | 50700 |
| 76 | Nathan Dawe | Lighter ft. KSI | 50496 |
| 77 | Sam Smith | How Do You Sleep? | 50202 |
| 78 | Rita Ora | Let You Love Me | 50201 |
| 79 | Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper | Holy | 49918 |
| 80 | Justin Timberlake | CAN’T STOP THE FEELING! | 49911 |
| 81 | Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars | Uptown Funk | 49524 |
| 82 | Jp Saxe feat. Julia Michaels | If The World Was Ending | 49418 |
| 83 | Arizona Zervas | ROXANNE | 48714 |
| 84 | Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse | Valerie | 48681 |
| 85 | AJ Tracey & Mabel | West Ten | 48673 |
| 86 | Adele | Rolling In The Deep | 48311 |
| 87 | Clean Bandit | Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) | 48071 |
| 88 | Dua Lipa | Levitating | 47846 |
| 89 | Walk The Moon | Shut Up and Dance | 47214 |
| 90 | Tate McRae | you broke me first | 47167 |
| 91 | Tom Walker | Just You and I | 47051 |
| 92 | Sam Fischer | This City [Luca Schreiner Remix] | 46303 |
| 93 | The 1975 | If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) | 46067 |
| 94 | Sam Feldt Feat. RANI | Post Malone | 45941 |
| 95 | The Chainsmokers & Coldplay | Something Just Like This | 45166 |
| 96 | George Ezra | Shotgun | 44804 |
| 97 | Leann Rimes | Can’t Fight The Moonlight | 44691 |
| 98 | Justin Bieber | Yummy | 44536 |
| 99 | Sia feat. Sean Paul | Cheap Thrills | 44362 |
| 100 | Dermot Kennedy | Giants | 44339 |
| 101 | Paul Woolford | Looking for Me | 44078 |
| 102 | The Calling | Wherever You Will Go | 43972 |
| 103 | Rita Ora | How To Be Lonely | 43874 |
| 104 | Clean Bandit | Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie) | 43732 |
| 105 | Tiësto feat. Mabel | God Is A Dancer | 43654 |
| 106 | Jonas Blue feat. Dakota | Fast Car | 43637 |
| 107 | Meduza x Becky Hill x Goodboys | Lose Control | 43432 |
| 108 | Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble | This Is Me | 43168 |
| 109 | Dermot Kennedy | Outnumbered | 43097 |
| 110 | Toto | Africa | 42914 |
| 111 | Jason Derulo | Want To Want Me | 42849 |
| 112 | Rudimental Feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen | These Days | 42767 |
| 113 | Goo Goo Dolls | Iris | 42567 |
| 114 | Coldplay | Viva La Vida | 42375 |
| 115 | Bruno Mars | Just The Way You Are | 42263 |
| 116 | Jess Glynne | Thursday | 41877 |
| 117 | Panic! At The Disco | High Hopes | 41674 |
| 118 | Swedish House Mafia | Don’t You Worry Child | 41652 |
| 119 | Amy Winehouse | Rehab | 40860 |
| 120 | Sonique | It Feels So Good | 40771 |
| 121 | Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera | Moves Like Jagger | 40657 |
| 122 | Lennon Stella Feat. Charlie Puth | Summer Feelings | 40543 |
| 123 | Meduza feat. Goodboys | Piece Of Your Heart | 40504 |
| 124 | A-ha | Take On Me | 40329 |
| 125 | Years & Years | If You?re Over Me | 39712 |
| 126 | Lewis Capaldi | Someone You Loved | 39563 |
| 127 | Portugal. The Man | Feel It Still | 39413 |
| 128 | Tears For Fears | Everybody Wants To Rule The World | 39394 |
| 129 | Years & Years | King | 39262 |
| 130 | Sia | Chandelier | 39235 |
| 131 | David Guetta Feat. Sia | Titanium | 39077 |
| 132 | Selena Gomez | Rare | 38933 |
| 133 | Ellie Goulding | Love Me Like You Do | 38913 |
| 134 | Amy Winehouse | Back To Black | 38683 |
| 135 | Mary Mary | Shackles (Praise You) | 38230 |
| 136 | Lewis Capaldi | Bruises | 37973 |
| 137 | Cece Peniston | Finally | 37797 |
| 138 | Starship | Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now | 37682 |
| 139 | New Radicals | You Get What You Give | 37659 |
| 140 | No Doubt | Don’t Speak | 37486 |
| 141 | Rihanna | We Found Love | 37462 |
| 142 | Avicii | Hey Brother | 37430 |
| 143 | John Legend | All Of Me | 37383 |
| 144 | Sam Smith, Demi Lovato | I’m Ready | 37308 |
| 145 | Drake | Toosie Slide | 37206 |
| 146 | Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z | Crazy In Love | 37166 |
| 147 | Jess Glynne | All I Am | 37108 |
| 148 | Billie Eilish | Bad Guy | 37103 |
| 149 | Philip Oakey, Giorgio Moroder | Together In Electric Dreams | 37023 |
| 150 | Lil Mosey | Blueberry Faygo | 36991 |
The data is based on radio airplay collected by WARM (powered by MusicDNA) from December 16th 2019 to December 15th 2020.
It’s worth noting that other radio charts may be influenced by the size and position that certain radio stations occupy in the market. This means that other airplay counts may not necessarily represent the actual number of radio plays. Instead, they are measured considering the radio stations’ positions. At WARM we don’t assign any such qualifiers in order to keep transparency as a priority.
