A million-selling single is regarded by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as one that has sold at least 1 million copies since the start of the UK Singles Chart in November 1952. As well as a traditional purchase of a physical record, a sale can represent one permanent digital download of a track (physical singles usually consist of two songs, although both are only included in sales figures for double A sides or where both receive a high level of interest and airplay). Both British Phonographic Industry (BPI)-certified awards (Silver, Gold and Platinum) and the weekly charts now include audio streaming at 100 streams of a song to one sales unit (from 30 June 2014), but these are not included in the sales figures published by the OCC. Certified awards can also include shipments (sales to trade). The OCC and Music Week regularly announce when a record becomes a million seller.
As of October 2016[update], 167 singles have sold 1 million copies in the UK. Of these, 108 were originally released in the 20th century (70 of them selling 1 million before the year 2000) and the remainder were released between 2000 and 2014. The most recently released single to become a million-seller is "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, which was released in December 2014 and passed a million sales ten weeks later in February 2015. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is the earliest release: originally 1942, although only sales from 1952 onwards are counted. The year in which the most million-sellers were released is 2011, with twelve; while a record 36 releases from both the 1990s and the 2010s have sold a million copies. Only two million sellers have failed to reach the top 5 on the UK Singles Chart: Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", both of which peaked at number 6.