Americans Don’t Know the UK’s #1 Single of All Time

Mull of Kintyre???

Can you name the top-selling single of all time in the US? The answer is below.

Yes, the UK’s top all time single is this little folk song Mull of Kintyre. Written by Paul McCartney and performed by Wings, it outsold all of The Beatles singles and everybody else besides, with the exception of charity recordings like We Are The World.

The Mull of Kintyre Wikipedia article notes that Record World called it “a lovely Scottish waltz with bagpipes.”

Why don’t American’s know of this smash hit? I’d say it’s because of the “lovely Scottish waltz with bagpipes” thing. Not really our bag. I’m thinking it was such a big hit in U.K. because it appealed nostalgically to oldsters as well as to young Wings’ fans. (I swear I once overheard a young lady say to her girlfriend, “Did you know that Paul McCartney had another band before Wings?”)

Singles, in the traditional sense, pretty much went away as music distribution changed from analog to digital in the 1990s. And now, with streaming, pretty much every song is single. So I guess Mull of Kintyre will hold the record for the UK’s highest-selling (analog/vinyl/45 RPM) single forever.

The top-selling single of all time in the U.S. is, of course, 1942’s White Christmas by Bing Crosby. I’ll bet the Brits have heard of it. Just sayin’