# List of number-one EPs in the United Kingdom

In the 1950s and 1960s "a third vinyl format" was introduced alongside long-playing (LP) albums, and singles. The extended play (EP) used the same formats as singles but contained more tracks. Singles were the popular record format at the time – predominantly 10-inch 78 rpm and 7-inch 45 rpm formats – and the first singles chart was published by New Musical Express in 1952 with many other publications also producing singles charts in the 1950s and 1960s. Record Mirror published the first album chart in 1956, and when Record Retailer began compiling an LP chart on 12 March 1960, they also compiled an EP chart. The EP chart consisted of a top ten and was expanded to fifteen positions the following week, and twenty the week after that. EPs "died out in the late 1960s" and Record Retailer reduced the chart to ten positions on 16 April 1966, publishing the final EP chart on 16 December 1967. For six weeks in 1966 and two weeks in December 1967, Record Retailer did not publish EP charts but they were compiled and Record Mirror published them; Record Mirror had begun publishing charts compiled by Record Retailer in March 1962, following a decision to stop compiling their own albums and singles charts.
The longest consecutive duration at the top of the chart was 23 weeks for The Shadows' EP The Shadows to the Fore. The most weeks at number one was achieved by The Beach Boys' EP Hits which spent 34 weeks there from June 1966 and was the incumbent number one when the chart ceased at the end of 1967. The Beatles had eight different EPs top the chart as did The Shadows (four with Cliff Richard and four on their own). The Shadows spent 69 weeks with an EP on top of the chart in comparison to The Beatles' 63 weeks. Conversely, only four acts spent a total of one week atop the chart; Joan Baez, Jim Reeves, George Mitchell Minstrels and Bobby Vee (with The Crickets). Although official music recording sales certifications were not introduced until the British Phonographic Industry was formed in 1973, Disc introduced an initiative in 1959 to present a silver disc to records selling over 250,000 units. Seven EPs are recorded as going silver: The Beatles' number-one EPs Twist and Shout, The Beatles' Hits, All My Loving, Long Tall Sally as well as The Beatles (No. 1) and Magical Mystery Tour (which did not reach number one but would have done so had the EP chart lasted only a few more weeks) and The Rolling Stones' number-one EP Five by Five.

## Number-one EPs

| No. | Artist | EP | Reached number one | Weeks at number one |
| 1960 |||||
| 1 | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Expresso Bongo | 12 March 1960 | 1 |
| 2 | Elvis Presley | Strictly Elvis | 19 March 1960 | 5 |
| re | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Expresso Bongo | 23 April 1960 | 1 |
| 3 | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 30 April 1960 | 1 |
| 4 | Emile Ford and the Checkmates | Emile | 7 May 1960 | 1 |
| re | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 14 May 1960 | 1 |
| re | Emile Ford and the Checkmates | Emile | 21 May 1960 | 2 |
| re | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 4 June 1960 | 12 |
| 5 | Paddy Roberts | Paddy Roberts Strikes Again | 27 August 1960 | 2 |
| re | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 10 September 1960 | 1 |
| 6 | Original Soundtrack | Highlights from South Pacific | 17 September 1960 | 1 |
| re | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 24 September 1960 | 3 |
| re | Original Soundtrack | Highlights from South Pacific | 15 October 1960 | 3 |
| re | Paddy Roberts | Strictly for Grown Ups | 5 November 1960 | 1 |
| re | Original Soundtrack | Highlights from South Pacific | 12 November 1960 | 5 |
| 7 | Adam Faith | Adam's Hit Parade | 17 December 1960 | 1 |
| 8 | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Cliff's Silver Discs | 24 December 1960 | 1 |
| re | Original Soundtrack | Highlights from South Pacific | 31 December 1960 | 1 |
| 1961 |||||
| re | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Cliff's Silver Discs | 7 January 1961 | 2 |
| re | Adam Faith | Adam's Hit Parade | 21 January 1961 | 1 |
| 9 | The Shadows | The Shadows | 28 January 1961 | 17 |
| re | Adam Faith | Adam's Hit Parade | 27 May 1961 | 1 |
| re | The Shadows | The Shadows | 3 June 1961 | 3 |
| 10 | The Shadows | The Shadows to the Fore | 24 June 1961 | 23 |
| 11 | Helen Shapiro | Helen | 2 December 1961 | 9 |
| 1962 |||||
| re | The Shadows | The Shadows to the Fore | 3 February 1962 | 4 |
| 12 | The Shadows | Spotlight on The Shadows | 3 March 1962 | 3 |
| 13 | Helen Shapiro | Helen's Hit Parade | 24 March 1962 | 3 |
| re | The Shadows | Spotlight on The Shadows | 14 April 1962 | 5 |
| re | The Shadows | The Shadows to the Fore | 19 May 1962 | 1 |
| re | Helen Shapiro | Helen's Hit Parade | 26 May 1962 | 1 |
| 14 | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Hits from "The Young Ones" | 2 June 1962 | 2 |
| 15 | Elvis Presley | Follow That Dream | 16 June 1962 | 20 |
| 16 | The Shadows | The Boys | 3 November 1962 | 3 |
| 17 | Elvis Presley | Kid Galahad | 24 November 1962 | 5 |
| 18 | George Mitchell Minstrels | From The Black and White Minstrel Show | 29 December 1962 | 1 |
| 1963 |||||
| re | Elvis Presley | Kid Galahad | 5 January 1963 | 11 |
| 19 | Frank Ifield | Frank Ifield's Hits | 23 March 1963 | 1 |
| re | Elvis Presley | Kid Galahad | 30 March 1963 | 1 |
| re | Frank Ifield | Frank Ifield's Hits | 6 April 1963 | 8 |
| 20 | Bobby Vee and The Crickets | Just for Fun | 1 June 1963 | 1 |
| 21 | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Holiday Carnival | 8 June 1963 | 1 |
| re | Frank Ifield | Frank Ifield's Hits | 15 June 1963 | 2 |
| re | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Holiday Carnival | 29 June 1963 | 1 |
| re | Frank Ifield | Frank Ifield's Hits | 6 July 1963 | 2 |
| re | Cliff Richard and The Shadows | Holiday Carnival | 20 July 1963 | 1 |
| 22 | The Beatles | Twist and Shout | 27 July 1963 | 10 |
| 23 | The Searchers | Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya | 5 October 1963 | 4 |
| 24 | The Beatles | The Beatles' Hits | 2 November 1963 | 3 |
| re | The Beatles | Twist and Shout | 23 November 1963 | 11 |
| 1964 |||||
| 25 | The Rolling Stones | The Rolling Stones | 8 February 1964 | 3 |
| 26 | The Beatles | All My Loving | 29 February 1964 | 8 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | The Rolling Stones | 25 April 1964 | 11 |
| 27 | The Beatles | Long Tall Sally | 11 July 1964 | 7 |
| 28 | The Rolling Stones | Five by Five | 29 August 1964 | 15 |
| 29 | The Beatles | Extracts from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" | 12 December 1964 | 2 |
| 30 | The Bachelors | The Bachelors' Hits | 26 December 1964 | 2 |
| 1965 |||||
| re | The Beatles | Extracts from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" | 9 January 1965 | 3 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | Five by Five | 30 January 1965 | 1 |
| re | The Beatles | Extracts from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" | 6 February 1965 | 1 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | Five by Five | 13 February 1965 | 1 |
| 31 | The Kinks | Kinksize Session | 20 February 1965 | 1 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | Five by Five | 27 February 1965 | 1 |
| 32 | Val Doonican | The Green Shades of Val Doonican | 6 March 1965 | 3 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | Five by Five | 27 March 1965 | 3 |
| re | Val Doonican | The Green Shades of Val Doonican | 17 April 1965 | 1 |
| 33 | The Beatles | Beatles for Sale | 24 April 1965 | 5 |
| 34 | The Searchers | Bumble Bee | 29 May 1965 | 2 |
| re | The Beatles | Beatles for Sale | 12 June 1965 | 1 |
| 35 | Manfred Mann | The One in the Middle | 19 June 1965 | 1 |
| 36 | The Rolling Stones | Got Live If You Want It! | 26 June 1965 | 1 |
| re | Manfred Mann | The One in the Middle | 3 July 1965 | 4 |
| re | The Rolling Stones | Got Live If You Want It! | 31 July 1965 | 1 |
| re | Manfred Mann | The One in the Middle | 7 August 1965 | 4 |
| 37 | Donovan | The Universal Soldier | 4 September 1965 | 8 |
| 38 | The Kinks | Kwyet Kinks | 30 October 1965 | 7 |
| 39 | Manfred Mann | No Living Without Loving | 18 December 1965 | 7 |
| 1966 |||||
| 40 | The Beatles | The Beatles' Million Sellers | 5 February 1966 | 2 |
| 41 | The Seekers | The Seekers | 19 February 1966 | 3 |
| re | The Beatles | The Beatles' Million Sellers | 12 March 1966 | 2 |
| 42 | The Beatles | Yesterday | 26 March 1966 | 8 |
| 43 | Joan Baez | With God on our Side | 21 May 1966 | 1 |
| 44 | Manfred Mann | Machines | 28 May 1966 | 1 |
| 45 | The Beach Boys | Hits | 4 June 1966 | 4 |
| 46 | The Walker Brothers | I Need You | 2 July 1966 | 10 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 10 September 1966 | 4 |
| re | The Walker Brothers | I Need You | 8 October 1966 | 3 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 29 October 1966 | 7 |
| 47 | The Who | Ready Steady Who | 17 December 1966 | 2 |
| 48 | Jim Reeves | A Christmas Card from Jim | 31 December 1966 | 1 |
| 1967 |||||
| re | The Who | Ready Steady Who | 7 January 1967 | 2 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 21 January 1967 | 7 |
| 49 | The Seekers | Morningtown Ride | 11 March 1967 | 1 |
| 50 | Four Tops | Four Top Hits | 18 March 1967 | 10 |
| 51 | Paul Jones | Paul Jones Sings Songs from the Film Privilege | 27 May 1967 | 3 |
| re | Four Tops | Four Top Hits | 17 June 1967 | 5 |
| 52 | Elvis Presley | Easy Come, Easy Go | 22 July 1967 | 3 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 12 August 1967 | 6 |
| re | Four Tops | Four Top Hits | 23 September 1967 | 1 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 30 September 1967 | 1 |
| re | Four Tops | Four Top Hits | 7 October 1967 | 1 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 14 October 1967 | 1 |
| re | Four Tops | Four Top Hits | 21 October 1967 | 5 |
| re | The Beach Boys | Hits | 25 November 1967 | 4 |

## By artist

The following artists achieved two or more number-one EPs. Artists The Beatles and The Shadows were the most successful acts of the decade in terms of number-one EPs, each having eight EPs reach the top of the chart. In total, The Shadows spent 69 weeks occupying the top of chart (59 weeks from 4 EPs as an instrumental group and 10 weeks from 4 EPs accompanying Cliff Richard) and The Beatles spent a total of 63 weeks at number one.
| Artist | Number-one EPs | Total weeks |
| The Shadows | 8 | 69 |
| The Beatles | 8 | 63 |
| Elvis Presley | 4 | 45 |
| Cliff Richard | 4 | 10 |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 37 |
| Manfred Mann | 3 | 17 |
| Paddy Roberts | 2 | 21 |
| Helen Shapiro | 2 | 13 |
| The Kinks | 2 | 8 |
| The Searchers | 2 | 6 |
| The Seekers | 2 | 4 |