Oldest person to reach No.1 on the UK Official Singles Chart

Former British Army officer Thomas Moore (UK, b. 30 April 1920), affectionately known as “Captain Tom”, debuted at No.1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart on 30 April 2020 with “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, featuring Michael Ball and The NHS Voices of Care Choir (both UK), at the age of exactly 100.

“Captain Tom” rose to prominence in April 2020 when he set himself the challenge of completing 100 laps of his 25-m-long (82-ft) garden in the village of Marston Moreteyne, Bedfordshire, UK, in aid of NHS Charities Together during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially hoping to raise £1,000 ($1,226) by his 100th birthday. As of 24 April 2020, the “Captain Tom Moore’s 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS” JustGiving campaign had raised more than £28.66 million ($35.38 million) – 5,733 per cent more than his revised target of £500,000 ($617,300)! – in donations from supporters across the world inspired by his philanthropic endeavour.

The single achieved 82,000 downloads and audio streams (streaming-equivalent sales) combined to debut at No.1, seeing off competition from The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (No.2, with sales of 69,000), SAINt JHN’s “Roses” (No.3) and Drake’s “Toosie Slide” (No.4). It was Michael Ball’s first UK chart-topper, having previously peaked at No.2 in 1989 with his debut single, “Love Changes Everything”, although he does have four UK No.1 albums to his credit.

The charity fundraiser, a cover of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein show tune, was most famously taken to the top of the UK chart by Gerry & The Pacemakers on 31 October 1963, when the Merseybeat group became the first act in UK chart history to reach No.1 with their first three singles. The song has also been a charity chart-topper once before, when The Crowd took the football-terrace anthem to No.1 on 15 June 1985 in support of those affected by the stadium fire at the home of Bradford City on 11 May 1985. Once again the song broke a record, with Gerry Marsden, lead vocalist with Gerry & The Pacemakers and instigator of the Crowd supergroup, becoming the first person to achieve a UK No.1 with two different versions of the same song. In 2020, therefore, “Captain Tom” completed a hat-trick of record-breaking No.1s for the indefatigable “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

On 9 November 1996, Robson & Jerome scored a UK No.1 single with a triple A-side featuring “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, so the song has been a UK chart-topper on four different occasions – a feat achieved by just two other songs since the Official Singles Chart started on 14 November 1952 (32 years 198 days after “Captain Tom” was born!): “Unchained Melody” and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Previously, the UK’s oldest singles chart-topper was Robert "Bobby" Elliott (UK, b. 8 December 1941), drummer with The Hollies, who was 71 years 21 days old when "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by The Justice Collective debuted at No.1 on 29 December 2012. Two other members of the charity group – which came together to raise money for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, set up in memory of the 96 Liverpool supporters who died in the Hillsborough football stadium disaster (1989) – were septuagenarians when "He Ain't Heavy" reached No.1: ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney (UK, b. James Paul McCartney, 18 June 1942) and Gerard "Gerry" Marsden (UK, b. 24 September 1942), while another member of The Hollies, Tony Hicks (UK, b. 16 December 1945), was aged 67.

The oldest chart-topper individually credited on a UK chart-topper before “Captain Tom” strolled to No.1 was Sir Tom Jones (UK, b. Thomas Woodward, 7 June 1940), who was 68 years 287 days old when he debuted at No.1 with the charity single “(Barry) Islands in the Stream” – alongside Vanessa Jenkins (Ruth Jones), Bryn West (Rob Brydon) and Robin Gibb – on 21 March 2009.

Remarkably, “Captain Tom” was not the oldest UK singles chart entrant of 2020. One week earlier, on the chart dated 23 April, Dame Vera Lynn (UK, b. 20 March 1917) and Katherine Jenkins debuted at No.72 with a re-worked version of one of Dame Vera’s most famous songs, “We’ll Meet Again”, also in aid of the NHS. She was 103 years 34 days old at the time. “We’ll Meet Again” fell to No.85 on 30 April, which meant that Tom was only the second-oldest person in the chart that week!

On 23 April 2020 (in the final 24 hours of the tracking week for the 30 April chart), The Weeknd (b. Abel Tesfaye) took to Twitter to back Tom’s bid for No.1. “everyone in the UK please support @captaintommoore / @mrmichaelball single so this incredible 99 yr old war veteran, walking for the British National Health Service @NHSuk & now raised $35 Million can have a No 1 for his 100th birthday in the UK!” he told his 11.8 million followers. “Captain Tom” replied with: “My goodness, how gracious of you @theweeknd Benji [his grandson] tells me you’re rather talented and very popular! What a kind gesture. Thank you!”