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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Changes is Tupac Shakur’s biggest-selling single in the UK in the Official Charts Company’s published comparison, with 597,000 combined sales. Ghetto Gospel follows with 560,000, and California Love with 319,000. These are UK figures—not a worldwide ranking of song revenue. No comparable lifetime global gross-revenue ranking for Tupac’s individual songs is established by the available sources.
What was Tupac’s biggest hit?
By the UK combined-sales measure reported by the Official Charts Company, the answer is Changes. The chart publisher described it as “Tupac’s biggest selling single in the UK” in a 2017 retrospective of his UK singles. Its reported total was 597,000 combined sales, and it peaked at No. 3 on the UK Official Chart. Official Charts Company
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The word “hit” can mean different things: most copies and equivalent units in a particular market, highest chart position, or greatest worldwide revenue. The published figures below answer the first question for the UK comparison; they do not establish the third.
Tupac’s three biggest-selling UK singles in the comparison
| Song | UK combined sales | UK chart context |
|---|---|---|
| Changes | 597,000 | Peaked at No. 3 on the UK Official Chart. |
| Ghetto Gospel | 560,000 | Reached No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart for three weeks in 2005. |
| California Love | 319,000 | Reached No. 6 in the UK. |
All three totals are from the Official Charts Company’s 2017 retrospective and are UK combined-sales figures. The totals are not current worldwide counts or revenue estimates. The retrospective’s reported components include physical sales, downloads and a specified streaming measure; its figures should be understood in that historical, methodology-dependent context. Official Charts Company
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- 2Pac's Greatest Hits is the posthumous collection originally released in November 1998
Why the sales leader was not the UK chart-topper
A chart peak records a song’s highest position, not its cumulative sales. Ghetto Gospel reached No. 1 for three weeks, while Changes peaked at No. 3; nevertheless, Changes has the larger combined-sales total in the retrospective. A shorter period at a higher position and a larger cumulative total are different achievements, so the chart peak cannot be used as a substitute for a sales ranking.
How the leading songs reached listeners
Changes
Released posthumously on the 1998 Greatest Hits album, Changes leads the UK comparison at 597,000 combined sales. The retrospective breaks out 284,000 physical copies, 180,000 downloads and 13.3 million streams since 2014. Those component counts and the combined-sales total are the source’s reported measures, not a worldwide revenue calculation. Official Charts Company
Rank #2
- 2Pac Records
Ghetto Gospel
Released as a single from the posthumous 2004 album Loyal to the Game, Ghetto Gospel reached No. 1 in the UK in 2005. The retrospective reports 560,000 combined sales, including 229,000 physical singles, 221,000 downloads and 11 million streams. Its No. 1 run lasted three weeks. Official Charts Company
California Love
The collaboration with Dr. Dre was released as a single from All Eyez on Me. The retrospective reports 319,000 combined UK sales and a No. 6 UK peak. Its historical context also notes that the song spent two weeks at No. 1 in America; that peak is chart context, not a US sales total or a worldwide ranking. Official Charts Company
Rank #3
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What “highest-grossing” can—and cannot—mean here
There is no comparable lifetime worldwide gross-revenue table for Tupac’s individual songs in the sources cited here. Revenue would require more than a sales or stream count: a global comparison would need consistent territory coverage, a defined period, format and streaming methodology, and a way to account for the different income generated by each use. The UK combined-sales figures do not provide those inputs, so turning them into song-by-song gross earnings would be speculation.
Tupac’s overall sales and album certifications are also not a ranking of individual tracks. His official website says he has sold over 75 million records worldwide, an artist-level claim rather than a song-specific statistic. 2Pac official website Interscope’s 2011 announcement says Greatest Hits was certified Diamond and describes it as a two-disc, 24-track retrospective that includes California Love, Dear Mama and Changes. That certification applies to the album, not to the sales of each track. Interscope Records announcement via PR Newswire
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Other Tupac songs in the UK chart history
The Official Charts archive also records UK chart entries for Dear Mama, How Do U Want It, I Ain’t Mad at Cha, Until the End of Time, Do for Love and other songs. These entries establish chart-history context, but the source material cited for this comparison does not give them comparable combined-sales totals. They therefore cannot be placed in the same sales ranking on the basis of chart positions alone. Official Charts Company artist history
Where to hear the songs together
The 2011 Interscope announcement identifies Greatest Hits as a two-disc, 24-track collection that includes several of the songs discussed here. That is useful album-level context, but it does not establish what formats are currently available or in stock. Interscope Records announcement via PR Newswire
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