List of UK Christmas number one hits

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In the UK who own Christmas number-one hits (Christmas number ones) in the official UK singles charts a high priority, as the sales of recorded music in the week before Christmas are traditionally the highest. To top the singles charts on this holiday is considered extraordinarily prestigious, far more than any other day of the year. Novelty songs , songs for charity, and songs with a Christmas theme are particularly popular . Many of the Christmas number one hits also topped the list of best-selling singles for the year.

history

The official UK Singles Charts were first published in 1952 in New Musical Express magazine. In the first two decades there was still no noticeably increased media attention for the number one position at Christmas. That changed in 1973 when the glam rock band Slade released the single Merry Xmas Everybody two and a half weeks before Christmas, breaking all previous sales records. In the following years this led to many well-known artists trying to get their songs into the charts as precisely as possible at this point in time.

Since the early 2000s, the Christmas number one hits have been dominated by reality TV shows, the winners of which often enter the charts right at number one in the week before Christmas. In 2002, singles from participants in the show Popstars: The Rivals even took the first three places. From 2005 to 2008, as well as in 2010, 2013 and 2014, the respective winners of The X Factor topped the singles charts. Because of this dominance, bookmakers started taking bets for second place in 2007.

At Christmas 2009, Rage Against the Machine was placed in first place after a successful Facebook campaign explicitly directed against The X Factor , ahead of the favorite Joe McElderry , with the single Killing in the Name released 17 years earlier . This song was the first Christmas number one hit that was only available by download; it also set a new UK download record. Similar campaigns in the following year in favor of Biffy Clyro , John Cage and The Trashmen were unsuccessful. In 2011, the Military Wives (participants in the show The Choir ) beat X-Factor winners Little Mix . The X Factor also suffered a defeat in 2012 when the supergroup The Justice Collective placed ahead of James Arthur .

Records

The Beatles are the only ones to have four Christmas number one hits, three of them in a row. At Christmas 1963 and 1967 they occupied both first and second place in the charts. Besides them, only George Michael succeeded in 1984, albeit as part of two groups: Band Aid at # 1 and Wham! (with Last Christmas ) in second place. Paul McCartney was in first place eight times at Christmas (Beatles, Wings , Band Aid, The Justice Collective). Cliff Richard was successful twice as a solo artist and once each with The Shadows and Band Aid. The Spice Girls equaled the record of three Christmas number one hits in a row from 1996 to 1998. Spice-Girl member Melanie Chisholm added a fourth Christmas hit in 2012 as part of The Justice Collective, while Robbie Williams posted his third Christmas hit on the occasion.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (1975 and 1991) is the only song that a Christmas number-one hit was twice. Though Do They Know It's Christmas? three times the top of the chart at Christmas, but these are three different recordings with different artists. Mary's Boy Child is the only Christmas hit for two artists without any relation to each other ( Harry Belafonte 1957 and Boney M. 1978). The original version of Do They Know It's Christmas? from 1984 is the second best-selling single in British music history.

list

The Beatles had four Christmas number one hits in the 1960s, three of them in a row
Bob Geldof , initiator of the charitable supergroup Band Aid , which landed a Christmas number one hit in three different compositions
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was in 1975 and 1991, the number one at Christmas
Cliff Richard topped the charts four times at Christmas
The Spice Girls had a Christmas number one hit three times in a row in the 1990s
Rage Against the Machine , whose song Killing in the Name peaked at Christmas 2009, 17 years after its first release
year Interpreter song
1952 Al Martino Here in My Heart
1953 Frankie Laine Answer Me
1954 Winifred Atwell Let's have another party
1955 Dickie Valentine Christmas alphabet
1956 Johnnie Ray Just walkin 'in the rain
1957 Harry Belafonte Mary's Boy Child
1958 Conway Twitty It's Only Make Believe
1959 Emile Ford and the Checkmates What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?
1960 Cliff Richard and The Shadows Ich liebe dich
1961 Danny Williams Moon river
1962 Elvis Presley Return to sender
1963 The Beatles I want to hold your hand
1964 The Beatles I feel fine
1965 The Beatles Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out
1966 Tom Jones Green, Green Grass of Home
1967 The Beatles Hello, goodbye
1968 The Scaffold Lily the Pink
1969 Rolf Harris Two little boys
1970 Dave Edmunds I Hear You Knocking
1971 Benny Hill Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)
1972 Jimmy Osmond Long Haired Lover from Liverpool
1973 Slade Merry Xmas Everybody
1974 Mud Lonely This Christmas
1975 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
1976 Johnny Mathis When a Child Is Born (Soleado)
1977 Wings Mull of Kintyre / Girls' School
1978 Boney M. Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord
1979 Pink Floyd Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)
1980 St Winifred's School Choir There's No One Quite Like Grandma
1981 The Human League Don't you want me
1982 Renée and Renato Save your love
1983 The Flying Pickets Only you
1984 Band aid Do They Know It's Christmas?
1985 Shakin'Stevens Merry Christmas Everyone
1986 Jackie Wilson Reet Petite
1987 Pet Shop Boys Always on My Mind
1988 Cliff Richard Mistletoe and Wine
1989 Band Aid II Do They Know It's Christmas?
1990 Cliff Richard Savior's Day
1991 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are the Days of Our Lives
1992 Whitney Houston I will always love you
1993 Mr. Blobby Mr. Blobby
1994 East 17 Stay Another Day
1995 Michael Jackson Earth song
1996 Spice Girls 2 Become 1
1997 Spice Girls Too Much
1998 Spice Girls Goodbye
1999 Westlife I have a dream / seasons in the sun
2000 Bob the Builder Can We Fix It?
2001 Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman Somethin 'stupid
2002 Girls Aloud Sound of the underground
2003 Michael Andrews and Gary Jules Mad World
2004 Band Aid 20 Do They Know It's Christmas?
2005 Shayne Ward That's my goal
2006 Leona Lewis A moment like this
2007 Leon Jackson When you believe
2008 Alexandra Burke Hallelujah
2009 Rage Against the Machine Killing in the name
2010 Matt Cardle Many of horror
2011 Military wives with Gareth Malone Wherever You Are
2012 The Justice Collective He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
2013 Sam Bailey Skyscraper
2014 Ben Haenow Something I need
2015 Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir A Bridge Over You
2016 Clean Bandit feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie Rockabye
2017 Ed Sheeran Perfect
2018 LadBaby We Built This City on Sausage Rolls
2019 LadBaby I love sausage rolls

reception

In the film Actually ... Love , one of the interwoven episodes revolves around a song that hits number one on the charts on Christmas Eve ( Billy Mack and Joe ).

annotation

  1. ↑ a b c d Published as double A-side.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jayne Douglas: Have a chart-topping Christmas. British Broadcasting Corporation , December 23, 2001; accessed September 1, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Sound of silence vies to be Christmas number one. The Daily Telegraph , October 16, 2010, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Shhh! It could REALLY be a silent night this Christmas ... if Facebook has anything to do with it. Daily Mail , October 15, 2010, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  4. ^ The story of the single. BBC News , March 23, 2001, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Paddy Shennan: Will Christmas number one hopes The W Factor (The Wombles) or MW Factor (The Military Wives) beat The X Factor? Liverpool Echo, December 13, 2011, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  6. ^ Adrian Thrills: Merry Xmas Everybody: The song that saved Slade. Daily Mail , December 18, 2009, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  7. ^ Adrian Thrills: Girls Aloud top festive chart. BBC News , December 23, 2002, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Rosie Swash: X Factor faces online Christmas chart challenge. The Guardian , November 16, 2007, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  9. ^ Rage Against the Machine beat X Factor winner in charts. BBC News , December 20, 2009, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Jules Grant: 'X Factor''s Matt Cardle beats Biffy Clyro,' Surfin 'Bird' and John Cage to Christmas Number One. (No longer available online.) New Musical Express , December 19, 2010, archived from the original on November 25, 2015 ; accessed on September 1, 2015 (English, original website no longer available).
  11. ^ Military Wives Choir capture Christmas number one. BBC News , December 25, 2011, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  12. ^ Hillsborough single is Christmas number one. BBC News , December 24, 2012, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  13. ^ Record-Breakers and Trivia. EveryHit, 2010, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  14. ↑ LadBaby pulls off Christmas chart upset : BBC News, December 21, 2018.
  15. ↑ How have we done this again? ' LadBaby scores second Christmas number one : BBC News, December 20, 2019.
United KingdomUnited KingdomVintages of number one hits in the UK charts


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