List of UK singles chart Christmas number ones: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 21:42, 17 December 2011
In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that are top of the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. Novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme have regularly been at the top of Christmas charts. Musicians and pressure groups view having a Christmas number one as being especially prestigious, more so than any other time of year. Many of the Christmas number ones were also the best-selling song of the year. The official UK Singles Chart began in 1952, after appearing in the New Musical Express.[1] The positions of all songs are based on week end sale totals, from Sunday to Saturday,[2] but prior to 1987 they were released on a Tuesday due to the need for manual calculation.[3]
The Beatles are the only artist to have four outright Christmas number ones, three consecutively starting from 1963. On two occasions, 1963 and 1967, they had both the Christmas number one and the number two, the only act to have achieved this outright; George Michael repeated this feat as part of both Band Aid and Wham! in 1984. Paul McCartney has been top seven times with various acts. Cliff Richard has spent four Christmases at number one; two as a solo act, one with The Shadows and one as part of Band Aid II. The Spice Girls later equalled the record of having three consecutive Christmas number ones, from 1996 to 1998. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, which reached the number one spot at Christmas 1975 and 1991, is the only record to have reached the top twice.
"Mary's Boy Child" is the only song to be Christmas number one for two entirely unrelated artists (Harry Belafonte in 1957 and Boney M. in 1978), although "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has been Christmas number one for three generations of Band Aid.[4] The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is the second best selling single in UK history.[5]
Since 2002 the Christmas number one has been dominated by reality television contests, with the winners often heading straight to number one in the week before Christmas. This trend began when Popstars: The Rivals contestants released the top three singles on the Christmas chart.[6][nb 1] From 2005 to 2010, the winners of The X Factor took the number one spot on five occasions. In 2007, bookmakers started taking bets on who "Christmas Number Two" would be instead.[7] In 2009, Rage Against the Machine's 1992 single "Killing in the Name" earned the accolade after a successful Facebook campaign.[8] This made them the first group to get a Christmas number one with a download-only single, and resulted in the most download sales in a single week in UK chart history.[8] Similar campaigns in 2010 promoting acts such as Biffy Clyro, John Cage and The Trashmen were unsuccessful.[9]
List
See also
- List of Christmas/holiday hit singles (UK)
- List of Christmas number one singles (Ireland)
- List of singles which have spent the most weeks on the UK Singles Chart
- List of UK Albums Chart Christmas number ones
- List of UK Official Download Chart Christmas number ones
Notes
- ^ In addition to the two groups that were the focus of the show (Girls Aloud and One True Voice), who charted at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, the No. 3 on the chart was "Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" by The Cheeky Girls, who had also been contestants on Popstars.[6]
- ^ a b c d Released as a double A-side.
- ^ "Mistletoe and Wine" by Cliff Richard was announced as the 1988 Christmas number one a day later than usual, on Monday 26 December.[12]
References
- ^ "The story of the single". BBC. 23 March 2001. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
- ^ "FAQs". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
- ^ "UK Singles Charts: History of the Charts". When We Were Kids. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
- ^ a b "All the Christmas number ones". CBBC. 16 December 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
- ^ "Record-Breakers and Trivia". EveryHit. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ a b "Girls Aloud top festive chart". BBC News. London: BBC. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
- ^ Swash, Rosie (16 November 2007). "X Factor faces online Christmas chart challenge". The Guardian. London: GMG. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
- ^ a b "Rage Against the Machine beat X Factor winner in charts". BBC News. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
- ^ "X Factor's Matt Cardle beats Biffy Clyro, Surfin' Bird and John Cage to UK Christmas Number One". NME. 19 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Christmas Number Ones : Singles". EveryHit. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ "Thirty years of Christmas No 1s". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ Masterton, James (20 December 2004). "Christmas Commentary from James Masterton". London: LAUNCH. Archived from the original on 31 December 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
... This actually did happen back in 1988 when Christmas Day fell on a Sunday (the usual chart day). This resulted in the chart show being broadcast a day late on Monday 26th and with the industry agreeing that the crowning of Cliff Richard as that years Christmas Number One would take place then. ...
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