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Posted by: JCM20 3rd December 2019, 11:58 AM

By Justin Myers

Music is an essential part of any Christmas party, but have you noticed how many festive chart-toppers barely even mention a snowflake or a bauble, let alone Santa himself and his strange habit of plunging down your chimney?

Only twelve Official Christmas Number 1s have acknowledged the festive season; the rest are just the tunes people happened to love the most as the year came to an end. Because there's more to Christmas than jingle bells, so we count down the biggest selling chart-topping hits associated with the most wonderful time of the year.


Do They Know It's Christmas?
Despite its overarching air of melancholy, the UK's top-selling festive chart-topper is both Christmas-themed AND a Christmas Number 1. The second biggest selling single of all time, Band Aid and their clanging chimes of doom first hit the top in 1984, spawning three successful cover versions which also went to Number 1. It's the only Xmas hit to sell over 3 million units - 3.82 million to be exact.


MORE: Look back over every Official Christmas Number 1 ever

Bohemian Rhapsody
Not particularly festive, but Bohemian Rhapsody has got serious Christmas credentials, scoring the Christmas Number 1 twice with the exact same version, sixteen years apart, on its first release in 1975 and again in 1991, following the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury. An impressive 2.6 million copies later, and it's the third biggest selling song of all time. See all Queen's massive hit albums and singles


Mull of Kintyre
The Official Singles Chart welcomed all kinds of unusual, unlikely hits in the '70s, and 1977's Christmas Number 1 was the mega-selling Mull of Kintyre from Wings, led by none other than former Beatle Paul McCartney. With 2.09 million copies sold, it's Macca's top selling single ever, more than any of his Beatles hits. What are the chances? Take a look at Wings' UK chart history



MORE: Get your baubles in a twist with our Christmas quiz

Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord
The UK's fourth biggest Christmas smash has got the lot: glitz, campery and, of course, actual Jesus popping up in the lyrics! Mary's Boy Child has hit Christmas Number 1 twice by separate artists: Boney M's disco-lite version from 1978 – like we said, the '70s were wild – is the biggest, though, with 1.89 million sales. Harry Belafonte's version is at 14, from 1957, on 1.19 million. See all Boney M's UK hit singles and albums


I Want to Hold Your Hand
The Beatles have the record for the most Christmas Number 1s – four – and three of them make the Top 20. Biggest selling, however, is the first: I Want to Hold Your Hand is on 1.82 million.


Who will be this year's Christmas Number 1? Be the first to know.

I Will Always Love You
The biggest selling Christmas Number 1 by a female solo artist, Whitney's dramatic rendition version of Dolly Parton's ballad soundtracked the movie The Bodyguard, topping the charts for ten weeks. 1.66 million of you bought this one, belting out the high note at Christmas karaoke, aided no doubt by potent eggnog. See all Whitney's hits in her archive


Hallelujah
This relatively Christmassy Leonard Cohen cover from Alexandra Burke ruled the festive rundown in 2008. The first X Factor winner's single to be released on download right after the final, Hallelujah has sold 1.32 million copies and its nearest competition for Christmas Number 1 was another cover of the same song, this time by Jeff Buckley. See all Alexandra's hits in her archive


Merry Xmas Everybody
Slade's classic shouty and raucous festive fave first hit the chart way back in 1973, becoming that year's Christmas Number 1, and the sixth and final chart-topper for the band. Since that first release, it's returned to the Top 40 ten times, peaking the highest in 2017, at Number 16. It's sold 1.32 million.


2 Become 1
Not a Christmas song, no, it's actually a thinly disguised sex education campaign, but 2 Become 1 topped the charts at Christmas 1996 and the girls look like they're half-frozen in the video, don't they? Luckily, they sold 1.14 million copies of this song, earning them enough cash to invest in hats, scarves, and an oil-filled radiator so they could warm up in time for their next two Christmas Number 1s. In our recent interview with Emma Bunton she reveals 2 Become 1 is her fave Spice Christmas song.


The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas songs
POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR
1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 1984
2 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 1975/1991
3 MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL WINGS 1977
4 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1978
5 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THE BEATLES 1963
6 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON 1992
7 DON'T YOU WANT ME? HUMAN LEAGUE 1981
8 I FEEL FINE THE BEATLES 1964
9 WE CAN WORK IT OUT/DAY TRIPPER THE BEATLES 1965
10 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 2008
11 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1973
12 GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME TOM JONES 1966
13 EARTH SONG MICHAEL JACKSON 1995
14 MARY'S BOY CHILD HARRY BELAFONTE 1957
15 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 20 2004
16 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2) PINK FLOYD 1979
17 2 BECOME 1 SPICE GIRLS 1996
18 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD 2005
19 CAN WE FIX IT? BOB THE BUILDER 2000
20 WHEN WE COLLIDE MATT CARDLE 2010

©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Posted by: JCM20 3rd December 2019, 11:58 AM

I'm guessing Stay Another Day must be #21.

Posted by: ChristmaSteve201 3rd December 2019, 01:19 PM

Enjoy that the OCC give us snipits of info at this time of year but I wish they would show us the top selling Xmas songs no matter whether another track was no1 or not.

Yeh Stay Another Day will climb that list.

Posted by: ben08 3rd December 2019, 01:38 PM

I assume these are pure sales only without streams added?

EDIT: Just noticed the OCC reply,
All time lists will differ depending on context. Consistently, any list focusing on sales only will be marked as 'bestselling', while all-time charts that include streaming are 'biggest'. Hope this clarification helps.

Posted by: sammy01 3rd December 2019, 01:46 PM

Defo as 2 become 1 is certified double plat

Posted by: ben08 3rd December 2019, 01:59 PM

The OCC contradict themselves.

Heading for article is,
The Official Top 20 bestselling Christmas Number 1s

Heading for top 20 list is,
The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas songs

Posted by: Medellíam 3rd December 2019, 02:48 PM

Presumably lists that include streams will be "biggest hits" or something, with no mention of "selling". I think that's what they mean, but yes it does look like they've contradicted themselves.

Posted by: garyfeld 3rd December 2019, 02:53 PM

Yep...then Spice Girls' Goodbye would be next

Posted by: Crazy Chris-tmas 3rd December 2019, 04:19 PM

Am sure I saw this list somewhere last year and exactly the same.

Posted by: ChristmaSteve201 3rd December 2019, 04:31 PM

This is specifically No1s though they did too selling Christmas hits I think previously?

Posted by: chartjack2 3rd December 2019, 04:45 PM

What would be the LOWEST selling Christmas number one?

Posted by: ChristmaSteve201 3rd December 2019, 04:51 PM

If not something from the 1950s then likely Clean Bandit from 2016 if I was purely guessing.