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[Popchartfreak]

17th December 2018

It's Christmaaaaaaaas! No, not Slade on top, it's Carpenters' classic 1972 Goodbye To Love done Royal Philharmonic stylee, and it duly returns to the top spot for the first time in 46 years for a 3rd week at number one. I was 14 years old when I last charted it. Yes, 14. Still love that guitar juxtaposed with Karen's angelic voice and lushness galore. As it's Christmas another 1972 classic returns for an 8th time (in the 21st century!) - John & Yoko's Happy Xmas (War Is Over) was the first Xmas record I ever bought, and is a major classic, and it was the trigger for all those subsequent classic rock era xmas goodies. Prior to that Xmas songs were dreadful novelty things or else crooner ballads from the 40's and 50's, bar the odd Brenda Lee here and there (who also returns). It has topped my charts for a total of 13 weeks and charted throughout the decades, though not every year.

Mark Ronson gets another biggie top 10 a decade on from his first, and ditto Miley really, though she's had several top 10's. The Fizz knock themselves out of the top 10 with their official xmas single 37 years on from The Land Of Make Believe, and that's nothing - The Monkees return again with new stuff, including a cover of Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime which is actually better than his overly-jolly overly-busy perennial - it's more laid-back and restrained and the song is the better for it. They also have a new track debut which sounds to my ears like a Weezer song - that'll be cos Rivers Cuomo wrote it for them then! So that makes it 44 years of official Monkees chart-spanning, but really it's 52 years as I would have had loads of Monkees chart-toppers had I been charting as a 9-year-old. They have all topped my charts anyway in the years since.

Other than the oldies Xmas re-entries, though, it's a quiet week for new stuff which gives a welcome opportunity for some records to climb to a chart position more representative of my affections for them. Favela is the biggest climb of new tracks non-Xmas-related, excluding Coldplay tracks aka Los Unidades.



1 2 1 2 GOODBYE TO LOVE Carpenters & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 285000
2 1 1 9 DIAMOND HEART Alan Walker & Sophia Somajo 644500
3 3 1 4 TRUE LOVE WAYS Buddy Holly & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 390000
4 32 4 3 NOTHING BREAKS LIKE A HEART Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus 96050
5 5 5 3 SURVIVE Don Diablo featuring Emeli Sande & Gucci Mane 130200
6 6 6 6 THANK YOU, NEXT Ariana Grande 272800
7 4 4 9 STARFISH Rhys featuring FELIX SANDMAN 376000
8 17 8 5 DON’T START WITHOUT ME The Fizz 125850
9 7 1 6 DRIVE (SYMPHONIC VERSION) The Cars 690000
10 13 10 2 DOES THE HOMOSAPIEN KNOW Abba vs Pete Shelley 74000

11 11 7 7 BRAZILIAN SOUL The Knocks featuring Sofi Tukker 268000
12 9 1 7 SHADOWS Black Atlass 585000
13 8 8 4 IT’S FOR YOU Cilla Black with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 143000
14 14 14 3 SUNSHINE ON LEITH The Proclaimers 80000
15 10 10 5 KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE The Fizz 144500
16 16 16 4 THIS FEELING Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini 81000
17 15 15 4 YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME Connie Francis 92000
18 12 9 4 RISE Raaginder 125000
19 27 19 5 BREATHE Camelphat & Cristoph featuring Jem Cooke 80800
20 26 20 6 ALGORITHM Muse 102500

21 18 18 2 EVERYBODY’S HAPPY NOWADAYS Buzzcocks 41750
22 19 4 10 JOY. for KING & COUNTRY 351000
23 20 3 6 ARREST THE PRESIDENT Ice Cube 276250
24 22 13 7 BABY Clean Bandit featuring Marina & The Diamonds & Luis Fonzi 145400
25 33 25 4 EVERLASTING LOVE The Love Affair 67800
26 23 8 9 HEAVEN LET ME IN Friendly Fires 234600
27 28 27 8 BURN Super8 & Tab featuring Hero Baldwin 117150
28 52 28 2 DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Chris Rea 29800
29 24 3 10 NEED YOU TONITE Mylo featuring Judie Tzuke 316650
30 49 30 3 FAVELA Ina Wroldsen & Alok 37500

31 39 31 6 LOVE OF MY LIFE Queen 83800
32 21 2 5 GOOD NIGHT The Beatles 315550
33 37 33 6 LONELY STAR Ariana and The Rose 74400
34 38 25 8 HOW LONG WILL THIS LAST? Blossoms 124350
35 57 35 2 TIMBUKTU Cassper Nyovest & Los Unidades (Coldplay) featuring Stormzy & Jess Kent 27900
36 44 36 2 E-LO Los Unidades (Coldplay) & Pharrell Williams featuring Jozzy 30650
37 29 12 7 FRENCH CLASS HalfNoise 179000
38 40 38 6 HEY DJ CNCO, Meghan Trainor & Sean Paul 79250
39 46 39 4 INFINITY (MOVEMENT 6) Jean-Michel Jarre 48300
40 34 1 12 TOOGOODTOBETRUE Gallant featuring Sufjan Stevens & Rebecca Sugar 654600

41 45 41 4 SAIL AWOLNATION 43400
42 43 42 4 SEE THE DAY Dee C. Lee 52000
43 35 20 7 LOVE Boyzone 114550
44 30 30 6 JAPAN Plastician 90750
45 51 45 5 TINTS Anderson .Paak featuring Kendrick Lamar 52300
46 55 46 5 HUFF + PUFF Just A Band 50750
47 60 47 3 PUNK RIGHT NOW HYO & 3LAU 29600
48 41 2 13 NOTHING BURNS LIKE THE COLD Snoh Aalegra featuring Vince Staples 589200
49 47 1 26 HEY LOOK MA, I MADE IT Panic! At The Disco 1965750
50 NEW 50 1 WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME The Monkees 12000

51 25 25 6 39 Queen 101800
52 59 52 5 OOH LA LA The Faces 41200
53 56 53 4 HANDS UP Merk & Kremont featuring DNCE 39350
54 65 54 3 SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN The Crystals 23600
55 61 55 2 LOVE YOU MORE Buzzcocks 18300
56 58 56 2 THE POWER OF LOVE Frankie Goes To Hollywood 20800
57 69 57 2 BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG Morrissey 16600
58 64 58 3 TERE NAAL NACHNA Badshah & Sunanda Sharma 23100
59 67 59 2 ONE MORE SLEEP Leona Lewis 16700
60 63 60 2 EVER FALLEN IN LOVE (WITH SOMEONE YOU SHOULDN’T’VE) Buzzcocks 17200

61 48 48 6 MAPACHE Cari Cari 59100
62 42 33 10 POLAROID Jonas Blue, Liam Payne & Lennon Stella 139750
63 68 63 3 SPEECHLESS Robin Schulz featuring Erika Sirola 19000
64 73 64 2 STOP THE CAVALRY Jona Lewie 12500
65 72 65 3 PAPER DREAMS Jamie N Commons 17800
66 66 66 5 SWEET BUT PSYCHO Ava Max 33200
67 71 67 2 DECEMBER WILL BE MAGIC Kate Bush 12400
68 NEW 68 1 WHAT WOULD SANTA DO The Monkees 6400
69 NEW 69 1 A SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING Chris De Burgh 6200
70 NEW 70 1 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko & The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir 6000

71 74 71 2 SHE MAKES ME Rick Astley 11000
72 75 72 3 DREAM ON Aerosmith 15600
73 54 37 7 THE GREATEST SHOW Panic! At The Disco 78800
74 NEW 74 1 PROMISES Buzzcocks 5200
75 NEW 75 1 ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE Brenda Lee 5000

DROP OUTS
31 10 5 I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS (SYMPHONIC VERSION) Foreigner 137900
36 14 5 SMALLTOWN BOY (SYMPHONIC VERSION) Bronski Beat 103000
50 36 5 SHELTER Monkey Safari 59600
53 12 9 ALL I AM Jess Glynne 184400
62 7 9 GRAVITY Paul Weller 283550
70 70 2 ABOVE THE LAW The O’Jays 12000