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| OCC: Mariah vs. Wham, Which Christmas classic wins? |
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 9th December 2020, 09:11 AM
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 BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,952 User: 12,472 
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QUOTE Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You vs. Wham's Last Christmas: Which Christmas classic wins? 09 December 2020 | By Rob Copsey Choosing your favourite Christmas song is a bit like picking out a new festive jumper: they're all vaguely similar and have a very limited window of use each year - yet they're extremely, unequivocally important. And while there are plenty of Christmas classics to enjoy, when it comes to the Official Chart there are two obvious favourites that out-twinkle the rest: Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You, and Last Christmas by Wham!. Famously, neither song has reached Number 1 in the UK, but chart history could at long last change this week, as both battle it out for the top spot on the Official Singles Chart. Each track has a storied history on the Official Chart. Mariah's single lost out on the Christmas Number 1 to East 17 in 1994, while Wham! took second place to Band Aid's unstoppable Do They Know It's Christmas? in 1984. Recent years have seen both lead the charge on the annual resurgence of festive songs in the Top 40, propelled by Mariah's recent coronation as the Queen of Christmas, and fan-led campaigns for Wham! following George's untimely death on Christmas Day in 2016. Below, we put Christmas classics head-to-head, delving into their UK sales, streams and other celebrated chart stats. Who wins is for you to decide.. Official Chart peak Both AIWFCIY and Last Christmas have reached Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart, but Mariah has held the runner-up slot for more weeks overall, seven compared to six. Official all-time sales Based on pure sales only (downloads and physical single sales), both are million sellers and rank among the UK's best-sellers of all-time. Still, Wham! win this one by a considerable margin, fast-approaching 2 million copies sold, making it the UK's best-selling single not to reach Number 1 - though it does have the advantage of being released ten years before Mariah's song. Official UK streams Both boast impressive numbers, particularly for songs that pre-date the streaming era (by 20 years for Mariah and 30 years for Wham!). Mariah's figure has the added sparkle of being the UK's most-streamed Christmas song ever. Weeks on the Official Singles Chart Top 100 Last year saw AIWFCIY break a landmark 100 weeks on the Official Chart, though Last Christmas isn't far behind. Biggest week of UK streams Last Christmas wins this round, racking up a mightily festive 17.1 million UK plays in a single week last December. The song currently holds the Official Chart record for record for the most streams in a week. https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/m...ic-wins__31806/ |
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9th December 2020, 09:16 AM
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#2
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 January 2009
Posts: 7,064 User: 8,073
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Mariah will pass Wham eventually, though it'll take a minute or two.
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9th December 2020, 09:19 AM
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#3
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
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I don't get how 'Last Christmas' is "fast approaching" 2m sales. If they were referring to its post-1994 total including streams, then yes, (and its current post-1994 total is at 1.9m) but they've given 1.24m for Mariah which is her pure sales total.
The overall total for both songs (including streams): 3.29m for Wham and 2.82m for Mariah. |
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9th December 2020, 01:09 PM
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 Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
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You forget ‘Last Christmas’ is near enough bigger stats wise to Mariah but guess it’s been on sale 10 years more than her track!
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9th December 2020, 05:06 PM
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#5
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
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The 10 year head start thing is irrelevant really when we're talking about the physical era. The point is more that 'Last Christmas' was released physically twice. There was enough stock left in 1986 for it to chart a third time but in subsequent years it would have sold an negligible amount.
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9th December 2020, 05:07 PM
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#6
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BuzzJack Climber
Joined: 9 November 2017
Posts: 79 User: 47,347
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The Top 2 Sales for Dec/Jan 1984 between Band Aid and Wham! are just eye-watering!
 15 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 639,000... (2) Wham!... 348,000 22 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 567,000... (2) Wham!... 188,000 29 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 631,000... (2) Wham!... 195,000 05 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 306,000... (2) Wham!... 104,000 12 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 119,000... (2) Wham!... 85,000 19 Jan 85: (2) Band Aid... 61,000... (3) Wham!... 55,000 26 Jan 85: (8) Wham!... 31,000... (9) Band Aid... 27,000 In the first 7 weeks Band Aid: 2,350,000... Wham!... 1,006,000 Shaky was right to hold on another year to release “Merry Christmas Everyone!” 
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9th December 2020, 05:12 PM
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#7
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my mind is ready for fun
Joined: 28 August 2017
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QUOTE Biggest week of UK streams Last Christmas wins this round, racking up a mightily festive 17.1 million UK plays in a single week last December. The song currently holds the Official Chart record for record for the most streams in a week. The whole Jukebox Heaven saga, and most of Mariah's video streams mysteriously disappearing last year, rears its head yet again - it probably wouldn't have cut the gap to Ellie for #1 officially, but should undoubtedly have given Mariah the title of most streams in a week. She probably won't even break that this year either (because of how Christmas Day falls etc.) |
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9th December 2020, 05:16 PM
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#8
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Hello?
Joined: 8 March 2006
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QUOTE(Danny89 @ Dec 9 2020, 05:07 PM)  The Top 2 Sales for Dec/Jan 1984 between Band Aid and Wham! are just eye-watering! 15 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 639,000... (2) Wham!... 348,000 22 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 567,000... (2) Wham!... 188,000 29 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 631,000... (2) Wham!... 195,000 05 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 306,000... (2) Wham!... 104,000 12 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 119,000... (2) Wham!... 85,000 19 Jan 85: (2) Band Aid... 61,000... (3) Wham!... 55,000 26 Jan 85: (8) Wham!... 31,000... (9) Band Aid... 27,000 In the first 7 weeks Band Aid: 2,350,000... Wham!... 1,006,000 Shaky was right to hold on another year to release “Merry Christmas Everyone!” What a shame that Wham! couldn't overtake on week 6 - was that when airplay switched to Everything She Wants? The fact that both songs were top ten throughout January is also crazy, less so in the case of Wham! because at least they did have a non-seasonal track on the double-a, but I don't get why so many people were buying Band Aid into late January. |
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9th December 2020, 05:37 PM
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#9
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Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
Posts: 46,151 User: 5,138
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QUOTE(Liam.k. @ Dec 9 2020, 05:06 PM) The 10 year head start thing is irrelevant really when we're talking about the physical era. The point is more that 'Last Christmas' was released physically twice. There was enough stock left in 1986 for it to chart a third time but in subsequent years it would have sold an negligible amount. I always thought the 1985/86 chart sales were left overs from the first release, are they new releases of it? |
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9th December 2020, 05:43 PM
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#10
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,952 User: 12,472
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QUOTE(gooddelta @ Dec 9 2020, 05:16 PM) What a shame that Wham! couldn't overtake on week 6 - was that when airplay switched to Everything She Wants? The fact that both songs were top ten throughout January is also crazy, less so in the case of Wham! because at least they did have a non-seasonal track on the double-a, but I don't get why so many people were buying Band Aid into late January. The proceeds will still have gone to charity so I guess that was incentive to keep buying it if you hadn't already. |
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9th December 2020, 05:46 PM
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#11
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Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
Posts: 46,151 User: 5,138
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QUOTE(Danny89 @ Dec 9 2020, 05:07 PM) The Top 2 Sales for Dec/Jan 1984 between Band Aid and Wham! are just eye-watering! 15 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 639,000... (2) Wham!... 348,000 22 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 567,000... (2) Wham!... 188,000 29 Dec 84: (1) Band Aid... 631,000... (2) Wham!... 195,000 05 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 306,000... (2) Wham!... 104,000 12 Jan 85: (1) Band Aid... 119,000... (2) Wham!... 85,000 19 Jan 85: (2) Band Aid... 61,000... (3) Wham!... 55,000 26 Jan 85: (8) Wham!... 31,000... (9) Band Aid... 27,000 In the first 7 weeks Band Aid: 2,350,000... Wham!... 1,006,000 Shaky was right to hold on another year to release “Merry Christmas Everyone!” Thanks for the great overview of the sales!! Epic all round! Was the week after Xmas the biggest sales week in general, seemed to do its best then. Does anyone know If both tracks get released when the first play on radio occurred? |
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10th December 2020, 02:17 AM
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#12
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,452 User: 3,217
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QUOTE(Christmasteve201 @ Dec 9 2020, 05:46 PM) Was the week after Xmas the biggest sales week in general, seemed to do its best then. 29th Dec 1984 is its "week ending" date (a Saturday), but it refers to the chart that was announced on Sunday 23rd Dec 1984 - the Christmas chart. |
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10th December 2020, 02:30 AM
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#13
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 22 June 2015
Posts: 2,425 User: 22,008
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If we look at the last 15 years or so it’s clearly Mariah who wins!
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10th December 2020, 10:54 PM
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#14
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Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
Posts: 46,151 User: 5,138
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QUOTE(Jay* @ Dec 10 2020, 02:17 AM) 29th Dec 1984 is its "week ending" date (a Saturday), but it refers to the chart that was announced on Sunday 23rd Dec 1984 - the Christmas chart. Thanks, probably my favourite Christmas chart with so many classics Christmas and otherwise - Frankie, Paul McCartney and even Gary Glitters song was huge at the time! QUOTE(No Sleeep @ Dec 10 2020, 02:30 AM) If we look at the last 15 years or so it’s clearly Mariah who wins! Doesn’t work like that though! |
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11th December 2020, 07:47 AM
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 Ciao, 911? E 'Quagmire. Sì, è preso nella finestra di questo
Joined: 25 March 2011
Posts: 17,955 User: 13,341
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To answer some of the questions asked, the version of Band Aid released in 1985 was a remix by Trevor horn who should have done the original but didn't have time, the difference is negligible to be honest. It has a different b-side as well. The 85 version of Wham! Is an alternative edit of the single without ESW on the reverse.
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11th December 2020, 07:49 AM
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#16
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Ciao, 911? E 'Quagmire. Sì, è preso nella finestra di questo
Joined: 25 March 2011
Posts: 17,955 User: 13,341
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QUOTE(gooddelta @ Dec 9 2020, 05:16 PM) What a shame that Wham! couldn't overtake on week 6 - was that when airplay switched to Everything She Wants? The fact that both songs were top ten throughout January is also crazy, less so in the case of Wham! because at least they did have a non-seasonal track on the double-a, but I don't get why so many people were buying Band Aid into late January. ESW was promoted at radio and on TV pretty much from boxing day with new mixes of the single available from that week |
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11th December 2020, 07:51 AM
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#17
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Ciao, 911? E 'Quagmire. Sì, è preso nella finestra di questo
Joined: 25 March 2011
Posts: 17,955 User: 13,341
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QUOTE(Christmasteve201 @ Dec 9 2020, 05:46 PM) Thanks for the great overview of the sales!! Epic all round! Was the week after Xmas the biggest sales week in general, seemed to do its best then. Does anyone know If both tracks get released when the first play on radio occurred? Not sure about LC but DTKIC was put straight on air the week before it was released i think and played virtually hourly by radio 1 and the video was shown on TOTP on full before it charted |
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11th December 2020, 09:15 AM
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#18
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 4 April 2006
Posts: 3,445 User: 366
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QUOTE(Christmasteve201 @ Dec 9 2020, 05:37 PM) I always thought the 1985/86 chart sales were left overs from the first release, are they new releases of it? Both 1985 and 1986 releases were re-issues with different B sides. When Epic Records re-released the single in 1986 George Michael took legal action agianst the label and managed to get Epic to both withdraw the release and agree not to release the single in future. The agreement only applied to the UK and Ireland. In 2004 the song was released as a download without any fuss and so was able to chart once again when downloads were able to chart in 2007 without needing a physical equivalent. The 1986 agreement must have lapsed by now anyway as the 1984 pairing of 'Last Christmas' and 'Everything She Wants' was re-released as a 7" single.
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11th December 2020, 09:25 AM
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#19
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 4 April 2006
Posts: 3,445 User: 366
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QUOTE(Jay* @ Dec 10 2020, 02:17 AM) 29th Dec 1984 is its "week ending" date (a Saturday), but it refers to the chart that was announced on Sunday 23rd Dec 1984 - the Christmas chart. The charts back then were announced on a Tuesday, or a Wednesday if the Monday was a Bank Holiday. However the chart of 29/12/84 was never announced on Radio 1. It was usual at the time to not compile a chart between the Christmas and New Year (the previous chart was "frozen" until the after the new year). Gallup decided to compile a chart over the Christmas period in 1984 simply to update sales of 'Do They Know Its Christmas' plus by this point it was easy to compile a new chart as the whole process, from collecting sales information to producing the chart, was computerised. The chart was published in both Music Week and Record Mirror in their respective issues dated 5 January 1985 which was the first that I, or seemingly anyone else who followed the charts back then, knew a chart had been compiled for the previous week.
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11th December 2020, 12:51 PM
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#20
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Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
Posts: 46,151 User: 5,138
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QUOTE(Dasher @ Dec 11 2020, 07:51 AM) Not sure about LC but DTKIC was put straight on air the week before it was released i think and played virtually hourly by radio 1 and the video was shown on TOTP on full before it charted Cool thanks for the updates, so there was some held back potential there to exploit. |
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