This is a little something I have prepared as a celebration of Christmas Chart Day 2013. Nowadays it's normally a given that the winning puppet from the high-trousered one's 'talent' show will be Xmas #1, but historically a whole host of weird and wonderful novelty hits entered the chart battle, and still do to this day. So here is one novelty chart hit from every Christmas Chart Battle, covering the years 1970-2013, with one exception. I'm going to fly through these quite quickly this afternoon but feel free to comment on any of these, add any relevant information about them, suggest other novelty hits you would have chosen over my choices etc.

 

We start with 1970:

 

1970 – Clive Dunn – Grandad (^6 - later number 1)

 

 

1971 brought a novelty xmas #1, and one of my favourites

 

1971 – Benny Hill – Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West (Xmas #1)

 

1972 and with no disrespect intended to the artist of this it was really another novelty xmas #1

 

1972 – Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover From Liverpool (Xmas #1)

 

1973 is the one exception I mentioned in the opening to this, because that years christmas chart was only a top 30, and there were 27 fairly normal hits, and three christmas classics, so I'm at a loss as to what to include here and am open to your suggestions/opinions.

 

Straight to 1974 then and some lovable furry children's characters

 

1974 – The Wombles – Wombling Merry Christmas (^5)

 

Edited December 22, 201311 yr by DanChartFan

1975 and a classic silent comedy duo got themselves into a fine mess in the christmas chart.

 

1975 – Laurel And Hardy – Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (!3 - #2 previous week)

 

The next act actually made three of these in different years for the christmas chart battle, always using the techique of taking samples from recent big hits and telling a story from the bits.

 

1976 – Chris Hill – Bionic Santa (^10)

 

Edited December 22, 201311 yr by DanChartFan

And from 1977 here's a novelty hit that inspired another one. Whilst playing this hit, DJ Terry Wogan started singing along on his show with improvised lyrics, and ended up releasing his own version.

 

1977 – The Brighouse And Rastrick Brass Band – The Floral Dance (~2)

 

Edited December 22, 201311 yr by DanChartFan

1972 and with no disrespect intended to the artist of this it was really another novelty xmas #1

 

1972 – Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover From Liverpool (Xmas #1)

 

 

Does anyone else think that it's weird a 9-year-old kid singing a song with "lover" in the title?

1978 brings some more children's characters, and we'll hear from them again much later after they had sacked Father Abraham.

 

1978 – Father Abraham And The Smurfs – Christmas In Smurfland (^19)

 

Edited December 22, 201311 yr by DanChartFan

1979 brought this slice of cheese

 

1979 – Fiddler’s Dram – Day Trip To Bangor (Didn’t We Have A Lovely Time) (^4)

 

 

and as a bonus I've also added a later comedy cover by Jasper Carrot which is really funny, but just a warning that you may not wish to play this version if you have any small children in the room.

 

 

 

1980's christmas chart had several hits by John Lennon in it due to his recent death, but this hit managed to outdo them all.

 

1980 – St. Winfred’s School Choir – There’s No One Quite Like Grandma (Xmas #1)

 

Some men in suits so restrictive they couldn't properly perform the dance they were singing about, they never thought that through did they?

 

1981 – The Snowmen – Hokey Cokey (^18)

 

 

1982 saw novelty surge to the top of the christmas chart once again, and I've selected a lyrics video so that you can all enjoy singing along...

 

1982 – Renee And Renato – Save Your Love (Xmas #1)

 

Edited December 22, 201311 yr by DanChartFan

1983, and it's them blokes from Minder with a christmas conundrum.

 

1983 – Dennis Waterman and George Cole – What Are We Gonna Get ‘Er Indoors (*26)

 

In 1984 a former beatle brings us a choir of animated amphibians...

 

1984 – Paul McCartney And The Frog Chorus – We All Stand Together (~3)

 

1985, and it's that dance again, this time by a group who made an entire career out of novelty hits.

 

1985 – Black Lace – Hokey Cokey (^31)

 

Some puppets in the christmas chart in 1986, many years before Simon Cowell started doing it every year.

 

1986 – Spitting Image – Santa Claus Is On The Dole (^22)

 

This year we lost comic legend Mel Smith, at the fairly young age of 60. Back in 1987 he paired up with Kim Wilde to make this novelty hit for Comic Relief. There's a special tribute programme for Mel on Tues evening on BBC2 if you want to see some of his best comedy work again.

 

1987 – Mel (Smith) and Kim (Wilde) – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (^3)

 

1988 brought this meteorology themed novelty

 

1988 – The Tribe Of Toffs – John Kettley (Is A Weatherman) (^21)

 

I stepped over a certain lagomorphic hitmaker who was on his third charttopper the previous week, and therefore becoming a legitimate chart act rather than a true novelty, and instead chose this slightly incongruous hit in the christmas chart in 1989.

 

1989 – Andy Stewart – Donald Where’s Your Troosers (^4)