16. Don't You Want Me - Human League (1981) 558,000

 

 

Don't You Want Me was released in November 1981 as the fourth single from The Human League's third album Dare. It ended up becoming the Christmas #1 that year and has since sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK. It also made it to #16 upon a re-issue and #19 in 2014, due to a discount on iTunes if I remember correctly?

 

It seems strange to think 'Don't You Want Me' was a Christmas #1 - that's how much we associate the title with X Factor and charity singles!

15. A Moment Like This - Leona Lewis (2006) 571,000

 

 

Nine years ago now, Leona Lewis won the third series of The X Factor, beating runner-up Ray Quinn, both mentored by Simon Cowell. Leona's first single was a cover of Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This, and unsurprisingly it went to #1, and despite Leona being the most successful winner the show has produced, the single is not the biggest selling winning single - in fact, it's only the fifth biggest seller, recently being said to have sold 914k by the OCC.

 

14. Hallelujah - Alexandra Burke (2008) 576,000

 

 

From one X Factor winning single to another, Alexandra Burke became the second female winner when she won the show's fifth series in 2008, making Cheryl Fernandez-Versini the winning mentor in her first series as a judge. Alexandra beat JLS to the title and her single, a cover of Hallelujah, is the biggest selling winning single so far, having sold 1.291 million copies in the UK.

 

13. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston (1992) 586,000

 

 

I Will Always Love You was inititally a song recorded by Dolly Parton in 1974. The song peaked at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and did not chart in the UK. Whitney Houston covered the song and it was released in 1992, spending 14 weeks at the top of the Hot 100 (a record at the time). In the UK, it spent 10 weeks at the top spot and has been certified 2x platinum. It re-entered at #14 following Whitney's death in 2012.

 

Ugh a poor raft of tracks there apart obv from Human League with a songs which changed the 1980s!

How did Don't You Want Me change the 80s any more than Tainted Love or Blue Monday?

It's a defining pop song of the era and of any era, I didn't mention the other two!

 

Though they are very very good!

It's a defining pop song of the era and of any era, I didn't mention the other two!

 

Though they are very very good!

 

 

I just dont think it "changed" the 80s.

#19 in 2014, due to a discount on iTunes if I remember correctly?

 

It was a Facebook campaign by fans of Aberdeen FC.

I just dont think it "changed" the 80s.

 

I do it introduced the New Romantics along with a lot of other bands early tracks like Adam & the Ants and Spandeu Ballet in TOTPs 1980. It also was a million seller from a massive album Dare.

 

It is just my opinion though feel free to disagree.

It was a Facebook campaign by fans of Aberdeen FC.

 

Ah thanks! :D

I do it introduced the New Romantics along with a lot of other bands early tracks like Adam & the Ants and Spandeu Ballet in TOTPs 1980. It also was a million seller from a massive album Dare.

 

It is just my opinion though feel free to disagree.

Whilst it's true that HL were at the forefront of the new romantic movement musically their thunder was stolen by spandau ,adam and the ants and OMD who all hit the top 40 before they did. Arguably the cross over point was David Bowie's "Ashes to ashes " which introduced it to the mainstream UK public, again over a year before DYWM.

Yeh Ashes to Ashes was no1 this yr in TOTPs 1980 - a great track also. I do think DYWM really was the commercial high for it and a pure pop song.

12. Millennium Prayer - Cliff Richard (1999) 634,000

 

 

No stranger to the countdown, Cliff Richard crops up again with his third entry in the list. The Millennium Prayer was released as a charity single in 1999, and is made up of the words to the Our Father being sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. It wasn't written to be a chart hit, instead being written for a production called Hopes & Dreams. Richard's own label refused to release the song as a single so it was instead released through an independent label, Papillon Records. The song was ignored by many radio stations and critics panned it but that didn't stop it being a #1 single for three weeks, and the most recent of his #1s.

 

11. Stay Another Day - East 17 (1994) 646,000

 

 

Only just missing out on a top 10 place in the countdown, East 17 achieved the Christmas #1 in 1994 with this track, released as the third single from their second album Steam. The track is not a Christmas song itself, although Christmas bells were added near the end to help the song appeal to the Christmas market. It spent five weeks at #1 and was the fourth biggest selling boyband single of the 1990s.

 

10. Bohemian Rhapsody/ These Are The Days Of Our Lives - Queen (1991) 646,000

 

 

Into the top 10 now, and we're kicking off with one of the most iconic songs of all-time (and that's coming from someone who doesn't particularly like it :ph34r:). This release is slightly different however - the original Bohemian Rhapsody was released on its own in 1975, spending 9 weeks at #1. This was a re-release alongside new track These Are the Days of Our Lives. The video for this song features the final moments that Freddie Mercury spent in front of a camera before his death in 1991. This was released as a tribute to him, and it made Bohemian Rhapsody the only song to top the Christmas chart twice.

 

9. Mistletoe & Wine - Cliff Richard (1988) 675,000

 

 

Ah well look who it is :heehee: Cliff makes his fourth appearance, with 1988 Christmas hit Mistletoe & Wine. It was released as Richard's 99th single and it became his 12th #1 hit, also becoming the best selling single of 1988. The song is a well known Christmas classic to date, currently impacting at #134 on the Spotify chart :magic:

 

My grandmother bought Millennium Prayer and I actually still talk to her.

Mistletoe & Wine is a classic christmas hit, I remember reading the song came from a musical/Danish nursery rythm from the early twentieth century and Cliffs record company spotted its potential. (I heard this in a christmas countdown last year)

 

Bohemian Rapsody is immense, a great song. These are the Days of Our Lives is even more perfect with the emotional video - always makes me cry!!