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31ST DECEMBER

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So the big day arrives and somewhat bizarrely the Christmas Chart wasn’t revealed until Boxing Day but no matter for Cliff Richard who is celebrating both the festive No 1 single and album this week in a complete domination of the field. “Mistletoe & Wine” sold a simply astonishing 213,000 copies last week, the first single to break the 200,000 mark since Band Aid back in 1984 and it brings the song’s total to 705,000 as it just, and I mean “just”, passes Yazz’s “The Only Way Is Up” as the year’s best seller inching past on Christmas Eve.



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In the end the victory was relatively convincing for Richard, Kylie & Jason spend a fourth week at the runner up spot but they are back to increasing to their sales by 72% in fact to 187,000 to see “Especially For You” chase “Mistletoe & Wine” through the YTD chart with 488,000 copies to date enough for No 7 on that list.





Even though it’s Christmas there are two new tracks inside the top 10, Neneh Cherry is attracting pretty much universal critical acclaim at present with her single “Buffalo Stance” but most critics would be none too pleased to find out it started life as a S/A/W co-penned track for a group called Morgan-McVey and featured Cherry on guitar in the promo (McVey is Cherry’s boyfriend). The B-Side was an alternative version featured Cherry on lead vocals with alternative lyrics and it’s this version that forms the current “Buffalo Stance” single. She’s had the song produced by the infinitely more credible Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass who has slung in some samples from Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” (which explains in part the title) along with Miami’s “Chicken Yellow” to give us the single that moves 13-7 (41,000)



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“Two Hearts” dips 8-10 (32,000) this week but it’s now not the only Collins/ Dozier collaboration in the top 10 as it is joined by “Loco In Acapulco” which is performed by The Four Tops and comes from the “Buster” soundtrack hence the connection to Collins. The group have had something of a renaissance this year with a new album “Indestructible” and a remixed “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” making No 11 back in August thanks to a PWL remix, now they have a 11th top 10 single in their 25 year chart career though a first in 7 years.







As you might expect with a sales period of 18-24th December sales are all on the up with some spectacular sales even below the top 2, Erasure hold at No 3 (78,000)



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and Angry Anderson sticks at No 4 (75,000)





with Status Quo getting the Christmas party started right 7-5 (54,000),





and though falling even Inner City (5-6) attract 45,000 buyers



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with Bros falling 6-8 but getting a sales increase to 39,000.



1- MISTLETOE AND WINE- Cliff Richard (213,000)
2- ESPECIALLY FOR YOU- Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan (187,000)
3- CRACKERS INTERNATIONAL EP- Erasure (78,000)
4- SUDDENLY- Angry Anderson (75,000)
5- BURNING BRIDGES (ON AND OFF AND ON AGAIN)- Status Quo (54,000)
6- GOOD LIFE- Inner City (45,000)
7- BUFFALO STANCE- Neneh Cherry (41,000)
8- CAT AMOUNG THE PIGEONS/ SILENT NIGHT- Bros (39,000)
9- LOCO IN ACAPULCO- The Four Tops (37,000)
10- TWO HEARTS- Phil Collins (32,000)

Top 10 in pics

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The point was that there was a subsequent drought in Ethiopia (admittedly not as bad as in 1984) and so Geldof approached S/A/W to record another version of the single to raise more money. Looked at in that light it gives more legitimacy to the 89 version over the 04 and 14 version.

Ah I see apologies, the sales are pretty low then considering - we will find the exact total out when you do that year in the coming days!

30TH DECEMBER



The festive chart arrives and produces not much at all, predictably Band Aid II remain at the top shifting another 181,000 copies, a 1% drop in sales indicating that it will not probably be a million seller and will struggle now that the big day has arrived. Its tally of 365,000 after 14 days isn’t a bad tally within the confines of the year (it is already the 12th biggest seller of 1989) but it looks less impressive compared to most of the Christmas chart toppers from previous years.





Showing more tenacity than most predicted Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers find themselves with the Christmas No 2 single & album clearly evidencing the great year they’ve had, barred from the top by Phil Collins in the albums, the single “Let’s Party” has sold 283,000 copies in just 3 weeks including 113,000 last week (the highest tally for the No 2 spot in the year) that’s up 35% week on week.



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It was more than enough to hold Jason Donovan at arm’s length however, he increased sales too by 26% to 73,000.



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Further down and there are some movements, Andy Stewart bumps 6-4 (63,000)





while Madonna follows him 7-5 (61,000) both with healthy sales boosts.





Everything in the top 10 with the exception of Band Aid gains sales regardless of the direction of movement, Soul II Soul drop 4-6 (59,000),



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Kaoma fall 5-7 (53,000),





Tina Turner holds at No 8 for a third week (41,000)



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as do Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville at No 9 (39,000).



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The sole new track in the top 10 comes from Bros. The duo were pretty much written off as down the dumper after first “Chocolate Box” peaked at No 9 followed by the album “The Time” only making No 4 and selling a mere 120,000 so far, it rallies slightly this week 52-50 but the third single from it “Sister” has surprised us all by being the first Bros single to climb since “I Owe You Nothing” and boy it had to after debuting at No 32! It’s since moved 32-12-10 selling 36,000 last week alone, it’s written about Matt & Luke’s sister Carolyn who was killed last summer in a car accident and becomes the boys 8th straight top 10 single.




1- DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS- Band Aid II (181,000)
2- LET’S PARTY- Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers (113,000)
3- WHEN YOU COME BACK TO ME- Jason Donovan (73,000)
4- DONALD WHERE’S YOUR TROOSERS-Andy Stewart (63,000)
5- DEAR JESSIE- Madonna (61,000)
6- GET A LIFE- Soul II Soul (59,000)
7- LAMBADA- Kaoma (53,000)
8- I DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU- Tina Turner (41,000)
9- DON’T KNOW MUCH- Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville (39,000)
10- SISTER- Bros (36,000)

Top 10 in pics

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Thanks to everyone who contributed- hope you enjoyed our little trip down memory lane- might do the 90s next year!

Pretty boring top 10 for 1989 tbf, although there's some songs I haven't heard and when I get home from work to listen to them I shall say more. Although I wont be stupid enough to listen to Jive bunny lol.

 

I take it we are entering that period when vinyl sales were being replaced by cd singles and sales were in decline?

Yes sales were pretty much in decline from 1984 onwards though still much better than say 1992 or the mid 00s.

Thanks for this countdown Dasher - I've thoroughly enjoyed it as I'm sure you have saw from my replies!!

Coincidentally, I saw a 7" of that Jive Bunny song in a charity shop today. I didn't buy it obviously, even though it would be the original un-edited version.

Strangely, I have Band Aid II on a compilation called The Greatest Hits Of 1990.

It took years for Band Aid II to appear on another compilation after 1990, but it was on Pop Party Christmas a year or two ago.

 

The Jive Bunny track...an even cheaper sounding medley than the others, I just don't get the appeal! And I see the version with the Gary Glitter song is still on Youtube :o

I love that 'Let's Party' doesn't even use the originals but soundalikes :P Megamixes were massive for a few years in the late 1980s/early 1990s, I suppose they were a really easy way of guaranteeing everyone on a dancefloor with four or five favourites in one song. Today anyone can edit a few Youtube videos together so the novelty is somewhat lost.

It took years for Band Aid II to appear on another compilation after 1990, but it was on Pop Party Christmas a year or two ago

The amount of times NOW Christmas was re-hashed, I'm surprised it never appeared on one of the re-hashes

Edited December 22, 20168 yr by Hadji

I love that 'Let's Party' doesn't even use the originals but soundalikes :P Megamixes were massive for a few years in the late 1980s/early 1990s, I suppose they were a really easy way of guaranteeing everyone on a dancefloor with four or five favourites in one song. Today anyone can edit a few Youtube videos together so the novelty is somewhat lost.

 

That's probably where radio 1s summer/Xmas mixes have come from lol