The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas hits

The OCC 3/12/17

 

A mere 12 Official Christmas Number 1s have been about the festive season, with the rest of them simply being the big songs that everybody loved at that time of year. In recognition of the fact that there's more to Christmas than jingle bells, we count down the best selling songs associated with the most wonderful time of the year, be they a Christmas Number 1 or a seasonal fave.

 

Only some sales were given.

 

The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas hits:

TRACK ARTIST (SALES) YEAR

1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 3.8m 1984

2 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 2.53m 1975/1991

3 MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL WINGS 1977

4 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1.88m 1978

5 LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS WHAM! 1.82m 1984

6 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THE BEATLES 1963

7 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON 1.64m 1992

8 DON'T YOU WANT ME? HUMAN LEAGUE 1981

9 I FEEL FINE THE BEATLES 1964

10 WE CAN WORK IT OUT/DAY TRIPPER THE BEATLES 1964

11 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 1.3m 2008

12 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1973

13 GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME TOM JONES 1966

14 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK THE POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL 1987

15 EARTH SONG MICHAEL JACKSON 1995

16 MARY'S BOY CHILD HARRY BELAFONTE 1.18m 1957

17 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 20 2004

18 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY 1.17m 1994

19 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2) PINK FLOYD 1979

20 2 BECOME 1 SPICE GIRLS 1996

©2017 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

 

So its really biggest hits in December.

 

Here is an alternative list as broadcast on VH1 and MTV this week.

 

Top 20 Christmas hits

1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 3.8m

2 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 2.54m

3 MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL WINGS 2.08m

4 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1.89m

5 LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS WHAM! 1.83m

6 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON 1.64m

7 DON'T YOU WANT ME? HUMAN LEAGUE 1.64m

8 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 1.28m

9 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1.26m

10 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK THE POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL 1.26m

11 EARTH SONG MICHAEL JACKSON 1.21m

12 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 20 1.18m

13 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY 1.15m

14 2 BECOME 1 SPICE GIRLS 1.14m

15 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD 1.1m

16 WHITE CHRISTMAS BING CROSBY 1.05M

17 CAN WE FIX IT? BOB THE BUILDER 1.03M

18 WHEN WE COLLIDE MATT CARDLE 1.02M

19 HAPPY XMAS JOHN & YOKO 0.94M

20 A CHILD IS BORN JOHNNY MATHIS 0.92M

 

Both lists are based on official sales, yet there are some discrepancies.

Hits from the 50s and 60s have been left out.

I assume that streams have been excluded.

 

Based on the top 311 millionaires (sales only) we get another list, with more accurate sales figures.

POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR SALES

1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 1984 3,802,066

2 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 1975 2,540,604

3 MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL WINGS 1977 2,086,183

4 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1978 1,885,274

5 LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS WHAM! 1984 1,825,115

6 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THE BEATLES 1963 1,810,829

7 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON 1992 1,642,360

8 DON'T YOU WANT ME? HUMAN LEAGUE 1981 1,637,503

9 I FEEL FINE THE BEATLES 1964 1,423,196

10 WE CAN WORK IT OUT/DAY TRIPPER THE BEATLES 1964 1,402,308

11 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 2008 1,310,017

12 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1973 1,306,566

13 GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME TOM JONES 1966 1,257,737

14 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL 1987 1,217,112

15 EARTH SONG MICHAEL JACKSON 1995 1,210,297

16 MARY'S BOY CHILD HARRY BELAFONTE 1957 1,187,752

17 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 20 2004 1,184,396

18 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY 1994 1,172,436

19 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2) PINK FLOYD 1979 1,146,548

20 2 BECOME 1 SPICE GIRLS 1996 1,137,775

21 WHITE CHRISTMAS BING CROSBY 1942 1,047,349

22 CAN WE FIX IT? BOB THE BUILDER 2000 1,029,644

23 WHEN WE COLLIDE MATT CARDLE 2010 1,017,149

24 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO 1972 937,801

Edited December 5, 20177 yr by ben08

Thanks for this list - are they sales including last years added?

Spices only managing 20 :/

Thanks for this list - are they sales including last years added?

 

I assume the sales are up to date.

Thank Ben, will be difficult to track sales only for the xmas songs from now on which is what I try to do!

Human league ? Don't get me wrong its a fantastic song but by that logic James Arthur should be included (its the biggest ever winners single)

 

Never mind I read season not Christmas number 1 or seasonal faves

 

Edited December 6, 20177 yr by 777666jason

Thank Ben, will be difficult to track sales only for the xmas songs from now on which is what I try to do!

 

This might help you!

 

Some more sales figures.

 

The OCC. 06 December 2017

The biggest new Christmas songs: How do they compare to the classics?

We look at some of the biggest Christmas songs released this decade - but do they hold a candle to the likes of Mariah, The Pogues and Shakin' Stevens?

 

By Rob Copsey

 

Mariah. Wham. The Pogues. Shakin' Stevens. So ingrained are the Christmas classics into popular culture that they're as much a staple of the festive season as mince pies, pigs in blankets and the Queen's speech.

Thanks to the introduction of downloads in 2005 and streaming in 2014, their annual resurgence is marked on the charts; this week will see a string of vintage yuletide favourites surge up the Top 40, some which first charted over 40 years ago.

 

When it comes to Christmas songs, the old adage goes that they don't make 'em like they used to. This ends now. Below are a selection of festive tunes released this decade that are not only essential additions to your Christmas playlist, but are sizing up a spot the hall of fame.

 

Leona Lewis – One More Sleep (2013)

Peak: 3

Combined sales: 250,000

Streams: 7.1m

One More Sleep's Motown-with-sleigh-bells sound made it feel like an instant classic when it was released in December 2013. It's one of the highest charting 'modern' Christmas songs, topping out at Number 3, while the track itself perfectly captures the excitement of the build up to the big day.

 

Coldplay – Christmas Lights (2010)

Peak: 13

Combined sales: 257,000

Streams: 10.3m

It lacks the jauntiness of the usual festive favourites, but then this is Coldplay. Christmas Lights encapsulates the bittersweetness of the season ("I took my feet To Oxford Street/ Trying to right a wrong"), particularly around the two minute mark when it switches up from a po-faced piano ballad to stadium-sized singalong.

 

Sia - Santa's Coming For Us (2017)

This year has seen Sia toss her Christmas-themed wig into the festive music circuit with her first Christmas album, Every Day Is Christmas. Lead single Santa's Coming For Us is ridiculously catchy number with a timeless video to boot that is just shy of one million streams in the UK already.

 

Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me (2014)

Peak: 68

Sales: 137,000

Streams: 10m

Ariana's attempt at a seasonal staple is a three-and-a-half minute festive romp that's part '60s girl group pastiche, part the sort of thing you'd expect to accompany a dazzling display atop a Disneyland Christmas parade float. Full marks for pep and charm.

 

Michael Bublé – It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (2011)

Peak: 27

Sales: 252,000

Streams: 18.2m

The popular choice from his extremely popular Christmas album, Michael Buble's rendition of the 1950s standard, released in 2011, is now up there with Perry Como and Bing Crosby's versions.

 

Justin Bieber – Mistletoe (2011)

Peak: 21

Sales: 218,000

Streams: 9m

Christmas albums are particularly popular with US artists and Justin Bieber wasted no time in getting his out, releasing it as the follow-up to his debut album, My World, in 2011. Lead single Mistletoe is a curious mix of reggae, R&B and pop with lashing of sleigh bells slathered over the top, but it's holding up over time, having been streamed nine million times in the UK since records began in 2014.

 

Kylie Minogue - Every Day's Like Christmas (2015)

Taken from her 2015 album Kylie Christmas, Every Day's Like Christmas was originally recorded as a winter-warming ballad but found new life after undergoing a remix by Stock Aitken Waterman. Unsurprisingly, it could easily sit amongst her '80s hits and seems to be the preferred version with fans, now approaching one million streams.

 

Sam Smith – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (2014)

Peak: 65

Sales: 74,000

Streams: 5.6m

First recorded by Judy Garland in 1944, Sam's take on the festive standard holds the accolade of being the first version of the song to chart in America, reaching Number 90. In the UK, that distinction goes to Judy's collaboration with daughter Lorna Luft in 1995, but it's Sam's version that the public seem to be revisiting, notching up 5.6 million streams to date.

 

Kelly Clarkson – Underneath The Tree (2013)

Peak: 30

Sales: 118,000

Streams: 6.3m

The lead single from Kelly's Wrapped In Red album is the equivalent of a double shot of Bailey's, taking precisely six seconds to kick in before sweeping you up into a four-minute burst of festive hysteria.

 

Hurts – All I Want For Christmas Is New Year’s Day (2010)

Peak: -

Sales: 20,000

Streams: 1.4m

Hurts's Christmas offering strikes a near-perfect balance between happy and sad. "Everybody waits for Christmas, for me it's New Year's Day," singer Theo sings over plodding church bells, rejecting the big C but remaining hopeful next year will be different.

 

 

And now the Christmas Albums.

 

08 December 2017

The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas albums of the century

 

We count down the top artist festive collections since 2000 – who's top of the tree?

 

By Justin Myers

We all have our favourite Christmas songs we return to year after year, but for the hardcore Yuletide nut, only a full Christmas album with fresh renditions of festive standards and new future favourites will do.

Few are brave enough to tackle a Christmas album - Sia, Gwen Stefani and Keane's Tom Chaplin are the latest to have a go - but of those that do, who's been filling stockings and soundtracking magic gift-giving moments the most this century? OfficialCharts.com is counting down the top selling festive artists collections of the 21st century, so far…

 

When it comes to Christmas album sales, the star at the very top of the tree is twinkly-eyed crooner Michael Bublé. His seasonal set – entitled Christmas, just so there was no room for doubt – is the ONLY Christmas Number 1 Album in chart history with the word "Christmas" in the title. It spent three non-consecutive weeks at the top on its release in 2011, and has returned to the Top 10 every year since! Christmas has sold a whopping 2.6 million in the UK according to Official Charts Company data, has spent almost six months in the Top 10 in total over the last five years and is the UK's 21st biggest selling album since 2000.

 

Over to another favourite crooner, Rod Stewart takes second place with his 2012 collection Merry Christmas Baby (626,000 sales). Plus, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Sir Cliff, and he's up in third with the aptly named Cliff At Christmas (408,000), originally released in 2003. The King of Rock n Roll also fills a spot in the UK's Top 20 best-selling Christmas Albums. Elvis's Christmas Peace takes fifth position (313,000). It may have been released back in 1994, but Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas is still a strong-seller in the 2000s. The album, which includes million-selling All I Want For Christmas is You – is the seventh best-selling festive album since 2000 (216,000 since 2000, 305,000 overall).

 

There are good showings from festive sets by Charlotte Church (12) and Justin Bieber (13) and pop princesses Kylie Minogue and Leona Lewis also make it into the sparkling rundown with their recent seasonal releases – Kylie Christmas and Christmas With Love park their sleighs at 15 and 20 respectively.

 

The Top 20 biggest selling Christmas albums of the 21st Century

1 CHRISTMAS MICHAEL BUBLE 2012

2 MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY ROD STEWART 2012

3 CLIFF AT CHRISTMAS CLIFF RICHARD 2003

4 ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS PARTY JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS 2003

5 CHRISTMAS PEACE ELVIS PRESLEY 2003

6 A CHRISTMAS CORNUCOPIA ANNIE LENNOX 2010

7 MERRY CHRISTMAS MARIAH CAREY 1994

8 MY CHRISTMAS ANDREA BOCELLI 2009

9 ONE CHANCE - CHRISTMAS EDITION PAUL POTTS 2007

10 THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM DANIEL O'DONNELL 2004

11 THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM ALED JONES 2004

12 DREAM A DREAM CHARLOTTE CHURCH 2000

13 UNDER THE MISTLETOE JUSTIN BIEBER 2011

14 THE RAT PACK CHRISTMAS ALBUM RAT PACK 2004

15 KYLIE CHRISTMAS KYLIE MINOGUE 2015

16 HOME FOR CHRISTMAS SUSAN BOYLE 2013

17 THE SNOWMAN BLAKE/CRIBBINS/AUTY 1984

18 THIS IS CHRISTMAS KATHERINE JENKINS 2012

19 CLASSIC CHRISTMAS JOE MCELDERRY 2011

20 CHRISTMAS WITH LOVE LEONA LEWIS 2013

 

This chart is based on combined sales of albums since week 1 2000.

©2017 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

The Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas albums of the century

 

15 KYLIE CHRISTMAS KYLIE MINOGUE 2015

16 HOME FOR CHRISTMAS SUSAN BOYLE 2013

17 THE SNOWMAN BLAKE/CRIBBINS/AUTY 1984

18 THIS IS CHRISTMAS KATHERINE JENKINS 2012

19 CLASSIC CHRISTMAS JOE MCELDERRY 2011

20 CHRISTMAS WITH LOVE LEONA LEWIS 2013

 

Glad to see Leona has snuck into the top 20. I can imagine the sales in this chunk are all quite close together. Only ones I can see climbing over the years from this group are Kylie and Leona. Got to both be doing better in sales and streaming at this point than Joe McElderry & Susan Boyle.

VH1 and MTV have played the complete Top 50 Christmas hits over the weekend. Here are nos. 21 to 50, based on official OCC sales data.

 

21 A MOMENT LIKE THIS LEONA LEWIS 0.92M

22 MILLENIUM PRAYER CLIFF RICHARD 0.92M

23 MISTLETOE AND WINE CLIFF RICHARD 0.9M

24 GOODBYE THE SPICE GIRLS 0.9M

25 STAY ANOTHER DAY EAST 17 0.86M

26 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE 0.86M

27 LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS MUD 0.85M

28 MAD WORLD MICHAEL ANDREWS 0.8M

29 I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY WIZARD 0.8M

30 KILLING IN THE NAME RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 0.8M

31 THE POWER OF LOVE FRANKIS GOES TO HOLLYWOOD 0.74M

32 WHEREVER YOU GO MILITARY WIVES 0.72M

33 TOO MUCH THE SPICE GIRLS 0.68M

34 SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND GIRLS ALOUD 0.67M

35 I HAVE A DREAM WESTLIFE 0.65M

36 I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISWTMAS GREG LAKE 0.51M

37 WHEN YOU BELIEVE LEON JACKSON 0.51M

38 DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS BAND AID II 0.48M

39 STOP THE CALVARY JONA LEWIS 0.47M

40 WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS THE WOMBLES 0.47M

41 CHRISTMAS TIME THE4 DARKNESS 0.46M

42 HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER JUSTICE COLLECTIVE 0.46M

43 SOMETHIN’ STUPID ROBBIE WILLIAMS AND NICOLE KIDMAN 0.39M

44 PIPES OF PEACE PAUL McCARTNEY 0.38M

45 ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE MEL AND KIM 0.33M

46 A WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME PAUL McCARTNEY 0.31M

47 SAVIOUR’S DAY CLIFF RICHARD 0.31M

48 DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS CHRIS REA 0.26M

49 PEACE ON EARTH/LITTLE DRUMMER BOY DAVID BOWIE/BING CROSBY 0.24M

50 IN DULCI JUBILO MIKE OLDFIELD 0.22M

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see Joe mcelderry fall out of the top 20 what with leona and the new Elvis but is surprising that its even top 20 at the moment especially higher than Leona

Susan Boyle's The Gift certified 2 times platinum was left out of the Christmas albums list. Should definitely be there.

Last night Channel 5 aired Britain’s favourite Christmas hits (based on OCC sales). They played the top 65 songs and gave actual sales figures. The songs had to be related to Christmas so all the non-Christmas December big sellers were excluded. Here’s the top 10.

 

1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 3,650,000

2 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1,840,000

3 LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS WHAM! 1,610,000

4 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1,150,000

5 WHITE CHRISTMAS BING CROSBY 990,000

6 MILLENNIUM PRAYER CLIFF RICHARD 910,000

7 A CHILD IS BORN JOHNNY MATHIS 890,000

8 MISTLETOE AND WINE CLIFF RICHARD 865,000

9 HAPPY XMAS JOHN & YOKO 860,000

10 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK THE POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL 815,000

 

Not very up to date! However, the closing credits revealed that the programme was made in 2011. At least we can see the increase in sales due to digital downloads and streaming by comparing with this year’s list.

Looking forward to next year's list.

Edited December 14, 20177 yr by ben08