Yeh that was one of my favourite charts ever especially since it was the first proper Xmas song released in years by a current band which had support and was liked by the GP!

Even in the 90s Xmas #1 wasn't always aimed at to be #1 for one particular week: I Will Always Love You, Earth Song, Stay Another Day for example were released way before the Xmas chart. In that sense, Perfect and Thank U Next are just that: a single released late in the year that carries on at #1.

 

Perfect in particular was very "Christmassy" as a song.

 

Also, it was awful to witness Ben Haenow win over Uptown Funk so less campaigns and X Factor the better.

Edited December 15, 20186 yr by SKOB

The enjoyable part was the build-up during the week. It wasn't even about the song itself.

1998, 2000, 2003 & 2009 stick out when I remember HUGE chart battles.

 

Xmas 2003 in general was amazing after a fall in physical sales from 2002.

Off the top of my head we had: Ozzy/Kelly osbourne, sugababes, atomic kitten, evanescence, Christina aguilera, Blue/Stevie wonder, Cheeky girls, The darkness, Michael Andrews/Gary jules, Bo selecta etc and many more I've probably forgotten.

 

Oh yes, the idols were favourites at first to be Xmas No.1, and then quickly we realised that was not going to happen. They eventually peaked at No.5. The battle between The Darkness & Michael Andrews is one of my favourite charts ever. The daily reports seemed anything could happen, with both songs swapping places, and so so close between the two.

 

Michael Andrews ultimately won by 227,000, a 5K victory over The Darkness.

 

The Darkness ahould have won :(

 

Both those songs were great in 2003!

Agree the 2003 was the last proper Xmas chart - dead exciting and the right song won as well.

What annoys me is Spotify and Apple Music keep songs at #1 on Hot Hits and major playlists for weeks on end.

 

Obviously they are big songs but when a songs been #1 for 6 weeks maybe it's time to rotate them slightly, It wouldn't make dramatic differences but it's so dull when everything's stagnant.

 

I loved thank you, next but I'm so utterly bored with it now :(

Edited December 15, 20186 yr by Mr. C. Joel

What annoys me is Spotify and Apple Music keep songs at #1 on Hot Hits and major playlists for weeks on end.

 

Obviously they are big songs but when a songs been #1 for 6 weeks maybe it's time to rotate them slightly.

Spotify changes the #1 on Hot Hits UK every week, sometimes a couple of times a week...

Spotify changes the #1 on Hot Hits UK every week, sometimes a couple of times a week...

Hot Hits was just an example, she's been #1 on other playlists for weeks.

 

Either way streaming has pretty much killed the chart even Buzzjack isn't like it used to be because the charts are so static.

Sales were so low in 2003 that Andrews/Jules and Darkness made it to the year-end top 20 on that week's sales alone.

 

And Band Aid 20 prevented a bigger nosedive in sales for 2004.

Edited December 16, 20186 yr by N-S

Minty not tweeting about who's #1!!!!! That's THE sign that no one cares :(

Sales were so low in 2003 that Andrews/Jules and Darkness made it to the year-end top 20 on that week's sales alone.

 

And Band Aid 20 prevented a bigger nosedive in sales for 2004.

 

That's because cd sales remained high later in the year as more people were in the shops and so picked them up for stocking fillers still The as downloads were only really still on the rise!