December 15, 20222 yr I whole-heartedly disagree :P If we're going explicitly by the criteria specified then for me it would be Ed Sheeran's Perfect. One of his better ballads. :puke2:
December 15, 20222 yr My favourite Christmas No 1's (for sales during the week which included Christmas Day): 1958 It's only make believe Conway Twitty 1964 I feel fine Beatles - the first year I actually remember... 1974 Lonely this Christmas Mud 1975 Bohemian rhapsody Queen 1976 When a child is born (Soleado) Johnny Mathis 1981 Don't you want me Human League 1982 Save your love Renée and Renato 1988 Especially for you Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan 1994 Stay another day East 17 2006 Moment like this Leona Lewes 2012 Impossible James Arthur 2020 Last Christmas Wham! Of the Christmas ones, I rank them 1-2020, 2-1994, 3-1974. Edited December 15, 20222 yr by Tuttavilla
December 15, 20222 yr The following Christmas #1s I would class as all time great singles - 1959 - What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For 1961 - Moon River 1963 - I Want to Hold Your Hand 1964 - I Feel Fine 1965 - We Can Work It Out / Day Trippier 1967 - Hello, Goodbye 1973 - Merry Xmas Everybody 1975 - Bohemian Rhapsody 1979 - Another Brick in the Wall 1981 - Don’t You Want Me 1986 - Reet Petitie 1987 - Always On My Mind 1991 - These Are the Days of Our Lives 1994 - Stay Another Day 1996 - 2 Become 1 2002 - Sound of the Underground 2003 - Mad World 2009 - Killing in the Name None since RATM IMO
December 15, 20222 yr Some Christmas observations. Singles: “Do they know it’s Christmas?” has been the Christmas No 1 on three separate occasions by three different groups of various artists. “Bohemian rhapsody” has been the Christmas No 1 on two separate occasions by the same artist. Beatles have had four Christmas No. 1’s, including a hat-trick. Band Aid have had three Christmas No 1's, all with the same song. Cliff Richard, Queen and Spice Girls have had two Christmas No 1's each. Paul McCartney has had four Christmas No. 1’s as a member of the Beatles in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967; he had a solo Christmas No. 1 in 1977 and he performed on the first and third Band Aid songs in 1984 and 2004, making a total of seven Christmas appearances; he co-wrote all four Beatles' Christmas No. 1's and he also co-wrote the 1968 Christmas No. 1, a track record that is unlikely to ever be bettered. Cliff Richard performed on the second Band Aid song in 1989, making a total of three appearances. He was also No. 1 in the charts the week before Christmas in 1988 and 1990. Ladbaby had 4 consecutive songs at No 1 2018-2021 for what the media termed Christmas the No 1s but the sales took place in a 7-day range which did not include 25th December. Albums: One album has been the Christmas No 1 for three consecutive years: 'South Pacific' from 1958-1960, a unique occurrence; no other album has even managed two years. Various artists - Compilations - have had eight Christmas No 1's. The Beatles have had six Christmas No 1's. Original Soundtracks - three different albums - have had five Christmas No 1's. Robbie Williams and Ed Sheeran have had four Christmas No 1's. Take That have had three Christmas No 1's. Abba, Rod Stewart and Michael Bublé have had two Christmas No 1's. Only five acts have managed to land the Christmas No 1 for both the Singles and Albums in the same year: Beatles have done it three times, as a hat-trick, from 1963-1965. Queen (1975) Spice Girls (1996) Robbie Williams (2001) and Ed Sheeran (2017) have done it once.
December 15, 20222 yr "for what the media termed Christmas the No 1s" Sounds like it actually was the Christmas #1 to me!
December 15, 20222 yr "for what the media termed Christmas the No 1s" Sounds like it actually was the Christmas #1 to me! I hear you. However, how do you define exactly which date(s) represent the Christmas No 1? My solution for any date in the year is the week in which the public actually bought, downloaded, etc. the song - thus, there can be no argument that Christmas Day is fixed as 25th December which begets statistical consistency.
December 15, 20222 yr Here are the years and songs where "The Christmas No 1" was different the following week: 1955 Christmas alphabet Dickie Valentine **** 1955 Rock around the clock Bill Haley and his Comets 1956 Just walkin' in the rain Johnnie Ray **** 1956 Singing the blues Guy Mitchell 1962 Return to sender Elvis Presley **** 1962 The next time Cliff Richard and the Shadows 1968 Lily the pink The Scaffold **** 1968 Ob-la-di ob-la-da The Marmalade 1978 Mary's boy child - Oh my Lord Boney M **** 1978 Y.M.C.A. The Village People 1988 Mistletoe and wine Cliff Richard **** 1988 Especially for you Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan 1990 Saviour's day Cliff Richard **** 1990 Bring your daughter to the slaughter Iron Maiden 1998 Goodbye The Spice Girls **** 1998 Chocolate salty balls (PS I love you) Chef 2009 Killing in the name Rage against the Machine **** 2009 Climb Joe McElderry 2011 Wherever you are Military Wives with Gareth Malone **** 2011 Paradise Coldplay 2012 He ain't heavy, he's my Brother Justice Collective **** 2012 Impossible James Arthur 2013 Skyscraper Sam Bailey **** 2013 Happy Pharrell Williams 2014 Something I need Ben Haenow **** 2014 Uptown funk Mark Ronson 2015 Bridge over you Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir **** 2015 Love yourself Justin Bieber 2018 We built this city (on sausage rolls) LadBaby **** 2018 Sweet but psycho Ava Max 2019 I love sausage rolls (I love rock 'n' roll) LadBaby **** 2019 River Ellie Goulding 2020 Don't stop me eatin' Ladbaby **** 2020 Last Christmas Wham! 2021 Sausage rolls for everyone Ladbaby **** 2021 Merry Christmas Ed Sheeran and Elton John
December 15, 20222 yr but The Christmas #1 has always been what song is at (OCC) #1 on Christmas Day regardless of what song sold the most on the 25th of December itself - which for the last 4 years has been LadBaby's output
December 15, 20222 yr Don't care what anyone says - Ed's Perfect is a classic love song and was a worthy Christmas #1 Rockabye was also excellent. Would really like to see decent pop hits have a chance again. Raye or Lewis Capaldi for #1 this year would've been nice. Edited December 15, 20222 yr by AcerBen
December 15, 20222 yr Forgetting the rules here but All I Want For Christmas Is You is a perfect pop song and a wonderful Christmas favourite. Deserves number 1 every year
December 15, 20222 yr The last one I *loved* was Rockabye, and before that it was Hallelujah (will stand by Burke's cover of that any day, it's gorgeous). Sound of the Underground is obviously the best one of the 21st century though :wub:
December 15, 20222 yr but The Christmas #1 has always been what song is at (OCC) #1 on Christmas Day regardless of what song sold the most on the 25th of December itself - which for the last 4 years has been LadBaby's output Yes this. So what ever is number one on Friday week will be no1 officially on Sunday 25th dec so is the Xmas no1 week ending 30/12/22.
December 15, 20222 yr Some Christmas observations. Singles: “Do they know it’s Christmas?” has been the Christmas No 1 on three separate occasions by three different groups of various artists. “Bohemian rhapsody” has been the Christmas No 1 on two separate occasions by the same artist. Beatles have had four Christmas No. 1’s, including a hat-trick. Band Aid have had three Christmas No 1's, all with the same song. Cliff Richard, Queen and Spice Girls have had two Christmas No 1's each. Paul McCartney has had four Christmas No. 1’s as a member of the Beatles in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967; he had a solo Christmas No. 1 in 1977 and he performed on the first and third Band Aid songs in 1984 and 2004, making a total of seven Christmas appearances; he co-wrote all four Beatles' Christmas No. 1's and he also co-wrote the 1968 Christmas No. 1, a track record that is unlikely to ever be bettered. Cliff Richard performed on the second Band Aid song in 1989, making a total of three appearances. He was also No. 1 in the charts the week before Christmas in 1988 and 1990. Ladbaby had 4 consecutive songs at No 1 2018-2021 for what the media termed Christmas the No 1s but the sales took place in a 7-day range which did not include 25th December. Albums: One album has been the Christmas No 1 for three consecutive years: 'South Pacific' from 1958-1960, a unique occurrence; no other album has even managed two years. Various artists - Compilations - have had eight Christmas No 1's. The Beatles have had six Christmas No 1's. Original Soundtracks - three different albums - have had five Christmas No 1's. Robbie Williams and Ed Sheeran have had four Christmas No 1's. Take That have had three Christmas No 1's. Abba, Rod Stewart and Michael Bublé have had two Christmas No 1's. Only five acts have managed to land the Christmas No 1 for both the Singles and Albums in the same year: Beatles have done it three times, as a hat-trick, from 1963-1965. Queen (1975) Spice Girls (1996) Robbie Williams (2001) and Ed Sheeran (2017) have done it once. Another stat - ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ was no1 in two different years for two different artists - Harry Belafonte in 1957 and Bony M in 1978! Edited December 15, 20222 yr by Christmasteve201
December 16, 20222 yr 'Rockabye' without a doubt... but you missed a trick by not creating a poll for this.
December 16, 20222 yr The following Christmas #1s I would class as all time great singles - 1959 - What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For 1961 - Moon River 1963 - I Want to Hold Your Hand 1964 - I Feel Fine 1965 - We Can Work It Out / Day Trippier 1967 - Hello, Goodbye 1973 - Merry Xmas Everybody 1975 - Bohemian Rhapsody 1979 - Another Brick in the Wall 1981 - Don’t You Want Me 1986 - Reet Petitie 1987 - Always On My Mind 1991 - These Are the Days of Our Lives 1994 - Stay Another Day 1996 - 2 Become 1 2002 - Sound of the Underground 2003 - Mad World 2009 - Killing in the Name None since RATM IMO I agree mostly with this list - think I’d add Mud, the original Band Aid and Shaky. Agree with the post 2000 assessment sadly - Rockabye is the best post 2010 but it’s good rather than great for me.
December 16, 20222 yr It's been a bit hard to care other than 2002, 2003 and 2009 for me this century.
December 16, 20222 yr the ideal Christmas #1 would be a newly released Christmas-themed pop song that joins the list of Christmas classics, but that's probably not going to happen again for a while as we've so internalised the current canon and even though you occasionally get new ones that do well in the charts they're always outpaced by the campaign. I don't know what the last one under those conditions would be that I like... 'Stay Another Day' perhaps, as it's somehow now a Christmas song. failing that a campaign for the right reasons, especially good with RATM as it was organically created, original and fun.
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