34th: 97 points

Sunshine Superman - Donovan (1966)

Voters: Severin 19, Jade 17, popchartfreak 15, Michael Bubré 14, JulianT 13, Chez Wombat 10, My…Stockings 6, dancemberlexa 3

 

10/12/1966 Donovan Sunshine Superman

Peak: 2

Chart run: 31-13-4-{2}-3-2-5-14-25-34-37->11

 

 

Aw this is the first one I really feel is far too low. This was the closest Scottish psychedelic folk singer Donovan came to topping the charts, but it was held off by Tom Jones with “Green Green Grass Of Home”. Well the charts never were fair were they.

33rd: 99 points

Love Yourself - Justin Bieber (2015)

Voters: JosephCarey 18, Jason 16, Mangø ho! ho! 14, jimwatts 13, CoolHand501 11, Boymetworld91 7, awardinary 5, chartjack2 3, DarrenJames 3, My…Stockings 3, dancemberlexa 2, gasman449 1, Dobbo 1, detonate 1, Electroboy 1

 

28/11/2015 Justin Bieber Love Yourself

Peak: 1

Chart run: 3-2-{1}-1-1-2-1-1-1-2-2-5-6-7-5-8-7-11-13-14-15-19-19-27-25-27-32-31-30-35-37-42-47-45-53-58-60-60-62-63-60-66-66-66-70-73->46

 

 

From an artist who had 3 songs in the Top 5 at the same time (Lennon) to one who managed to occupy the whole Top 3 with his chart topping trinity of “What Do You Mean?”, “Sorry” and “Love Yourself”. This had 6 weeks at #1 but in the middle of them was knocked off in Christmas week by The Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Choir. Here it attracted 15 voters, but most of them low scores.

32nd: 100 points

Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston (1985)

Voters: DarrenJames 16, JosephCarey 15, detonate 13, chartjack2 12, …ready for it 12, awardinary 10, Leonardo 8, dandy* 7, chrissmith276 5, Jester 1, My…Stockings 1

 

16/11/1985 Whitney Houston

Title: Saving All My Love For You

Peak: 1

Chart run: 60-23-9-2-{1}-1-2-2-2-9-19-28-44-56-71-72->16

 

 

This was originally a ‘70s song, but recorded by Whitney for her self titled debut album. It was her first #1 both here and Stateside, and it topped the chart here in December before being knocked off by Shaky for the Christmas #1. It was also her first US #1

31st: 102 points

Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice (1990)

Voters: …ready for it 17, Mangø ho! ho! 15, dandy* 15, detonate 10, Electroboy 10, Jason 9, jimwatts 6, JackJones 6, RabbitFurCoat 4, Michael Bubré 4, Tuttavilla 3, gasman449 2, popchartfreak 1

 

24/11/1990 Vanilla Ice Ice Ice Baby

Peak: 1

Chart run: 3-{1}-1-1-1-2-2-5-6-13-26-36-60->13

 

 

Originally it was released as the B side to a cover of “Play That Funky Music”, but after “Ice Ice Baby” started to receive airplay it proved to be very popular. Queen and David Bowie did not receive any royalties for the bassline sample in this until after it had become a worldwide chart topper for rapper Vanilla Ice. By Christmas it had been knocked off by Cliff Richard with “Saviour’s Day”.

The Top 30:

 

You Belong To Me - Jo Stafford (1952)

Answer Me - David Whitfield (1953)

Santo Natale - David Whitfield (1954)

Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley And His Comets (1955)

Singing The Blues - Guy Mitchell (1956)

Ma He’s Making Eyes At Me - Johnny Otis And His Orchestra With Marie Adams (1957)

Hoots Mon - Lord Rockingham’s XI (1958)

What Do You Want? - Adam Faith (1959)

 

It’s Now Or Never - Elvis Presley (1960)

Tower Of Strength - Frankie Vaughan (1961)

The Next Time / Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard (1962)

She Loves You - The Beatles (1963)

Downtown - Petula Clark (1964)

Wind Me Up (Let Me Go) - Cliff Richard (1965)

Sunshine Superman - Donovan (1966)

Magical Mystery Tour EP - The Beatles (1967)

Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations (1968)

Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers And The First Edition (1969)

 

When I’m Dead And Gone - McGuiness Flint (1970)

Jeepster - T. Rex (1971)

My Ding-A-Ling - Chuck Berry (1972)

I Love You Love Me Love - Gary Glitter (1973)

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974)

I Believe In Father Christmas - Greg Lake (1975)

Under The Moon Of Love - Showaddywaddy (1976)

Floral Dance - Brighouse And Rastrick Brass Band (1977)

Y.M.C.A. - The Village People (1978)

I Have A Dream - ABBA (1979)

 

(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon (1980)

Daddy’s Home - Cliff Richard (1981)

Blue Christmas EP - Shakin’ Stevens (1982)

My Oh My - Slade (1983)

Last Christmas / Everything She Wants - Wham! (1984 / 2022)

Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston (1985)

Caravan Of Love - The Housemartins (1986)

Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl (1987)

Especially For You - Kylie Minogue Featuring Jason Donovan (1988)

Let’s Party - Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers (1989)

 

Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice (1990)

When You Tell Me That You Love Me - Diana Ross (1991)

Heal The World - Michael Jackson (1992)

Babe - Take That (1993)

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey (1994 / 2020)

Wonderwall - Mike Flowers Pops (1995)

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door - Dunblane (1996)

Teletubbies Say “Eh-Oh!” - Teletubbies (1997)

Chocolate Salty Balls - P.S. I Love You - Chef (1998)

The Millennium Prayer - Cliff Richard (1999)

 

What Makes A Man - Westlife (2000)

How Wonderful You Are - Gordon Haskell (2001)

Sacred Trust / After You’re Gone - One True Voice (2002)

Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) - The Darkness (2003)

Father And Son - Ronan Keating Featuring Yusuf Islam (2004)

JCB Song - Nizlopi (2005)

Patience - Take That (2006)

What A Wonderful World - Katie Melua And Eva Cassidy (2007)

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (2008)

The Climb - Joe McElderry (2009)

 

What’s My Name - Rihanna Featuring Drake (2010)

Cannonball - Little Mix (2011)

Impossible - James Arthur (2012)

Happy - Pharrell Williams (2013)

Uptown Funk - Mark Robson Featuring Bruno Mars (2014)

Love Yourself - Justin Bieber (2015)

Human - Rag’n’Bone Man (2016)

River - Eminem Featuring Ed Sheeran (2017)

Sweet But Psycho - Ava Max (2018)

Own It - Stormzy Featuring Ed Sheeran And Burna Boy (2019)

 

Merry Christmas - Ed Sheeran And Elton John (2021)

You’re Christmas To Me - Sam Ryder (2023)

That’s So True - Gracie Abrams (2024)

A couple more of my votes gone there - 'Ice Ice Baby' is objectively naff but still undeniably fun x and that seems like a respectable enough result for Donovan for a 60s song that's not super ubiquitous (although I wonder if it might be one that lots of people know without knowing the title, think it was for me until quite recently!)

Great to hear Mike Flowers Pops version of Wonderwall for the first time in about 20 years! And to hear Hoots Mon in full for possibly the first time ever!

30th: 104 points

Heal The World - Michael Jackson (1992)

Voters: CowTzy 20, BoyMetWorld91 13, Mangø ho! ho! 12, CoolHand501 10, detonate 9, …ready for it 9, Viper* 8, gasman449 6, Dobbo 6, awardinary 4, popchartfreak 3, Roba. 3, JackJones 1

 

05/12/1992 Michael Jackson Heal The World

Peak: 2

Chart run: 3-{2}-2-2-2-2-5-12-28-38-43-62-60-69-68->

 

 

Incredibly this was just one of nine singles from the “Dangerous” album, consigned to the runner up spot for 5 weeks by “I Will Always Love You”. Opinion is divided on whether this is turgid or genuinely moving, but Michael said he was proud of it.

29th: 106 points

River - Eminem Featuring Ed Sheeran (2017)

Voters: chrissmith276 20, Boymetworld91 17, CoolHand501 15, JackJones 15, CowTzy 14, detonate 11, WhoOdyssey 9, RabbitFurCoat 5

 

30/12/2017 Eminem Featuring Ed Sheeran

Title: River

Peak: 1

Chart run: 2-3-2-2-{1}-3-3-5-7-23-27-32-35-37-49-48-62-67->18

 

 

 

This was from Eminem’s 9th studio album “Revival”. It was held off by Ed’s own “Perfect”, but became a chart topper in the New Year. To date Eminem has had 11 #1s and Ed 14.

28th: 109 points

Jeepster - T. Rex (1971)

Voters: gasman449 20, dandy* 17, My…Stockings 16, Severin 14, RabbitFurCoat 13, popchartfreak 13, chartjack2 10, JulianT 5, Sausage Rollo 1

 

13/11/1971 T.Rex Jeepster

Peak: 2

Chart run: 37-8-{2}-3-2-2-2-2-3-10-18-29-34-44-46->15

 

 

This came in a run of 8 consecutive Top 2 hits for the glam rock band and is one of their most enduring hits. It was initially beaten by Slade’s “Cuz I Luv You”, before being held off at Christmas by the novelty song “Ernie” by Benny Hill.

Glad Jeepster made top 30, way better than I thought it would do. Absolutely love Bolan, my favourite frontman ever :)

27th: 114 points

Merry Christmas - Ed Sheeran And Elton John (2021)

Voters: WhoOdyssey 17, rio309 15, gooddelta 14, Jester 13, JosephCarey 13, jimwatts 10, Mangø ho ho! 8, CoolHand501 6, dancemberlexa 4, Dobbo 4, DarrenJames 4, BoyMetWorld91 3, RabbitFurCoat 3

 

18/12/2021 Ed Sheeran And Elton John

Title: Merry Christmas

Peak: 1

Chart run: {1}-1-2-1-40R(47)-15-4-4-5-3-17R(48)-7-6-5-4-31R(48)-9-45-33-29->20

 

 

In a year with only 12 #1s, Elton John having 3 and Ed 4 was quite something. This was also unusual in that it was knocked off #1 for Christmas #1 by its own cover, though without the ACR rules it would only ever have reached #3. However it does appear to have managed to become a Christmas perennial. This is the highest of the 3 Ed Sheeran collaborations here.

Well that's the right song to be Ed's highest at least (don't love it but it's fine enough as an addition to the '7/10 Christmas songs I don't mind being wheeled out every year' pile) but shocked at how well 'River' did, one of Eminem's most tedious songs for me.

26th: 120 points

Impossible - James Arthur (2012)

Voters: Dobbo 18, DarrenJames 17, BoyMetWorld91 12, JackJones 12, Jason 11, Leonardo 9, Tuttavilla 8, detonate 8, Electroboy 7, chrissmith276 6, CowTzy 5, rio309 4, My…Stockings 2, Roba. 1

 

22/12/2012 James Arthur Impossible

Peak: 1

Chart run: {1}-2-1-1-3-7-9-11-14-19-29-34-39-43-50-42-48-75-58R(30)->19

 

 

The highest placed talent show related track here, this was originally a Shontelle song. It was #1 either side of Christmas but knocked off in Christmas week by the charity cover of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by the Justice Collective.

Between the X Factor years and the Ladbaby years I forgot how many one week wonder charity singles took Christmas #1

25th: 126 points

I Have A Dream - ABBA (1979)

Voters: Tuttavilla 20, awardinary 17, CowTzy 15, rio309 12, Viper* 10, JackJones 10, Sausage Rollo 8, …ready for it 7, JulianT 7, Jester 6, popchartfreak 6, jimwatts 5, Mangø ho! ho! 3

 

15/12/1979 Abba

Title: I Have A Dream

Peak: 2

Chart run: 21-{2}-2-2-2-7-13-26-43-58->10

 

 

This would become a Christmas #1 via a cover 20 years later, but this had a month at #2 and was beaten by Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2”. Even as a big ABBA fan I accept that was the correct winner.

Aww 'Sunshine Superman' is easily my biggest loss so far, an essential 60s song!

24th: 128 points

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974)

Voters: Leonardo 18, Sausage Rollo 18, gasman449 16, RabbitFurCoat 15, JulianT 12, popchartfreak 12, Roba. 11, dancemberlexa 10, Dobbo 9, Jade 3, Mangø ho! ho! 1, CoolHand501 1, Chez Wombat 1, Viper* 1

 

16/11/1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Peak: 2

Chart run: 34-20-6-5-3-{2}-2-6-12-16-33-38->12

 

 

This was a US #1 for the Canadian rock band, but here was beaten by Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas”. It was wriitten as a joke by Randy Bachman for his brother who had a stutter.

23rd: 135 points

My Oh My - Slade (1983)

Voters: CoolHand501 20, Roba. 18, WhoOdyssey 16, My…Stockings 14, Tuttavilla 13, gooddelta 11, popchartfreak 11, Jester 9, chartjack2 8, Sausage Rollo 7, Severin 5, Chez Wombat 2, CowTzy 1

 

19/11/1983 Slade My Oh My

Peak: 2

Chart run: 73-36-15-5-3-{2}-2-2-11-30-55->11

 

 

10 years after they did have the Christmas #1 with “Merry Xmas Everybody”, this non festive song gave them a Christmas #2. The Flying Pickets took the top spot with their cover of “Only You”. Slade had 12 consecutive Top 5 hits in the early 1970s, but this was their only one after that.

22nd: 147 points

Happy - Pharrell Williams (2013)

Voters: detonate 17, Electroboy 17, …ready for it 15, jimwatts 14, dancemberlexa 13, gasman449 13, Cowtzy 12, CoolHand501 9, Jester 7, gooddelta 7, RabbitFurCoat 7, awardinary 6, Chez Wombat 4, chrissmith276 3, JulianT 3

 

07/12/2013 Pharrell Williams

Title: Happy

Peak: 1

Chart run: 71-30-4-2-{1}-2-1-1-2-3-2-3-2-1-2-3-4-6-6-7-7-10-12-13-15-12-11-14-17-18-17-19-16-18-22-24-25-27-29-30-32-33-32-35-37-40-37-35-33-40-43-53-58-63-59-57-51-34-48-54-50-57-61-55-58-65-68-69-66-73-68R(13)-70-64-72->74

 

 

This is the most downloaded single ever in the UK, with just shy of 2 million purchases, and completed a trio of monster #1 hits within 12 months for Pharrell. This had only just entered the Top 2 for the first time when Sam Bailey took the Christmas #1 with “Skyscraper”.