14th: 214 points

Sweet But Psycho - Ava Max (2018)

Voters: …ready for it 20, JackJones 18, jimwatts 17, JosephCarey 17, detonate 16, chrissmith276 15, gooddelta 15, Jason 15, Jade 13, Roba. 13, Mangø ho! ho! 11, CowTzy 10, BoyMetWorld91 10, Michael Bubré 9, DarrenJames 7, dancemberlexa 5, dandy* 3

 

10/11/2018 Ava Max Sweet But Psycho

Peak: 1

Chart run: 60-47-32-13-6-2-2-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-2-2-11-10-12-16-19-21-23-24-28-29-28-32-36-41-46-45-50-51-61-65-75-75-69-71-68-65-65-71-72-72-74->46

 

 

This had to wait until after Christmas to reach #1, though it came quite close to the first Ladbaby single, “We Built This City”, in Christmas week. It is our favourite Christmas #2 of the last 10 years. As it stands Amanda Ava Koçi is yet to have another Top 10 hit, though she has reached the Top 20 5 more times.

'Build Me Up Buttercup' and 'Sweet But Psycho' :wub:

13th: 219 points

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

Voters: gooddelta 20, Dobbo 20, Detonate 19, …ready for it 18, Electroboy 18, dancemberlexa 16, Jade 14, Cooland501 13, chrissmith276 12, JulianT 10, Roba. 10, dandy* 9, Michael Bubré 8, My…Stockings 7, DarrenJames 6, JosephCarey 6, Boymetworld91 5, JackJones 4, Mangø ho! ho! 2, RabbitFurCoat 2

 

27/11/2010 Rihanna Featuring Drake

Title: What's My Name?

Peak: 1

Chart run: 18-10-8-4-2-2-2-{1}-3-7-9-15-19-20-20-26-32-42-45-46-49-61-66-65-73-70R(3)-61->

 

 

This raunchy yet tastefully done pop-rap duet was right in the middle of RiRi’s golden age, when she spent an incredible 7 years without leaving the Top 75. This climbed slowly in the wake of the success of “Only Girl (In The World)”, and would reach the top in the New Year but at Christmas was #2 behind Matt Cardle’s version of “When We Collide”.

 

 

Chef 😍 absolutely love it. I've played it recently to younger mates who'd never heard it before - they thought it was hilarious and couldn't believe it was a UK number 1.

 

I can't believe that Radio 1 used to play it with no censorship - I was 12 and knew all the words! Can't imagine they'd play it in full nowadays.

 

Haha I sang this recently at karaoke and everyone was in stitches!

Haha I sang this recently at karaoke and everyone was in stitches!

 

Great idea! Going on my karaoke list for next time I'm there...

12th: 222 points

Magical Mystery Tour EP - The Beatles (1967)

Voters: popchartfreak 20, gasman449 19, Jade 19, JulianT 19, My…Stockings! 18, dandy* 16, chartjack2 14, Chez Wombat 14, …ready for it 14, Sausage Rollo 14, WhoOdyssey 13, Michael Bubré 12, rio309 11, jimwatts 9, Jester 8, Roba. 2

 

16/12/1967 The Beatles

Title: Magical Mystery Tour EP

Peak: 2

Chart run: 20-3-{2}-2-2-4-5-12-18-25-34-39->12

 

 

I thoroughly recommend this 20 minute psychedelic journey to anyone who isn’t familiar with it.m, and I’ve linked my personal favourite track. This was blocked by “Hello, Goodbye”, annd they’re the only artist to have occupied both the top 2 positions at the same time in the Christmas chart. Not only that but they did it twice…

11th: 230 points

She Loves You - The Beatles (1963)

Voters: chartjack2 20, …ready for it 19, gasman449 18, jimwatts 18, Severin 18, Viper* 18, WhoOdyssey 12, Sausage Rollo 12, Dobbo 11, Electroboy 11, Jade 10, Roba. 8, chrissmith276 7, Michael Bubré 7, Mangø ho! ho! 6, Tuttavilla 6, JulianT 6, gooddelta 5, DarrenJames 5, dandy* 4, Jester 4, CowTzy 3, Boymetworld91 1, Leonardo 1

 

31/08/1963 The Beatles

Title: She Loves You

Peak: 1

Chart run: 12-3-{1}-1-1-1-3-3-3-2-2-3-2-1-1-2-2-2-3-5-5-8-16-19-21-23-28-33-35-42-48-42R(2)-47->33

 

 

Poor Beatles finishing just outside the Top 10 with both their contenders! This remains one of the biggest selling singles of all time based on pure sales, and just look at that 18 week Top 3 run. The second run at #1 was due to anticipation for “I Want To Hold Your Hand” which entered at #1 in December, consigning this to the Christmas #2 spot.

Our Top 10 Christmas #2s:

 

Downtown - Petula Clark (1964)

I Believe In Father Christmas - Greg Lake (1975)

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

Caravan Of Love - The Housemartins (1986)

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

 

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

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

Patience - Take That (2006)

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (2008)

Uptown Funk - Mark Robson Featuring Bruno Mars (2014)

Wow at the Beatles not even having the top 60s song. Really underestimated just how popular "Downtown" is!

Obviously a massive fan of the Beatles but have never much enjoyed She Loves You, so not sad about it missing the top 10. Half of the songs left I'd be more than happy to see win (Downtown, Pogues, Patience, Darkness and most of all Jeff Buckley)

I should probably have thrown some points in the direction of Magical Mystery Tour but it's not anywhere near my favourite Beatles track and I immediately binned it from my first list, assuming there would be enough i liked more to not matter. Perhaps that was rash but I am glad She Loves You came out higher.

 

Surprised at Pet Clark still being in though

10th: 242 points

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

Voters: JosephCarey 20, gooddelta 19, chrissmith276 16, jimwatts 16, Jester 16, JackJones 16, chartjack2 15, dancemberlexa 14, Leonardo 14, dandy* 14, …ready for it 13, Roba. 12, Jade 11, Mangø ho! ho! 10, JulianT 9, Chez Wombat 6, detonate 6, Electroboy 6, popchartfreak 4, WhoOdyssey 3, CowTzy 2

 

10/12/1994 Mariah Carey

Title: All I Want For Christmas Is You

Peak: 2

Chart run: 5-{2}-2-2-8-28-50-59R(7)->8

01/12/2007 Mariah Carey

Title: All I Want For Christmas Is You {2007 DL}

Peak: 1

Chart run: 46-23-8-4-6-20-59R(46)-45-37-17-12-17-25-51R(48)-29-19-21-18-48R(48)-22-23-25-31-64R(48)-27-12-11-17-56R(48)-30-20-21-20-55-68R(47)-47-14-12-13-30-68R(47)-52-17-16-18-20-35R(49)-13-12-11-37-72R(47)-29-6-8-5-5-34R(47)-22-5-2-4-4-65R(47)-34-6-5-4-2-59R(47)-34-8-6-8-2-60R(46)-31-14-2-{1}-1-2-2-69R(45)-44-24-3-4-4-4-3-56R(45)-36-18-8-1-2-4-2-40R(45)-28-16-6-2-3-3-3-58R(45)-38-17-10-5-3-3-2-62->116

 

 

Originally this was held off by East 17 with their emotional not really Christmas with some bells added song “Stay Another Day”, but that was only the beginning of the story. After a few more frustrating years where it re-peaked at #2 this finally reached the top in December 2020, although Ladbaby took the Christmas #1 that year with “Don’t Stop Me Eating”. It looks like its chance to be Christmas #1 may now have passed, but it is one of the

10 biggest songs of all time with more than 5.5 million chart sales.

9th: 255 points

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

Voters: WhoOdyssey 20, Viper* 20, rio309 18, Mangø ho! ho! 17, Jester 15, BoyMetWorld91 14, CoolHand501 14, Roba. 14, Chez Wombat 12, RabbitFurCoat 12, dancemberlexa 11, My…Stockings 11, Severin 10, Michael Bubré 10, Electroboy 9, chrissmith276 8, Jade 8, Jason 8, chartjack2 5, Dobbo 5, Leonardo 5, dandy* 5, detonate 2, gooddelta 1, JosephCarey 1

 

27/12/2003 The Darkness Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End!)

Peak: 2

Chart run: {2}-3-7-21-36-46-53-58R(47)->8

 

 

This innuendo loaded, camp old fashioned style Christmas rock and roll song from one of the biggest bands of the moment lost out to the cover of “Mad World” by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules. It was one of the most thrilling Christmas #1 battles of this century, and both singles sold enough in just 2 weeks to make the year end Top 10.

Magical Mystery Tour EP :wub: my favourite track is 'I Am The Walrus' but 'The Fool on the Hill' is a good shout too. 'Blue Jay Way' from it is really underrated by Beatles standards!

8th: 256 points

Downtown - Petula Clark (1964)

Voters: DarrenJames 19, Tuttavilla 18, Leonardo 17, popchartfreak 17, My…Stockings 17, chartjack2 16, Chez Wombat 16, JulianT 16, Sausage Rollo 15, Viper* 15, rio309 13, awardinary 12, Roba. 9, dancemberlexa 8, …ready for it 8, Electroboy 8, JackJones 8, Jason 7, Jester 5, Jade 4, Dobbo 3, jimwatts 3, dandy* 1, Michael Bubré 1

 

14/11/1964 Petula Clark Downtown

Peak: 2

Chart run: 41-20-9-4-4-{2}-2-2-3-8-10-16-20-29-40->15

 

 

Well I doubt many would have expected Petula to end up as the hiighest solo female here, as well as the highest pre 1975 Christmas #2. The lyrics are about walking through New York City, and it certainly found love across the pond where it reached #1, while here it was held off by the fab four with “I Feel Fine”.

Wasn't expecting 'Downtown' anywhere near the top 10!! Kinda hard to predict the order of the rest tbh.

Kinda living for Petula being the highest woman (aside from Kirsty MacColl). *.* Aw at The Beatles doubly narrowly missing the top 10 but a pretty good showing there for the Magical Mystery Tour EP, 'Blue Jay Way' from that EP was a brilliant discovery from the UK #2s SyncTube listenthroughs.

 

Yay for The Darkness being top 10 (even though I prefer 'Mad World'). 'Sweet But Psycho' still holds up as a great pop song but I've not consistently enjoyed her singles since then, she makes a good bop every now and then but she also inflicted 'Whatever' on us so...

 

'Rock Around The Clock' certainly deserves its reputation, was really a breath of fresh air getting to that when listening through the UK #1s! And 'Y.M.C.A.' still a glorious gay anthem (regardless of what their one rogue member who's disappointingly selling out to Trump tries to retcon it as xx).

7th: 269 points

Caravan Of Love - The Housemartins (1986)

Voters: Leonardo 20, DarrenJames 20, awardinary 18, RabbitFurCoat 18, Jason 17, Michael Bubré 17, jimwatts 15, Jester 14, JulianT 14, Viper* 14, chartjack2 13, Chez Wombat 13, My…Stockings 13, JackJones 13, dandy* 12, WhoOdyssey 11, Sausage Rollo 11, Dobbo 10, Severin 4, popchartfreak 2

 

06/12/1986 The Housemartins Caravan Of Love

Peak: 1

Chart run: 23-3-{1}-2-2-2-7-25-38-57-73->11

 

 

After a week at the top this was dethroned by the re-issue of Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petite”. it was a cover of a soul song recorded the year before by one of the Isley Brothers, turned into a beautiful a capella track.

6th: 295 points

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

Voters: Tuttavilla 19, Jester 19, JackJones 19, dancemberlexa 18, detonate 18, Jason 18, chrissmith276 17, CoolHand501 16, RabbitFurCoat 16, popchartfreak 16, JulianT 15, My…Stockings 15, gooddelta 12, Jade 12, WhoOdyssey 10, …ready for it 10, JosephCarey 10, chartjack2 9, CowTzy 8, Chez Wombat 7, Electroboy 5, Viper* 4, Leonardo 2

 

15/12/1984 Wham!

Title: Last Christmas/Everything She Wants

Peak: 2

Chart run: {2}-2-2-2-2-3-8-11-21-33-38-51-67->13

 

08/12/2007 Wham!

Title: Last Christmas {2007 DL}

Peak: 1

Chart run: 50-23-14-16-40-67R(48)-36-26-27-45-53R(49)-39-41-34-57R(49)-53-56-61-55R(49)-26-28-34-55R(49)-34-41-35-44R(50)-40-36-68-39R(49)-36-35-28-65R(49)-27-24-18-54-75R(48)-19-20-16-7-29R(48)-6-3-3-2-52R(48)-14-7-7-3-43R(48)-13-7-5-3-44R(47)-20-3-2-2-3-{1}-54R(46)-28-4-3-3-3-2-71R(45)-42-23-9-3-1-2-1-37R(45)-26-14-5-1-1-1-1-61R(45)-43-16-8-2-1-1-1-42->98

 

 

Perhaps still the greatest Christmas chart ever when this double A side was held off by the original Band Aid. For a long time this was the biggest selling #2 hit of all time - now it’s “Moves Like Jagger based only on pure sales. “Last Christmas” has now been both Christmas #1 and Christmas #2 twice, and has notched up more than 6.2 million chart sales, the 3rd most in the all time list as it stands.

For a long time this was the biggest selling #2 hit of all time - now it’s “Moves Like Jagger based only on pure sales.

 

"Moves Like Jagger" has now been overtaken by "Wonderwall" :)