Col1967

'Singing the Blues' by Guy Mitchell had three one week runs at the top early in 1957. It's final week was tied, but it still counts. 4 seperate runs at no.1 really would be quite something, but let's see if she can get a third first:)

I find it inconceivable that somebody as media savvy as Cowell simply didn't realise. Up to now the entire X-Factor format has been geared to getting the Christmas no.1. Love him or loathe him, he knows what he is doing.....

They are :) It's nothing to do with 'musical snobbery' X-Factor is popular because people just buy into all that stuff, and are willing to buy the winner's single *whatever* it is, apparently. Personanally I think the X-Factor is crap but my own opinion is of no real importance. The fact that all these people just download the bloody thing after the winner is announced is the disturbing thing.

The charts should be a dispassionate account of what is selling the most, nothing more, nothing less. That is 'true popularity'. It's nothing to do with your own personal opinion as to what makes good music, or what people 'should' be buying. I don't like the annual rubbish The X-Factor serves up, to which the drones obediently trot out to buy in their hundreds of thousands, but it is 'popular' so does well in the charts. Is there a little bit of musical snobbery going on here Iwonder. Most people just listen to the radio etc and buy tracks they like. I don't see how that's any less important than those who are *seriously* into music and consider every note an 'art form'.

Yes, I was only thinkimg of the download era, I'd forgotten about all the 80's re-entries.

Top 100 it's 31 weeks.

This didn't seem right to me. Chartstats shows it as 30 weeks top 75. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=6092

I thought charity singes normally sold very well on physicals, so a poor performance in the iTunes chart might not necessarily mean the track is going to flop.

I just got the indignant 'Winzip is NOT free software' message. I'd forgotten about that :)

Neither do I, down to no.9 on iTunes now so I don't see how it can still be no.5 overall. I love MLJ and you hate it, but both of us are seemingly perplexed about it's stubborn refusal to leave the top 5:)

I'd say it was a notable chart statistic rather than an 'achievement' as such.

Do people really think this has anything to do with ghosts?

30 years ago albums were £5, I remember that because you could neatly buy one with a £5 record token. Adjusting for inflation that's an awful lot more than the £8 you pay today. In real terms albums today must be cheaper than they have ever been, yet some people will always whine about the price. Perhaps it's just a piracy generation thing, objecting to having to actually pay a few quid for music.

For a track that has sold so much so consistently, I wouldn't expect anything other than a very slow fall down the chart. It will be no.4 this week and I guess another 4/5 weeks in the top ten after that. It will get stuck in the lower reaches of the top 20 around Christmas, still shifting around 25k/wk I would imagine. Becoming a million seller early next year while still in the top 30. The MLJ haters on here who wish it a quick disappearance are going to be very disappointed.

It's not so much a protest at the X-Factor per se, it's the objection that they have ruined what was a fine old British tradition, the race to be Christmas no.1. I think few people would begrudge the winner a no.1 single in the middle of summer.

Well I appreciate that, but my point was all three have already been big hits. I guess It all depends if the fact the track hasn't already been at no.1 is an important part of your campaign to oust the X-Factor winner. I suspect that will probably be lost on most potential buyers who want to protest at the X-Factor so you might as well choose what is probably the best known Christmas single ever, well apart from 'White Christmas'. Bing Crosby for no.1? Hmmmm... Now *there's* a thought.....

The two tracks you mention have also had all the recognition they could want, they were big hits in their day and re-appear every Christmas, so I can't see any big difference between those and Slade. Of course I'd prefer there to be genuine competion for the Christmas no.1 without the need for specific campaigns. But no 'normal' track is ever going to approach the sales of a first week X-Factor winner's single.

I would agree with that. Last year it was John Cage's 4'33" in the 'Cage against the machine' campaign. *Very* clever name but it didn't exactly get it very far. Never mind Smells Like Teen Spirit, why not just have a campaign to download the most obvious Christmas record of all, namely Slade?

Well it sold 82k or something last week. I know there was an X-Factor boost in there, but Saturday X-Factor boosts are split across two chart weeks so there will still be some of that in this week's sales total. For a track that has sold so consistently for so many weeks I just can't see a sudden drop from over 80k to just 60k, 70k would be the minimum I see it selling.

She is Midge Ure's daughter.

Rihanna with that sneaky mid-week release was the real sickener though. It would have *cruised* there otherwise. Still, it will be one of the bestsellers of the year, sell a million early next year and far outsell all the 6 tracks it was thwarted by, except for Rihanna which will reach a pretty good total, even by year end. MLJ must still be shifting 70-75k for this week. This track won't be gone from the top 40 for a *very* long time......

I hope it's no.2 as well, but I don't think the record is 'unwanted'. Even the most rabid MLJ fan will have given up on it ever being no.1 now, so it might as well equal that quite extraordinary chart feat.

I always thought that Maria Carey managed to do what should be impossible, that is managing to make a Christmas song sound bland. And you say this version is *worse*? <shudder>

Combined, Maroon 5 will already be no.2 with the other version of MLJ being at no.124.

That's very interesting, but how do the sheet music chart positions & singles chart positions compare when both charts were running at the same time?