TomJ1991

I just had to check if We Didn't Start the Fire got to number 1, but it was a number 7 hit...it mentions more different people than probably any other song! There are also bound to be songs that use nicknames to reference some artists - like saying MJ instead of Michael Jackson, or The King to reference Elvis.

Band Aid II and Band Aid 40.

The Starmer song was number 1 on downloads last week (didn't trouble the main charts, though). Not entirely sure why they were pushing for downloads a week early, mind. It's quite funny to see both "Beard Meats Food" and "Beardman" in the top 10 on iTunes!

I believe that if it was combined and reset, it would have had around 49k, so would have just snatched the #1 this week. But it seems the charts company are pretty unwilling to reset Christmas songs - probably because it would be silly if artists released a new CD, sold 5k copies of that, then gained 20k streaming sales from the original version.

So it finished at #8 this week. 28,289 combined sales [4,990 CDs, 2,438 vinyl] - which I imagine means it hasn't had a reset? Does anyone know? Though god knows how they work out all the data when new versions of an old song are included...

This has prompted me to look up his history of Christmas Number 1 chart campaigns: 2008: Ricky Astley, Never Gonna Give You Up - #73 2009: RATM - #1 2011: Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit - #11 2012: The Justice Collective, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - #1 2013: ACDC, Highway to Hell -#4 2014: The Peace Collective, All Together Now - #70 2017: Wham, Last Christmas - #2 2020: The Kunts, Boris Johnson is a f***ing c**t - #5 2021: The Kunts, Boris Johnson is STILL a f***ing c**t - #5 2022: The Kunts, f*** the Tories - #7 2023: The Pogues - #6 Despite his past success, I really don't see this taking off at all. All of the recent hits were either: Directly related to Christmas - so they would have got tons of sales anyway. Odds are that both Wham and The Pogues would have charted in similar positions without a campaign, frankly. OR Were actively being pushed and promoted as protest songs, with multiple versions for download. I can't see ELO playing the game and having 20 different versions on Bandcamp for 59p! They will also get virtually no streaming compared to the deluge of Christmas hits in the charts.

I think this week it will go top 20 with the sales of both versions combined, but that's it. Considering Girls Aloud released a new version of I'll Stand By You for Children In Need, and it didn't make the top 100...I just think too much has changed since Band Aid 30, charity singles are not what they once were. The new version will be number 1 on physical sales, though, but that is about it. I'm fairly certain the original version will actually have more sales this week from streaming points alone, I just don't see any real hype behind this.

I believe Jess Glynne was the last Children in Need single to have a CD release, back in 2015. It just isn't a thing anymore. To be honest, the impact of being a "Children In Need single" hasn't really been a thing since then, either. Only one CIN song has reached the top 20 since 2015.

I think moving the certifications upwards is a tricky idea - would we have to take the Silver discs off songs with less than 400k? Or would they get a 2nd silver disc once they reach it? It would mean some songs would go silver, gold, and then silver and gold again. :lol:

SOUTHGATE YOU'RE THE ONE! YOU STILL TURN ME ON! FOOTBALL COMING HOME AGAIN! I would love for us to win and for this song to go to number 1. :lol:

This is a great one - it literally was an illegal release, you can't even find this version anymore. In a similar vein, in 2013, "Alonzo Holt featuring James Arthur" charted at 97 with Wrecking Ball - it was just James' cover of the song from YouTube, but uploaded by someone illegally. I agree with the person who said Rik Mayall earlier, too. The song would never have charted if Rik hadn't sadly passed so close to a major tournament. Another some that was impacted by real world events was "Boris Johnson is a Sausage Roll" - the song was definitely helped massively by Boris effectively cancelling Christmas in such embarrassing fashion that year!

I believe in 2017, an artist called Captain Ska tried to get the "election number 1" with a song about Theresa May being a liar. I think they got to number 2? I'm a bit surprised it isn't a bigger thing, considering the popularity of protest songs over the years!

Why is James Arthur - Just Us in the iTunes chart? I swear it was already released as a single a while ago...

While I would love England to win the Euros, I have just realised that if we do, Baddiel and Skinner will inevitably release a "no more years of hurt" edition of Three Lions. Bleh.

More artists should be named after football managers.