Suedehead2

She's not exactly the first. Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive was stanned by many gay men, but Gaynor has made some pretty homophobic statements.

Best Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Of Joan Of Arc) Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye Theatre Of Hate - Do You Believe In The Westworld The Jam - Town Called Malice The Stranglers - Golden Brown Worst Shakin' Stevens - Oh Julie Toni Basil - Mickey

Newcastle United 1-1 Chelsea AFC Bournemouth 2-0 Burnley Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Sunderland Manchester City 3-1 West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Brentford Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Liverpool Everton 0-2 Arsenal Leeds United 2-1 Crystal Palace Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester Utd Fulham 1-2 Nottingham Forest

This year's festive Chart Commentary is available from the Blogs page or the Forums Index page.

The race for the Christmsa number one this year was complicated by the way streaming platforms report their figures. The updates on Monday and Wednesday both showed Kylie Minogue’s Xmas with a clear lead over Wham’s Last Christmas. However, it wasn’t as simple as that. The sales for Kylie Minogue’s single were from a combination of multiple physical formats and streams. However, those streams came from one platform only, and it just happened to be the only one which seems to have worked out how to report its figures in a timely manner. Therefore, all of the streams for Xmas were included, but only some of those for Last Christmas. In the final chart, Thursday’s streams for most platforms are estimated based on streams over the previous six days. This means that Last Christmas would benefit from a boost which might be enough to keep it at the top of the chart. In the end, Kylie Minogue held off Wham’s challenge to get her eight number one single, a full 22 years after her seventh (Slow) and nearly 38 years after her first (I Should Be So Lucky). It is also her first Christmas number one and she is the first female artist to have a number one single in each of four decades. Cliff Richard is the only artist to have had number one singles in five different decades. Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You (with the last two words being stretched to approximately 27 syllables) is at number three. Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree stays at number four. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl (who died 25 years ago this week) are at number six with the ever-brilliant Fairytale Of New York. A reference to the length of the credit for I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday has become an annual event in my commentaries. This week Nai Barghouti, Leigh-Anne, Neneh Cherry & Together For Palestine feat. Amena, Bastille, Brian Eno, Celeste, Kieran Brunt, Lana Lubany, London Community Gospel Choir, Mabel, Nadine Shah, Sura Abdo, TYSON, Yasmeen Ayyashi & Ysee outdo Wizzard and co by a long way with Lullaby. Lullaby is based on a Palestinian song with some additional English-language parts written by Peter Gabriel who has been working with musicians from around the world for decades. It has been released to highlight the plight of Palestinians living in Gaza and to raise funds for charities working in the area. It enters at number five. Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody is the highest festive re-entry at number 36. Leona Lewis’s One More Sleep is back at number 38. In 1973 Pink Floyd released Dark Side Of The Moon. While it didn’t quite make it to number one (thanks to the inclusion of compilation albums in the chart), it was a huge hit and made the band one of the biggest acts of the time. Their problem, as with any act that has a massively successful album, was how to follow it up. For a band that had stopped releasing singles, thereby missing out on some of the pre-release promotion that most albums by major acts enjoy, they made their task even more difficult. Two years after Pink Floyd released Dark Side Of The Moon, they delivered Wish You Were Here, an album every bit as good as its predecessor. It entered at number three before climbing to the top the following week. To mark its half-century, a new deluxe edition has been released. It includes demos (including instrumental versions), a version of the title track featuring jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, a 1975 live concert and other extras. Deluxe editions of Dark Side Of The Moon have failed to put right a historic wrong by topping the chart, but the Wish You Were Here release has returned the band to number one. They top the chart at Christmas for the first time since Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) was the Christmas number one single in 1979. The number of brand new albums entering the chart this week is a big fat zero. This is nothing new for the Christmas chart. Even in the days when physical copies were either the only way of listening to an album or the dominant method, there were very few major releases in December. There are, however, some other reissues and compilations as well as Wish You Were Here. Wish You Were Here is Pink Floyd’s second number one album of 2025, following a live album earlier in the year. The 50-year gap between the album’s first run at the top and the latest is a new record, beating the previous one set by The Beatles’ Abbey Road. Olivi Dean’s The Art Of Loving is at number two. Taylor Swift is at number three with The Life Of A Showgirl. Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is at number five. Last week, I posed the question of whether Kylie Minogue's Christmas album might prevent Michael Buble’s festive collection topping the chart once again. I got it wrong in two ways. Minogue’s album has tumbled to number 29 while Buble is at number four. The year 2025 has been the one that finally saw Oasis reunite for a series of live gigs. As well as the proceeds from the tour, the band has benefitted from an increase in sales of their albums. Someone at their record company seems to have decided that this would be a good time to exploit the increase in interest by releasing another anniversary edition. This time, it is not a reissue of a studio album, but a new edition of the (What’s The Story) Morning Glory Singles Collection. The original version contained the singles from the band’s second album along with b-sides and a live recording of Live Forever. This new edition also includes some demos and live recordings from the mid-1990s. The original version got to number 24. The reissue, released only as a 7” vinyl box-set, is one place higher. The original album re-enters the top ten at number ten. Oasis have stated that they will not be performing any live shows next year. They have not yet said whether they will do any in 2027. There is no Glastonbury Festival next year. It will return in 2027. Whether those facts are related remains to be seen. As in previous years, there will be no Suedehead Chart Commentary next week. The next commentary will be posted on Friday 2 January when there will be a flood of re-entries to replace the Christmas songs. Happy Christmas Nadolig Llawen Feliĉan Kristnaskon Joyeux Noel Fröhe Weinachten Hyvää Joulua Häid Jõule Nollaig Shona Su Kalėdomis Feliz Navidad Vesel Božič Весела Коледа Crăciun fericit Καλή Χριστούγεννα Счастливые Рождество Linksmų Kalėdų Wesołych Świąt Boldog Karácsonyt Vrolijk Kerstfeest Nadelik Lowen щасливого Різдва عيد ميلاد مجيد 聖誕快樂

Best Queen And David Bowie - Under Pressure Ultravox - The Voice David Bowie - Wild Is The Wind Jon And Vangelis - I'll Find My Way Home The Pretenders - I Go To Sleep Worst Modern Romance - Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey Holly And The Ivys - Christmas On 45 Imagination - Flashback

Saturday 13th December Chelsea 2-0 Everton Liverpool 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion Burnley 0-1 Fulham (17:30) Arsenal 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (20:00) Sunday 14th December Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City (12:00) Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (14:00) Sunderland 2-2 Newcastle United (14:00) West Ham United 2-0 Aston Villa (14:00) Brentford 1-1 Leeds United (16:30) Monday 15th December Manchester United 2-2 AFC Bournemouth (20:00)

This week's delayed commentary is now available from the Blogs page and the Forum Index page.

One of the consequences of the singles chart being dominated by streams, specifically songs from playlists, is that the same songs dominate the chart every December. One of those songs is, of course, Wham’s Last Christmas which climbs to number one for the fifth time this week. Its first two runs at the top lasted for just one week but it has spent rather longer there for the last two years. Thus, this is its tenth week at the top in total. For many years, Last Christmas was the UK’s best-selling single not to have reached number one, having been beaten by Do They Know It’s Christmas in 1984. Now it is threatening the granddaddy of all chart records - the total of eighteen weeks at number one accumulated by Frankie Laine’s I Believe way back in 1953. At its current rate it could surpass that total next year or in 2027. The first old Christmas song to top the chart thanks to streams was Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. Like Last Christmas, it didn’t top the chart first time round. In 1994 it was beaten by East 17’s Stay Another Day. It finally got to the top in 2020, just a few weeks before Last Christmas made it. It returned to number one two years later. This week it climbs to number three. One of the clearest beneficiaries of the American dominance of streaming playlists is Brenda Lee's Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. It reached number six in 1962. After downloads was included in the chart it spent time in the very lower reaches of the chart as British buyers continued largely to ignore it. It didn’t reach the top forty until 2017 (three years after streams were first included), but has now become a regular visitor to the top ten. It climbs to number four this week, matching its peak reached in 2022 and ‘24. Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to Brenda Lee who was 81 on Thursday (11 December). Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree, which only reached number 30 when it was released in 2013, climbs to number five, a new peak. The one non-Christmas song in the top five is Raye’s Where Is My Husband at number two. A combination of the dominance of Christmas songs and the fact that it has gone on to the Accelerated Chart Ratio (ACR), whereby the value of its streams are halved, sees Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia slump from the top of the chart to number seventeen. It is worth noting that the Christmas songs are also subject to ACR. There is a new Christmas song amidst all the oldies, albeit just sneaking in at number 40. Gwen Stefani gets her first top forty hit since summer 2007 with Shake The Snow Globe. This is the week when I go to a commentary from last year so that I can copy and paste the credits for a particular Christmas song. Yes, Wizzard featuring Vocal backing By The Suedettes Plus The Stockland Green Bilateral School Choir With Additional Noises By Miss Snob And Class 3C with their 1973 offering I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day is a re-entry at number 32. Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree may be over 60 years old, but at least it is possible to understand people of all ages enjoying listening to it. It is rather harder to believe that significant numbers of people are actively selecting some of the other songs that enter the chart every year. Included in this week’s batch of re-entries are Dean Martin’s Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow at number 22 and Nat ‘King’ Cole’s version of The Christmas Song at 39. Kylie Minogue released her seasonal Kylie Christmas album in 2012. It peaked at number twelve. Now, on its tenth anniversary, there is a new version available. Special CD and vinyl versions are not released until today (Friday), but it has been streamed in enough numbers for it to enter at number one. Could this be the album that keeps Michael Buble off the top in the Christmas chart, at least for one year? This week that album is at number five. Kylie Christmas is her eleventh number one album, 27 years after her first. Sam Fender’s People Watching re-entered the top forty last week, on the day that a new deluxe version was released. That new version helps the album to climb to number three. Olivia Dean is at number two with The Art Of Loving. Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl is at number four. There are no fewer than three live albums entering the chart this week, all of them recorded relatively recently. The most recent is also the highest-placed. After a highly successful 2023, Olivia Rodrigo was chosen as one of the headliners for this year’s Glastonbury Festival. She delivered a highly-praised set which is now available as an album. It enters this week at number twelve. In 1993 Depeche Mode released Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live, a live version of their chart-topping Songs Of Faith And Devotion which had been released earlier that year. Now they have done the same with their Memento Mori album, released in 22023 when it reached number two. Memento Mori - Mexico City is at number 22. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ live album is also based on a recent studio album. Wild God reached the top five last year. Live God is at number 33. Rotherham band The Reytons are at number 27 with Roll The Dice. Their last three albums all entered the top five with What’s Rock ‘n’ Roll going to number one in 2023. Radiohead’s European tour is currently underway. Their classic OK Computer album is back in the chart at number 40. It spent two weeks at number one when it was released in 1997 and spent its first fifteen weeks in the top ten.

It's clear that people working with children and young adults are supportive of a ban, or at least some restrictions. As another member working with children, I am all too familiar with the harm that social media can cause. There are, of course, many young people using social media responsibly, However, I have to support an age restriction although I'm not sure I'd put as high as sixteen. There is supposed to be a minimum age of thirteen, but that isn't really applied.

For most of the song, I didn't see the point of the cover. It was far too close to the original version. It only went slightly bonkers towards the end.

I expect this to ne the last World Cup when kick=off times are an issue for me. I'll be nearly 70 by the next one, and safely retired.

Thanks. You can tell that I've never watched any of Stranger Things!

Saturday 6th December Aston Villa 1-1 Arsenal (12:30) AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Chelsea Everton 2-0 Nottingham Forest Manchester City 2-1 Sunderland Newcastle United 2-0 Burnley Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brentford Leeds United 1-2 Liverpool (17:30) Sunday 7th December Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 West Ham United (14:00) Fulham 2-1 Crystal Palace (16:30) Monday 8th December Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Manchester United (20:00)

The logistics of booking flights, accommodation etc for teams and supporters would be horrendous.