The Official Charts Company has revealed that the battle for this year’s Christmas number one is a very tight one between The X Factor winner James Arthur and Hillsborough charity ensemble The Justice Collective. Meanwhile PRS for Music has published the Top 50 most played Christmas songs with The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York taking the top spot. So, with all this festive pop activity, it seems like a good time to take a look at the hits of Christmas past.
Interestingly enough, the two most played songs on the latest PRS for Music list have never topped the Official UK Singles Chart, both peaking at number two instead.
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll was originally released in 1987. Hot favourites that year included Rick Astley’s When I Fall in Love as well as Mel Smith and Kim Wilde’s rendition of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. However, while The Pogues overtook both records they were ultimately held off the summit by the Pet Shop Boys cover of Always on My Mind.
Meanwhile Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You ranks as the UK’s second most played festive favourite. Co-written by the superstar and first released in 1994, it conceded defeat that year to East 17’s Stay Another Day.
However both The Pogues and Mariah have seen their songs played heavily on the nation’s airwaves since originally being released. The download revolution now returns both songs to the chart every year with new generations discovering their appeal.
It’s amazing to see how many of our biggest and best loved Christmas hits didn’t make it to the top spot in the UK singles chart.
Wham! missed out on the number one in 1984 when Last Christmas was beaten by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? The two songs still seem to go side by side though, with Band Aid ranking third and Wham! placing fourth in the most played list. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s composition Happy Xmas (War is Over) and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday also both failed to reach pole position.
Christmas chart-toppers
So what of the records that did make it to number one for Christmas day? Well, some patterns do emerge. Mary’s Boy Child has been a chart-topper for both Harry Belafonte in the 50s and Boney M in the 70s. Meanwhile Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was the Christmas number one in both 1975 and 1991. However, Do They Know It’s Christmas? scores the hat-trick having topped the charts for three different configurations of Band Aid.
The Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Spice Girls all have multiple Christmas number ones under their belt's while The X Factor winners have reached the summit for five of the past seven years.
Whoever does win the battle this year is in the company of a mind-boggling array of artists including Michael Jackson, Renee and Renato, Slade and Mr Blobby!
Words: Russell Iliffe, PRS for Music
Interestingly enough, the two most played songs on the latest PRS for Music list have never topped the Official UK Singles Chart, both peaking at number two instead.
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll was originally released in 1987. Hot favourites that year included Rick Astley’s When I Fall in Love as well as Mel Smith and Kim Wilde’s rendition of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. However, while The Pogues overtook both records they were ultimately held off the summit by the Pet Shop Boys cover of Always on My Mind.
Meanwhile Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You ranks as the UK’s second most played festive favourite. Co-written by the superstar and first released in 1994, it conceded defeat that year to East 17’s Stay Another Day.
However both The Pogues and Mariah have seen their songs played heavily on the nation’s airwaves since originally being released. The download revolution now returns both songs to the chart every year with new generations discovering their appeal.
It’s amazing to see how many of our biggest and best loved Christmas hits didn’t make it to the top spot in the UK singles chart.
Wham! missed out on the number one in 1984 when Last Christmas was beaten by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? The two songs still seem to go side by side though, with Band Aid ranking third and Wham! placing fourth in the most played list. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s composition Happy Xmas (War is Over) and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday also both failed to reach pole position.
Christmas chart-toppers
So what of the records that did make it to number one for Christmas day? Well, some patterns do emerge. Mary’s Boy Child has been a chart-topper for both Harry Belafonte in the 50s and Boney M in the 70s. Meanwhile Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was the Christmas number one in both 1975 and 1991. However, Do They Know It’s Christmas? scores the hat-trick having topped the charts for three different configurations of Band Aid.
The Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Spice Girls all have multiple Christmas number ones under their belt's while The X Factor winners have reached the summit for five of the past seven years.
Whoever does win the battle this year is in the company of a mind-boggling array of artists including Michael Jackson, Renee and Renato, Slade and Mr Blobby!
Words: Russell Iliffe, PRS for Music
