Wednesday 18 June 2008

What's your number one Number 1?

Everyone has their favourite Christmas song and every year, popstars release more of the things, the more memorable of which will ultimately end up on some Christmas compilation CD. But many of those much-cherished pop ditties never actually made it to Number 1 in the charts. In fact the songs which did were often far from festive in nature.

For a start, there have only actually been 56 Christmas Number 1s, since records began (excuse the unintentional pun) in 1952. And here they all are (arranged by year, artist, song and then weeks at #1):

1952 - Al Martino - Here in My Heart - 9
1953 - Frankie Laine - Answer Me - 8
1954 - Winifred Atwell - Let's Have Another Party - 5
1955 - Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet - 3
1956 - Johnnie Ray - Just Walkin' in the Rain - 7
1957 - Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child - 7
1958 - Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe - 5
1959 - Emile Ford & The Checkmates - What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? - 6
1960 - Cliff Richard & The Shadows - I Love You - 2
1961 - Danny Williams - Moon River - 2
1962 - Elvis Presley - Return to Sender - 3
1963 - The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand - 5
1964 - The Beatles - I Feel Fine - 5
1965 - The Beatles - Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out - 5
1966 - Tom Jones - Green Green Grass of Home - 7
1967 - The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye - 7
1968 - The Scaffold - Lily the Pink - 3
1969 - Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys - 6
1970 - Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking - 6
1971 - Benny Hill - Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) - 4
1972 - Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool - 5
1973 - Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody - 5
1974 - Mud - Lonely This Christmas - 4
1975 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 9
1976 - Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born (Soleado) - 3
1977 - Wings - Mull of Kintyre / Girls' School - 9
1978 - Boney M - Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord - 4
1979 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) - 5
1980 - St Winifred's School Choir - There's No-one Quite Like Grandma - 2
1981 - The Human League - Don't You Want Me - 5
1982 - Renée and Renato - Save Your Love - 4
1983 - The Flying Pickets - Only You - 5
1984 - Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 5
1985 - Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone - 2
1986 - Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite - 4
1987 - Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind - 4
1988 - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine - 4
1989 - Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 3
1990 - Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day - 1
1991 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are the Days of Our Lives - 5
1992 - Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You - 10
1993 - Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby - 2
1994 - East 17 - Stay Another Day - 5
1995 - Michael Jackson - Earth Song - 6
1996 - Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 - 3
1997 - Spice Girls - Too Much - 2
1998 - Spice Girls - Goodbye - 2
1999 - Westlife - I Have A Dream / Seasons in the Sun - 1
2000 - Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It? - 3
2001 - Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Somethin' Stupid - 3
2002 - Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground - 4
2003 - Michael Andrews & Gary Jules - Mad World - 3
2004 - Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 4
2005 - Shayne Ward - That's My Goal - 4
2006 - Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This - 4
2007 - Leon Jackson - When You Believe - 3

So, what’s your favourite Christmas Number 1? Let’s carry out an online poll, right here. Simply post which of the above is your favourite and we’ll find out which Number 1 is at the top of the chart (as it were).

1 comment:

C64 Mat said...

1971 for me :D