In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in the week in which

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

falls. The singles have often been

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wi ...

s, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the volume of record sales in the UK has peaked at Christmas. The Christmas number one is considered especially prestigious, more so than any other time of year. Christmas number-one singles have often also been the best-selling song of the year, though in recent years they have been released by

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

contestants and charity efforts. Due to the common practice of dating a chart by the date on which the week ends, the Christmas chart is dated the end of the week containing 25 December. The most recent Christmas number one single is "

Food Aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. ...

" by LadBaby.

History

The

began in 1952 – appearing in the ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music journalism, music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine tha ...

''. The positions of all songs are based on weekly sales (from Sunday to Saturday until 2015, then from Friday to Thursday). Before 1987, they were released on a Tuesday due to the need for manual calculation. The emergence of a serious contest for the Christmas number-one spot began in 1973, when the

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on div ...

bands

Slade Slade are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British H ...

and

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartn ...

deliberately released festive songs in an effort to reach the top of the charts at Christmas, with Slade's " Merry Xmas Everybody" beating Wizzard's "

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a Christmas song recorded by British glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood—formerly ...

". The Christmas number-one single was not revealed on Christmas Day itself until 1994. From 2002 until 2014, the competition for the Christmas number one was dominated by

contests, with the winners often heading straight to number one in the week before Christmas. This trend began when '' Popstars: The Rivals'' contestants released the top three singles on the Christmas chart. Between 2005 and 2014, the winners of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' took the number-one spot on seven occasions. In 2007, the ''X Factor'' single was such a strong favourite for number one that

bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

began taking bets on which song would be the "

Christmas Number Two Every year in the UK Singles Chart, there is a highly publicised race for the top slot on the chart immediately prior to Christmas, an honour known as the Christmas Number One. The UK public take a particular interest in chart performance and sa ...

" instead.

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...

's 1992 single "

Killing in the Name "Killing in the Name" is a protest song by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, and appears on their 1992 Rage Against the Machine (album), self-titled debut album. It was released as the lead single from the album in November 1992. It f ...

" outsold

Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show '' The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singl ...

in 2009 following a successful

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

campaign against this trend. This made them the first group to get a Christmas number one with a

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remo ...

-only single, and resulted in the most download sales in a single week in UK chart history. Similar campaigns in 2010 promoting acts such as

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil (guitar, lead vocals), James Johnston (bass, vocals), and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals). Currently signed to 14th Floor Records, they have ...

, John Cage and the Trashmen were unsuccessful. In 2011, the

Military Wives The Military Wives Choirs is a registered charity and network of 75 choirs in British military bases across the UK and overseas, bringing women in the military community closer together through singing. With over 2,200 members, the MWC network ...

and Gareth Malone, both involved with the reality television show '' The Choir'', outsold ''X Factor'' winners

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ...

and a host of social network campaigns for various novelty acts. In 2012, a supergroup cover of " He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", supporting charities associated with the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal Crowd collapses and crushes, human crush during a association football, football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-fina ...

, reached the number one ahead of ''The X Factor''s

James Arthur James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's " Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the f ...

. Following the UK Charts' move to Fridays, the Christmas number one is revealed on Christmas Day whenever it falls on a Friday, such as in 2015 and 2020; the former year's chart was the first in a decade to not feature the ''X Factor'' winner's single in the top two.

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights ma ...

has released a number of exclusive festive tracks since 2018, recorded with acts such as

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

, Jess Glynne, and

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and A&R. After ...

, none of which have topped the Christmas chart, though Goulding's track later reached number one. More recently, non-traditional acts have been successful with

novelty songs A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wi ...

released for charity; most notably,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

LadBaby achieved number one every year between 2018 and 2022, each time raising money for the Trussell Trust.

Records

LadBaby is the act with the most Christmas number ones with five, surpassing

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

' previous record in 2022. On two occasions, in 1963 and 1967, the Beatles had both the Christmas number one and the number two, the first act to have achieved this. As part of two acts,

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV Generation, MTV generation and is one of the List ...

repeated the feat with Band Aid and

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

in 1984, and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

did so in 2017 with duets with Beyoncé and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, and again in 2021 with duets with LadBaby and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

has been top eight times with various acts.

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

has spent four Christmases at number one; two as a solo act, one with

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richar ...

and one as part of Band Aid II. The

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vi ...

later equalled the then-record of three consecutive Christmas number ones, from 1996 to 1998; Spice Girl

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...

achieved a fourth Christmas number one as a member of

the Justice Collective The Justice Collective was a collective of musicians and celebrities. The project is spearheaded by Peter Hooton of the Farm. It was originally established in 2012 as a fund-raising record raising money for the various charities associated with t ...

in 2012, which also gave

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stu ...

his third. In 2022, LadBaby became the first act to achieve five consecutive number ones. "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...

" by

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, which reached the number-one spot at Christmas 1975 and 1991, is the only record to have reached the top twice. "

Mary's Boy Child "Mary's Boy Child", also known as "Mary's Little Boy Child", is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol. History The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The ...

" is the only song to be Christmas number one for two artists —

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internat ...

in 1957 and Boney M. in 1978 — although "

Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popu ...

" has been Christmas number one for three generations of Band Aid. The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is the second-bestselling single in UK history (behind "

Candle in the Wind 1997 "Candle in the Wind 1997", also known as "Goodbye England's Rose" and "Candle in the Wind '97", is a song by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, a re-written and re-recorded version of their 1973 song " Candle in the Wind" ...

" by

), while "Bohemian Rhapsody" is third.

List

Cliff Richard - Old Royal Naval Yard Greenwich - Saturday 1st July 2017 CliffGreenwich010717-43 (35672276090) (cropped)

History

Records

List

See also

Notes

References

Further reading