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Top 5 Christmas No.1s with most weeks at No.1
Christmas is creeping ever-closer and all the classic tunes we know and love are starting to make their way into the rotation.
Below we preview the top 5 Christmas number one singles since 1950 that have had the longest time occupying the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart.
What is a Christmas No.1?
In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. 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 have been released by reality television contestants and charity efforts.
Last years Christmas number one single is “Food Aid” by LadBaby, who have topped the charts during the week of Christmas a record five times consecutively from 2018-2022.
The History of the Christmas No.1
The UK Singles Chart began in 1952 – appearing in the New Musical Express which became the best-selling British music newspaper as it was the first to include a singles chart. The emergence of a serious contest for the Christmas number-one spot began in 1973, when the glam rock bands Slade and Wizzard 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”. The Christmas number one single was not revealed on Christmas Day itself until 1994.
Top Five Christmas No.1s with most weeks at No.1
| Year | Artist | Song | No.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Whitney Houston | I Will Always Love You | 10 weeks |
| 1952 | Al Martino | Here in My Heart | 9 weeks |
| 1975 | Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody | 9 weeks |
| 1977 | Wings | Mull of Kintyre / Girls School | 9 weeks |
| 2016 | Clean Bandit | Rockabye ft. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie | 9 weeks |
Records
LadBaby is the act with the most Christmas number ones with five, surpassing the Beatles’ previous record in 2022. On two occasions, in 1963 and 1967, the Beatles had both the Christmas number one and number two, the first act to have achieved this. As part of two acts, George Michael repeated the feat with Band Aid and Wham! In 1984, and Ed Sheeran did so in 2017 with duets with Beyonce and Eminem, and again in 2021 with duets with LadBaby and Elton John.
Paul McCartney has been top eight times with various acts. Cliff Richard has spent four Christmases at number one; two as a solo act, one with The Shadows and one as part of Band Aid II. The Spice Girls later equalled the then-record of three consecutive Christmas number ones, from 1996 to 1998; Spice Girl Melanie C achieved a fourth Christmas number one as a member of the Justice Collective in 2012, which also gave Robbie Williams his third. In 2022 LadBaby became the first act to achieve five consecutive number ones.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, 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” is the only song to be Christmas number one for two artists – Harry Belafonte in 1957 and Boney M. in 1978 – although “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” has been Christmas number one for three generations of Band Aid. The original version of the song is the second-bestselling single in UK history (behind “Candle in the Wind 1997” by Elton John), while “Bohemian Rhapsody” is third.
