Entertainment/UK Christmas number ones

	Act	Title	Weeks at No 1
1952	Al Martino	Here in My Heart	9	First UK No 1 based on record sales
1953	Frankie Laine	Answer Me	8	Originally titled Mütterlein, with German lyrics. The song was banned by the BBC owing to the religious nature of the lyrics
1954	Winifred Atwell	Let’s Have Another Party	8	Pianist born in Trinidad
1955	Dickie Valentine	Christmas Alphabet	8	Real name Richard Maxwell. Opening lyric – “C is for the candy trimmed around the Christmas tree”
1956	Johnnie Ray	Just Walkin’ in the Rain	7	Written by two prisoners in Nashville
1957	Harry Belafonte	Mary’s Boy Child	7	Written by Jester Hairston in 1956
1958	Conway Twitty	It’s Only Make Believe	5	Real name Harold Lloyd Jenkins. US Country singer
1959	Emile Ford & The Checkmates	What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?	6	Real name Michael Emile Telford Miller. Born in Saint Lucia
1960	Cliff Richard & the Shadows	I Love You	2	Written by Bruce Welch
1961	Danny Williams	Moon River	2	Known as “Britain’s Johnny Mathis”. Song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
1962	Elvis Presley	Return to Sender	3	Performed in the film Girls! Girls! Girls!
1963	The Beatles	I Want to Hold Your Hand	5	Remained in the UK top 50 for 21 weeks
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	Written by Curly Putman
1967	The Beatles	Hello, Goodbye	7
1968	The Scaffold	Lily the Pink	4	Novelty song by Liverpool folk group. Based on a song titled The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham
1969	Rolf Harris	Two Little Boys	6	Written in 1902 and popularised by Harry Lauder
1970	Dave Edmunds	I Hear You Knocking	6	Cover version of a song written in 1955
1971	Benny Hill	Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)	4	Novelty song inspired by Benny Hill’s experience as a milkman
1972	Jimmy Osmond	Long Haired Lover from Liverpool	5	Youngest member of The Osmonds, who at age 9 became the youngest chart topper ever
1973	Slade	Merry Xmas Everybody	5	First year that groups released festive songs to try and reach the top of the charts at Christmas
1974	Mud	Lonely This Christmas	4	Written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn
1975	Queen	Bohemian Rhapsody	9	UK's third best-selling single of all time
1976	Johnny Mathis	When a Child is Born (Soleado)	3	Soleado was the original melody
1977	Wings	Mull of Kintyre / Girls’ School	9	First No 1 for Paul McCartney since he was a Beatle. First single to sell over two million copies nationwide
1978	Boney M	Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord	4	Cover of Harry Belafonte's 1957 song, put in medley with the new song Oh My Lord
1979	Pink Floyd	Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)	5	Features children from Islington Green School
1980	St Winifred’s School Choir	There’s No One Quite Like Grandma	2	Choir from a Stockport primary school
1981	The Human League	Don’t You Want Me	5	New Romantic band
1982	Renee and Renato	Save Your Love	4	UK-based Italian tenor (Renato Pagliari) and English girl (Hilary Lester)
1983	The Flying Pickets	Only You	5	A cappella group. Cover version of the song by Yazoo
1984	Band Aid	Do They Know It’s Christmas?	5	Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia. Sold a million copies in the first week and three million copies in total. First line is sung by Paul Young
1985	Shakin’ Stevens	Merry Christmas Everyone	2	Real name Michael Barrett
1986	Jackie Wilson	Reet Petite	4	Originally released in 1957. Wilson died in 1984
1987	Pet Shop Boys	Always on My Mind	4	Cover version of a 1972 song that was a hit for Elvis Presley
1988	Cliff Richard	Mistletoe and Wine	4	First solo No 1 for nine years. Written for a musical called Scraps, which was an adaptation of The Little Match Girl
1989	Band Aid II	Do They Know It’s Christmas?	3	Produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. First line is sung by Kylie Minogue. Cliff Richard was also a singer on the record
1990	Cliff Richard	Saviour’s Day	2
1991	Queen	Bohemian Rhapsody / There Are the Days of Our Lives	5	Re-issue of the 1975 hit, following the death of Freddie Mercury
1992	Whitney Houston	I Will Always Love You	10	Included on the soundtrack of The Bodyguard. No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a then-record-breaking 14 weeks
1993	Mr Blobby	Mr Blobby	3	Novelty song performed by the character from Noel's House Party. Often ranked as the worst Christmas No 1 in history
1994	East 17	Stay Another Day	5
1995	Michael Jackson	Earth Song	6	Presented as a world conservation statement
1996	Spice Girls	2 Become 1	3	Third single released by Spice Girls
1997	Spice Girls	Too Much	2
1998	Spice Girls	Goodbye	1	First song following the departure of Geri Halliwell
1999	Westlife	I Have a Dream / Seasons in the Sun	4	I Have a Dream is a cover version of an ABBA song. Seasons in the Sun is the cover of a hit for Terry Jacks
2000	Bob the Builder	Can We Fix It?	3	Theme song from the preschool TV programme Bob the Builder. Vocals on the song are provided by Neil Morrissey
2001	Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman	Somethin’ Stupid	3	Cover of a song written by C. Carson Parks and made famous by Frank and Nancy Sinatra
2002	Girls Aloud	Sound of the Underground	4	First year that the competition for the Christmas No 1 was dominated by reality television contests. Girls Aloud was created through Popstars: The Rivals and the record was released on 16 December
2003	Michael Andrews & Gary Jules	Mad World	3	Cover version of the Tears for Fears song. Recorded for the soundtrack of Donnie Darko
2004	Band Aid 20	Do They Know It’s Christmas?	4	First line is sung by Chris Martin
2005	Shayne Ward	That’s My Goal	4	Winner of the second series of The X Factor
2006	Leona Lewis	A Moment Like This	4	Winner of the third series of The X Factor. Cover of a Kelly Clarkson song
2007	Leon Jackson	When You Believe	3	Winner of the fourth series of The X Factor. Cover of a Stephen Schwartz song from The Prince of Egypt
2008	Alexandra Burke	Hallelujah	3	Winner of the fifth series of The X Factor. Cover of a Leonard Cohen song
2009	Rage Against the Machine	Killing in the Name	1	Result of a campaign to prevent the winner of The X Factor (Joe McElderry) from achieving the No 1 single. First download-only single to become the Christmas No 1
2010	Matt Cardle	When We Collide	3	Winner of the seventh series of The X Factor. Studio version of Many of Horror by Biffy Clyro
2011	Military Wives with Gareth Malone	Wherever You Are	1	Charity record
2012	The Justice Collective	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother	1	Proceeds went to various charities associated with the Hillsborough disaster
2013	Sam Bailey	Skyscraper	1	Winner of the tenth series of The X Factor. Cover of a Demi Lovato song
2014	Ben Haenow	Something I Need	1	Winner of the eleventh series of The X Factor. Cover of a song by OneRepublic
2015	Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir	A Bridge Over You	1	Charity record
2016	Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie	Rockabye	9	The song alludes to the nursery rhyme and lullaby, Rock-a-bye Baby
2017	Ed Sheeran	Perfect	6
2018	LadBaby	We Built This City	1	Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne. Proceeds from the charity single went to The Trussell Trust. Parody cover of We Built This City by Starship
2019	LadBaby	I Love Sausage Rolls	1	Parody cover of I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Alan Merrill
2020	LadBaby	Don’t Stop Me Eatin’	1	Parody cover of Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
2021	LadBaby ft. Ed Sheeran and Elton John	Sausage Rolls for Everyone	1	Based on Merry Christmas, which became a chart-topper for featured artists Ed Sheeran and Elton John in December 2021
2022	LadBaby	Food Aid	1	Based on Do They Know It's Christmas? and featured Martin Lewis. Half of the money raised went to the Trussell Trust and the other half to the Band Aid Trust
2023	Wham!	Last Christmas	4	Originally released in 1984. Whamageddon is a game in which players try to go from 1 December to the end of 24 December without hearing Last Christmas