Entertainment/UK Christmas number ones

From Quiz Revision Notes
Revision as of 11:45, 3 January 2023 by QRNeditor (talk | contribs) (Fixed typographical errors)
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