Christmas number two

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Every year in the UK Singles Charts, there is a highly publicised race for the Christmas Number One spot on Christmas day. At this time of year, singles sales are at their peak for stocking fillers, etc, so many acts use this as a platform to gain exposure and revenue. Over the years, however, many acts have tried for the Christmas Number One and narrowly missed out, in many cases becoming more popular than the Number One itself. For example, The Pogues Fairytale of New York, released in Christmas 1987, narrowly missed out on the Christmas Number one that year, but is somewhat better remembered than the Christmas Number One of that year, Always On My Mind by The Pet Shop Boys, and in 2005 was re-issued to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Kirsty MacColl's death, once again making the Top Ten--this time reaching Number Three--making it the best-selling festive themed single of that year, and also re-charting in 2006 on downloads alone, once again making the UK top 10. Wham! Made the Christmas Number Two in 1984, missing out to the Band Aid single, Do They Know It's Christmas?, yet still managing to sell in excess of a million copies, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time, and the best selling-single never to reach Number One in the UK.

[edit] Christmas Number Two Single History

The remainder of this article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Typically, novelty records or newcomers do very well in the Christmas Number one race, but usually miss out on the spot and slink off into obscurity. A good example of an outsider narrowly missing out on the Number One is Gordon Haskell, who's single, "How Wonderful You Are" gained exposure through mass airplay on BBC Radio 2 in the build up to Christmas thanks to Terry Wogan, quickly becoming one of the favourites for the Number One, but narrowly missed out to Robbie Williams' and Nicole Kidman's cover of "Something Stupid". After this, very little was heard of him again.

A similar story surrounds JCB by Nizlopi: practically never heard of until December 2005, they gained significant radio airplay on both BBC Radio 1 and 2, and made Number One the week prior to Christmas, only to be knocked off by X-Factor winner Shayne Ward. Essentially, Nizlopi are a one-hit wonder, with their follow up single "Girls" failing to chart.

It is a common misconception that Cliff Richard has had a Christmas Number One in every decade since the UK Singles Chart's inception. This is untrue because he's only had three Christmas Number One singles, and just one Christmas Number Two in 1981 with "Daddy's Home" (this is the closest he has come to a fourth).

Many of the Classic Christmas singles over the years have missed out on the Christmas Number one - although people often confuse them for the real Number one of that year. Prime examples being:

  • "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake (although not initially intended as a single),
  • "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie (No.3),
  • "I Wish it could be Christmas everyday" by Wizzard (No.4), interestingly beaten to the number one by Slade,
  • "A Winters Tale" by David Essex (No. 3),
  • "A Spaceman came travelling" by Chris De Burgh (No. 40),
  • "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders (No. 15),
  • "Walking in the air" by Aled Jones (No. 5),
  • "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey (No. 2),
  • "Wonderful Christmas Time" by Paul McCartney (No. 6),
  • "Happy Christmas (War is over)" by John Lennon (No. 2),

And even the perennial classic, "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby (No. 5). This essentially proves that the Charts have little to no effect of the appeal of a Christmas song.

[edit] Christmas number two singles

Tracks marked * did top the chart either in the run-up to, or shortly after, Christmas.

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/r/Christmas_number_two.html"