It’s time to start thinking about “UK #1 at Christmas” insanity. This year, farts could win.
We are now 45 days from Christmas which means Britain is starting to gear up for its annual race to see who has the number one single on the charts on the last chart day before December 25. The Brits have gone nuts for this since 1952. People are encouraged to buy/stream their favourites to push them higher while bookies are only too happy to take bets on the winner.
Up until the late 2000s, the winning songs have been quite mainstream and/or innocuous. Examples
- 1979: Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)/Pink Floyd
- 1981: Don’t You Want Me/Human League
- 1984: Do They Know It’s Christmas?/Band Aid
- 1991: Bohemian Rhapsody/Queen
- 1996-1998: Nothing but Spice Girls
Yeah, there were some exceptions (Mr. Blobby’s “Mr. Blobby” in 1993) but all-in-all, things were fairly sane. That began to change with the rise of social media in the 2000s with the best example being 2009 when Rage Against the Machine topped the Christmas chart with “Killing in the Name.” But the weirdest era began with the parody songs by Ladbaby in 2017. They finished at #1 four years in a row with songs about…sausage rolls.
This year will be an opportunity to break Ladbaby’s stranglehold on the UK Christmas #1. This appears to be a leading competitor. Oh, dear.
