The madness that is the UK Christmas #1 is on!
Brits have been laying bets on which single will be at #1 on the last national music chart published before Christmas. For the last eleventy billion years, it’s been some kind of parody/charity song from the husband-and-wife team trading under the name Ladbaby. All their #1 songs have been themed around sausage rolls.
With Ladbaby deciding not to release a song this year, the field is wide open–sort of. An effort to push AC/DC to #1 has faltered. Wham’s “Last Christmas” is currently at #1 followed by Mariah Carey and “All I Want for Christmas is You.” But with the death of Shane MacGowan and a new charity re-issue of “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues (a limited edition green 7-inch vinyl edition, as well as a first-ever CD version), don’t count that out.
Other contenders include Slade (the classic “Merry Xmas Everybody” was released 50 years ago), a weirdo group called The Krackpots (“Proper Christmas”) and “The Goblin Song” from the Dr. Who TV show.
Music-News.com explains how this will work.
The only chart that counts, The Official Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company on behalf of the British music industry. First established in 1952, the Official Chart today surveys around 9,000 retailers and digital services daily to count UK physical sales, digital downloads, audio streams and video streams. The most comprehensive research panel of its kind, it captures 99.9% of the total UK singles market.
The Top 40 is counted down every Friday afternoon on BBC Radio 1 and Official Singles Chart Top 100 published in full on OfficialCharts.com.
The Official Christmas Number 1 race 2023 kicked off Friday December 15 with sales and streams counting up until midnight (11.59pm) on Thursday, December 21.
