The Competition for Christmas Number One: Strategies for Success

The leading Christmas single for this year is set to be revealed on Friday, with a mix of established hits, recent releases, and unexpected contenders all vying for the top spot. In the previous year, the iconic Wham! track “Last Christmas” achieved the premier position on the festive singles chart, notably for the first time since its debut in 1984, when it was prevented from reaching number one by the initial Band Aid release. Following customary practice, the leading festive song will be declared during BBC Radio 1’s chart program, commencing at 16:00 GMT on the Friday preceding Christmas. As of this publication, numerous artists are vying for the leading position on the chart. The Wham! song is currently leading, having regained the premier position in the chart immediately preceding the Christmas one, driven by listeners streaming it for holiday cheer. Its re-release on CD and 12-inch vinyl for its 40th anniversary during the concluding week of the chart competition has also provided an additional advantage. “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey, another enduring holiday classic, is closely trailing. This year’s contenders also include Brenda Lee’s classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and the newest version of Band Aid. A new holiday track from Tom Grennan is also in contention, alongside established Christmas favorites by Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson that are making a comeback. Alternatively, the top chart position might be secured by a non-Christmas song, such as recent successes from Gracie Abrams, Rose, and Bruno Mars, or the rapidly ascending Lola Young. For an extended duration, the Christmas number one spot was consistently claimed by either the most recent X Factor champion – occurring seven times from 2005 to 2014 – or by LadBaby, known for his novelty charity fundraising and sausage-roll theme, who won five times between 2018 and 2022. Similar to gift purchasing, the crucial element for participating artists, as stated by Official Chart Company head Martin Talbot, involves approaching the Christmas period with assurance, a clear plan, and an early start. “The singles market is very much dominated by streaming these days, in general terms, throughout the year,” he says. “But the Christmas market is the one market where you can sell a lot of physical [copies and] a lot of downloads and actually make a big difference. Because people want to buy gifts.” “That’s where Wham! will do really well this year.” In the contemporary digital landscape, physical sales or downloads contribute significantly more to chart positions than streaming figures. “The other thing is, if you’ve got a charity record, let’s not be shy about it,” Talbot notes. This principle is well understood by Bob Geldof and the Band Aid group, who are re-releasing their 40th anniversary Ultimate Mix. This version has garnered attention following Ed Sheeran’s statement that he would have preferred his vocals not be included again due to the song’s depiction of Africa. “When people engage with charity records, they’re not doing it because they specifically want to listen to the charity record over and over again, Talbot notes.” “Streaming doesn’t really work.” Instead, he says: “It’s all about voting. And you cast your vote by buying a download or by buying physical products.” East 17, Reverend and the Makers, and The Celebs are likewise participating this year to support different charities, a sentiment shared by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue. Mariah Carey’s enduring 1994 hit eventually reached the peak of the UK chart for the first time in 2020, and then again in 2022. However, even though it is widely sung by celebrants nationwide each December, the self-proclaimed “queen of Christmas” (whose attempt to trademark this title was rejected by US authorities) has never actually held the number one position on the UK chart during Christmas week itself. “It was the first Christmas song I ever wrote and I was just thinking about all the things that I really did want at Christmas,” she recently told Rylan in a BBC interview. “I guess I turned it into, if there’s something that you love, it means more than all that stuff.” Aww. Her song, similar to those by Wham! and Band Aid, has gained an advantage from extensive promotion by streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple, and Amazon on their premier Christmas playlists. Over recent years, Amazon has significantly supported new Christmas tracks available exclusively through its platform. Examples include Sam Ryder’s “You’re Christmas To Me,” which narrowly missed the top spot to Wham! last year, and Ellie Goulding’s “River,” which reached number one shortly after Christmas in 2019. For the current year, Tom Grennan’s poignant track “It Can’t Be Christmas” is exclusively accessible through Amazon Music. Grennan, who composed the song in Los Angeles during the summer, stated that collaborating with the streaming service to produce his holiday song was an obvious decision. Additionally, Amazon has commissioned “Christmas Magic” by Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter Laufey. She described the request to create an original song to compete with established contenders as “such a fun challenge.” The classically-trained artist’s jazz-influenced song is included in “Red One,” a holiday-themed action film produced by Amazon and featuring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and Lucy Liu. According to chart expert James Masterson, the competition for the Christmas number one originated as a concept introduced by British bookmakers in 1984. Although it once yielded numerous genuine pop successes, he contends that the idea has been “ruined”