You're My Number One...

It's that time of year, so I am about to embark on the first Christmas post of the season!  One of the highlights of years past (I'm not really interested in recent years, thanks to a decline in musical standards - just my opinion) was the race to hit the Top Spot in the UK Charts at Christmas.

Rather than simply listing the songs and artists, I will run through some facts and figures, and some info about - what I consider to be - some of the greatest songs to reach the position.

Although not a necessity, there have been a few seasonal Number Ones, as well as the odd novelty song.  The pre-holiday period always used to see the release of a number of novelty records in an attempt to make it big.  Of course, there have also been some simply magnificent songs and equally magnificent artists to attain the title of "Christmas Number One".

Three artists have achieved this feat on more than one occasion (with different songs), and in fact, have all done it three or more times.  The first - and the only four-time Christmas chart-toppers - were the Fab Four!  Yes, the Beatles achieved the feat in 1963 with I Want To Hold Your Hand, the following year with I Feel Fine, and again in 1965 with the double-A side of Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out.  Two years later, they made it four with Hello, Goodbye.  Strangely enough, the first three songs stayed in position for five weeks each, but the latter was their most successful being a seven-week Number One.  Don't forget, Paul McCartney also hit top spot in December 1977 with Wings on Mull Of Kintyre, so strictly speaking he has five Christmas Numbers Ones, but as a member of different groups, and none solo.

Years later, the Spice Girls also topped the Christmas charts three times, and like the Beatles, actually did three-in-a row.  From 1996 to 1998, they had they the top spot on December 25 to themselves with 2 Become 1, Too Much, and Goodbye.

The third artist to achieve this did so twice as a solo artist, and once fronting a group (not just as a member of an outfit).  The name now so synonymous with Christmas music in the UK, it is the great Sir Cliff Richard.  Way back in December 1960, Cliff Richard and the Shadows reached the position with I Love You.  It was 1988 before Sir Cliff repeated the feat with his solo classic, Mistletoe And Wine.  Then, in 1990, Saviour's Day completed the hat-trick.  Of course, this make Cliff the only artist to have Yuletide Number Ones in three different decades.

Queen topped the charts in December 1975 with their masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody. They did so again sixteen years later, when the song was re-issued as a double-A side with These Are The Days Of Our Lives.  Released after the death of Freddie Mercury a month earlier, this made the Queen vocalist the only person to achieve the feat both while living and posthumously...

The first song to top the UK charts at Christmas was Here In My Heart by the legendary American crooner, Al Martino.  That was in 1952.  The following year, Frankie Laine kept the title on this side of the pond with Answer Me.  In 1954, Trinidian pianist Winifred Atwell not only became the first female artist to top the Christmas list with Let's Have Another Party,  Not only that, Winnie was the first black artist to reach Number One in the UK charts, and is still the only female instrumentalist to have done so!  Impressive, eh?

Two songs have also been Christmas Number One twice.  Mary's Boy Child gave Harry Belafonte his time in 1957, and repeated the feat for the German-based Boney M twenty-one years later.  More recently, Do They Know It's Christmas did the same in 1984 for Band Aid, and Band Aid II (a relatively ineffective reincarnation of the original gathering) in 1989.

In 1955, the late Dickie Valentine became the first British artist to achieve the feat, with Christmas Alphabet.  Of the other truly seasonal hits (not already mentioned), only four have reached their goal.  Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade -1973), Lonely This Christmas (Mud -1974), When a Child is Born (Johnny Mathis - 1976), and Merry Christmas Everyone (Shakin' Stevens - 1985) are the ones.

Finally, the real novelty records to make it to the top are Lily The Pink (The Scaffold - 1968), Ernie (Benny Hill - 1971), Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool (Jimmy Osmond - 1972), and There's No One Quite Like Grandma (St Winifred's School Choir 1980).

I'll be back with more Christmas goodies in a couple of days!