The ultimate Christmas No. 1s

Wham! has made Official Charts history by landing the Christmas No. 1 spot twice in a row. "Last Christmas" was blocked from the top of the charts by Band Aid's "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" when it was first released in 1984. But four decades on, it has clinched the title for two consecutive years.

The official Christmas No. 1 has become a "British institution", the "most prestigious and hard-fought-for chart topper" in any calendar year, said Official Charts. But how do you define the UK's all-time Christmas No. 1?

If you boil it down to units, a measure that includes streams, downloads and physical sales, Band Aid's 1984 classic wins the prize. It is not only the best-selling Christmas single, but it's up there with the best-selling singles of any genre ever.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But ranking the best Christmas tunes is a subjective task, with tastes changing over the years since the first festive chart topper (Al Martino's "Here In My Heart") in 1952.

Wham! - Last Christmas (Official Video) - YouTube

Watch On

'Evolving taste'

There is no set blueprint for making the "perfect Christmas song, though it never hurts to include sleigh bells" and invoke a "general sense of bonhomie", said BBC Culture. The best of them "feel like old friends who come to visit every year".

The Christmas No. 1 also tells us "about the mood of the nation and our evolving taste in music", said Sky News. For example, LadBaby had five consecutive hits from 2018 to 2022 with his "energetic, danceable, and novelty tunes designed for virality", whereas the "2000s and 2010s leaned heavily on emotional ballads, thanks in part to a string of 'The X Factor' winners".

For many, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" is the "gold standard" of festive songs, said Cosmopolitan, "capable of putting you in the holiday mood within the first five seconds of listening". It wasn't a huge hit when it came out in 1994 but it has jingled to the top of charts around the world and has been officially crowned the "greatest holiday song of all time based on commercial performance", by Billboard.

Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (Official Video) - YouTube

Watch On

'Denied the festive top spot'

Yet, some of the nation's best-loved festive favourites haven't ever made the top of the charts.

"Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl, is "one of the most popular and enduring Christmas songs" said GQ. But it was held at the No. 2 spot on its release in 1987 by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on my Mind". Yet it's the "perfect four-minute narrative of hope, despair and heartbreak", said Time Out, listing it at the top of its 50 best Christmas songs of all time. "Despite the profanity, it ends with love."

The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York (Official Video) - YouTube

Watch On

Wham!'s "Last Christmas" is a "true Christmas colossus", said GQ. It features a "beautiful, everlasting mix of jauntiness and melancholy". Yet, despite being a "staple of nearly every respectable Christmas playlist" since 1984, said London's The Standard, it held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts – until now.