The biggest Christmas Number 1s of all time

As we head towards 2022's Christmas Number 1 race, here's the up-to-date Top 20 biggest festive chart-toppers.
christmas-biggest-sellers.jpg

It's that time of year again, where we await the crowning of 2022's Official Christmas Number 1! But what are the biggest Christmas Number 1s of all time?

We’ve tallied up the numbers using both sales and streaming figures, and we’re back with the Top 20 all-time greats. Look away now, Ladbaby

 

Band Aid - Do They Know Its Christmas? (1984) 

Perhaps the quintessential Christmas chart-topper, the original Band Aid line-up’s version of Do They Know It’s Christmas from 1984 is not only the biggest-seller with 3.83 million sales, but with streams combined it now totals at 5,311,000. With it continuing to re-enter the Official Chart every Christmas, it’s likely to hold on to that position for some time.

 

But wait. Who is this hot on its heels? It's Ed Sheeran himself, with the third- most-streamed song of all time, Perfect. With a combined total of 4,703,000 it’s one of the non-seasonal songs that sees its chart units creep up throughout the years thanks to streaming – could it creep up to pole position?

 

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1991)

Only 22,000 chart units behind Ed is Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, with 4,681,000 - possibly helped by the fact it’s been Christmas Number 1 twice. Due to its non-Christmas subject matter and being Queen’s biggest song in general which is played throughout the year, it’s another non-seasonal fave that could find itself moving up the rankings in years to come.

 

One song by an act that defined their particular year is Don’t You Want Me by The Human League (4), which finished off, what was for them, an incredible 1981. With a combined total of 2.5m including 1.6 million pure sales, the song has re-entered the chart twice, in 1995 and 2014, though not at Christmas time.

 

Boney M - Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord (1978)

The grand finale of an incredible 12 months for Boney M in 1978 was their Number 1 single Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord, which comes in at Number 5 with a combined figure of 2.46m, with 1.9 million of those down to sales of the song at the time.

Close behind is Shakin’ Stevens, who claims the sixth biggest Christmas Number 1 of all time with 2.43m, in part thanks to its strong yearly streaming figures during its ‘on season’.

 

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You (1992) 

Whitney Houston’s legendary take on Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You from 1992, which spent ten weeks at the top, is at Number 7. The evergreen hit is now at 2.42m chart units including 1.67m pure sales.

 

 

Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody (1973) 

Approaching its fiftieth anniversary and unlikely to be disappearing any time soon is Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade (8). The glam rockers' pension plan shows no sign of letting up, being a regular playlist staple and Christmas chart returnee on 2.38m, with 1.32 million of those as pure sales.

 

Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School - Wings (1977)

Number 11 sees Paul McCartney and Wings’ Mull Of Kintyre currently at 2.15m, with 2.09 million sales mostly from its time in the Official Chart in 1977. In fact Macca does quite well overall as he populates the Top 20 with three songs from his stint in The Beatles, with I Want To Hold Your Hand at Number 10, I Feel Fine at 14 and Day Tripper/ We Can Work It Out at 15.

 

Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name (2009)

The viral sensation that was Rage Against The Machine’s Christmas Number 1, Killing In The Name, lands in at Number 17 with 1.43m. On its win in 2009 the track caused great upset to Simon Cowell and The X Factor, who had enjoyed a run of festive chart-toppers before this rap metal anthem barged in, thanks to a campaign led by Jon and Tracy Morter.

Once you're done looking at the Top 20 biggest, take a look at all 70 of the UK's Official Christmas Number 1s from 1952-2021.

Official Top 20 Biggest Christmas Number 1s

  TITLE ARTIST YEAR
1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? BAND AID 1984
2 PERFECT ED SHEERAN 2017
3 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 1975/1991
4 DON'T YOU WANT ME? HUMAN LEAGUE 1981
5 MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD BONEY M 1978
6 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE SHAKIN' STEVENS 1985
7 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON 1992
8 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE 1973
9 ROCKABYE CLEAN BANDIT 2016
10 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THE BEATLES 1963
11 MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL WINGS 1977
12 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 2008
13 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2) PINK FLOYD 1979
14 I FEEL FINE THE BEATLES 1964
15 WE CAN WORK IT OUT/DAY TRIPPER THE BEATLES 1965
16 STAY ANOTHER DAY EAST 17 1994
17 KILLING IN THE NAME RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 1993
18 EARTH SONG MICHAEL JACKSON 1995
19 2 BECOME 1 SPICE GIRLS 1996
20 GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME TOM JONES 1966

©2022 Official Charts Company . All rights reserved.

*This chart is compiled using physical and digital sales, plus streaming figures.

Related artists

Related Articles

Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.

Already registered?

Log in

No account?

Register

avatar

Blank

2

Streaming shouldn't really be combined in the total, because it will be misleading. The resulting total 'sales' is entirely dependent on the arbitrary ratio of streams:sales. A changing result / chart position without a change in the total public consumption data.

The chart should reflect the public consumption, and not be manipulated by arbitrary ratios.
Mid-year sales are also not really part of 'Christmas' hit, are they?

avatar

Jonathan Gardner

0

I Will Always Love You is only certified 2x Platinum but has combined units of 2,289,000? It's nearly 4x Platinum

avatar

BleeUK

-2

Rage Against The Machine Did'nt Get The True Christmas #1 With Killing In The Name as that was sales and figures only from 13th to 19th December 2009 (For 20th Dec Media Broadcast/Recorded for Top Of The Pops), only top the charts for one week only, as Joe McElderry Went Up a place to #1 With The Climb At Christmas 2009 Broadcasted on Weekly Charts on 27th December (Based from real-time Data from 20th to 26th) also a large amount of this stats may/is false as the media cut off always before Christmas Day, and in old times nearly up to 2 week before Christmas.

avatar

Blank

1

Don't know what you seem so confused about. The #1 of the most recent chart published before Christmas Day, therefore the #1 on Christmas Day itself, is the Christmas #1. Is not and never has been, what actually sells in the week that contains Christmas Day.

Probably never will be either, due to previous discussions. The 'false media cut off' is there to allow time to collate and publish the data in time to produce the Christmas chart. While the time needed to such a process is much quicker today, it's never going to be zero. It doesn't falsify the chart. If anything, having a defined sales period for the Christmas #1 (or any chart for that matter), makes it more accurate by keeping the sales periods equal, and therefore directly comparable.

Why do you consider the sales period during Christmas week to be the 'true' Christmas #1, rather than the top of the known collated chart?
Particularly when the result of which can never be announced for the day itself.

avatar

BleeUK

0

it makes a lot of sense to me, even my friend has never understood why the christmas chart on radio 1 cut off to early and never contain any sales or data at christmas time or even the big day, so the next charts would be very accurate, Christmas charts is a big false here as it should be branded as it the run up to christmas not at christmas so the 30th december would be true this year, than the 23rd as the data is taken in the past 7 days, this week ending system needs to be scrapped as it doesnt make sense even thought the billboards use this system, completely changing the theme if they did a Halloween time Chart of the year of 2023 in uk which one would you choose 27th October or 3rd November, to me 3rd November as that would contain 27th Oct to 2nd November at halloween time, maybe you would choose 27th but people who danced, party streamed download hit on 31st October would never reached that data, or been compiled as that would be taking before from 20th to 26th Only, that not Halloween yet!

avatar

Blank

0

The week-ending system actually benefits artists and the records. For one-day events, they get 2 chart weeks of publicity: the week of publication that the day falls in and the week after that contains the live sales.

What would you suggest changing it to? It's been good for 3661 singles weeks and counting...and 3470 albums weeks.

avatar

BleeUK

-1

Yeah but you may agree with week ending and I get that and respect . I don’t agree with it as a chart date (as data units is taken before those dates covered) But you can not broadcast the Christmas charts before or at Christmas Day as the data has not finalised yet! You got to broadcast it after 25th make sense , That why the week after Christmas charts radio 1 broadcast has more Christmas impact in top 100 and very true merry Christmas, and looking forward to 30th December countdown the most Christmas week data

T

Titan

-1

What happened to the actual Christmas songs ie. Last Christmas by Wham and Happy Xmas(War is Over) by John&Yoko for example.... Hardly seems like Xmas without them. Official Charts should change its name to Official Joke because that's what it's become

JF

Josh F

4

Probably for the factor both of them werent 'Christmas Number 1'. That'll probably be why they aren't on the list.

avatar

BleeUK

0

Wham Was Christmas #1 With Last Christmas in 2020 Up to 31st December Data Units, Ladbaby was #1 Before Christmas Up to 24th December 2020 Unit Data

R

RyanT

1

they should only tally numbers from the dec-jan period to get a true count of sales