Christmas Music

A certain allure of the “Christmas number one” started in 1952, the year the Official Charts Company began tracking sales for the top-selling music and compiling rankings into what is known as the UK Singles Chart. The obsession ramped up during the country’s tumultuous ’70s with fandoms battling to get their favorite artists to the top of the charts come Christmas Day as a way to distract themselves from the unfavorable real-world events surrounding them. The Beatles earned four Christmas numbers ones in the '60s, and in the '70s, acts like Slade, Queen, Wings and Pink Floyd each claimed the throne. The next repeat winners were the Spice Girls during a three-year span in the late '90s. Throughout the decades, not all winners have been Christmas-related; however, the annual fervor accompanying the race to the summit increases the overall music consumption in the UK, a huge reason why Brits are streaming and buying holiday tunes at a higher rate than any other country. One of the most memorable number ones was "Do They Know It's Christmas?" from supergroup Band Aid (featuring Wham!).