Christmas Number Ones

A Christmas Number One is the single that tops the singles chart during the week in which Christmas Day falls and, with record sales peaking in the lead up to Christmas, for many years the Christmas Number One has been considered especially prestigious in the UK. The first official UK singles chart was published in November 1952 in New Musical Express magazine. Al Martino’s Here In My Heart was no.1 on the first chart published in New Musical Express, and it held the top spot for the rest of 1952, making it the first officially recognised Christmas Number One. However, the race for the Christmas Number One didn’t really begin to take-off until 1973, when Slade released Merry Xmas Everybody, with the aim of topping the Christmas chart (which it did). In 2013, however, Steve Waters published The British Hit Singles January 1940 – October 1952, sub-titled ‘The Missing Charts’. The book featured the week by week Top 30 best-selling 78s, as compiled by Colin Brown, based not on over-the-counter sales (as post-1952 charts are), but on sales reps’ order and re-order sheets. The Christmas Number Ones detailed in this book are listed chronologically, from 1940 to 2014. The Christmas Number Ones in five other countries are also revealed, namely Australia, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and the USA.