A History Of Christmas Number Ones — Who Would You Like To Top The 2021 Tree?

The much vaunted Christmas number one slot has seen festive turkeys and triumphs served up in equal measure since its inception almost 70 years ago.

The official UK Singles Chart began in 1952, with Here in My Heart by Al Martino (No, me neither) topping the pile for the festive period, but it wasn't until the following decade it became an annual event.

1960s...

Cliff Richard and the Shadows secured the first Christmas number one of the decade with I Love You (1960), the first of several festive hits for the future Eurovision runner-up.

Elvis Presley reached the summit with Return to Sender (1962) before The Beatles took ownership of the position for four of the five years between 1963 and 1967 with classics I Want to Hold Your Hand (1963), I Feel Fine (1964), Day Tripper (1965) and Hello, Goodbye (1967).

1970s...

This decade saw the first injection of comedy into the end of year charts, with Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) bringing Benny Hill to the fore (1971).

Songs specifically written for the season became more prominent with Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody (1973) and Lonely This Christmas by Mud (1974).

Two legendary tinsel free singles nabbed number one in the following years, with Queen's Magnum Opus, Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) and Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (1979) among the Mount Rushmore of Christmas releases.

1980s...

There's No-one Quite Like Grandma ensured St Winifred's School Choir (1980) were gifted the inaugural top spot of a decade saturated by yuletide ditties.

Among other notable tracks were Do They Know It's Christmas by Band Aid (1984 and 1989) and Merry Christmas Everyone from Shakin' Stevens (1985).

As well as being part of the second Band Aid hit, Cliff Richard enjoyed success with Mistletoe and Wine (1988).

1990s...

Cliff Richard was at it again, reaching the apex with Saviour's Day (1990).

Mr Blobby (1993) was a nadir for the 90s, while Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You (1992), Stay Another Day (1994) and Earth Song (1995) were among the all-time classics to occupy the summit on December 25.

The Spice Girls enjoyed three successive number ones with 2 Become 1, Too Much and Goodbye (1996-98). 

2000s...

Can We Fix It (2000) saw Bob the Builder at the top of the pile, while Sound of the Underground (2002) saw Girls Aloud explode as a mainstream force.

Band Aid 20 secured a third Christmas number one for Do They Know It's Christmas (2004), albeit with a less stellar cast than previous incarnations.

The noughties concluded with Rage Against the Machine's anarchic anthem Killing in the Name of (2009) receiving a surge of downloads following a social media campaign in defiance of reality TV's stranglehold over the seasonal charts.
 

2010 to present...

A remake of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother — a homage to the lives lost in football's 1989 Hillsborough disaster — was a number one for The Justice League (2012).

Clean Bandit's Rockabye (2016) and Ed Sheeran's Perfect (2017) provided two of the decades' high profile festive cuts.

Recent years have been dominated by LadBaby, the British lifestyle blogger snagging a hattrick of Christmas number ones with We Built this City (2018), I Love Sausage Rolls (2019) and Don't Stop Me Eatin' (2020).

Who could top the charts for 2021?

LadBaby, Elton John and Ed Sheeran's Sausage Rolls for Everyone looks likely to be named Christmas number one, with all profits donated to food bank supporter, The Trussell Trust, although a swirl of support has belatedly come in for a new anti-Boris Johnson release from The K***s.

Other contenders include Adele, ABBA and Have a Word Pod.

Let us know which song you'd like to be Christmas number one and which have been your favourites in the last 69 years by emailing [email protected].