Countdown Best Selling Christmas Hits in the UK

[Willie Oleson]

Mr Hanky and Wombles, but not Thank God It's Christmas or December Will Be Magic Again?
Tut tut!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I knew from an early age (probably through the British Hit Singles annual book) that White Christmas was the biggest selling record in the world. I never knew what it had sold in the UK and with the Band Aid single, I figured it had to be 3 million or under, so when I found out it had only sold 250,000 copies, I was knocked back.

There is still that uncertainty where no one knows fully who sold what many decades ago, but even with that, it doesn't register anywhere over the reported 250,000.


I was too.

I can never really commit to having a favourite Christmas song and I usually go with the easy option of naming "Last Christmas" (because I love it that much), but then when I think about Boney M's MBC I know I want to name that as my favourite.

Either way, I'm very happy with our top three.



Looking at current Christmas chart trends, All I Want For Christmas, Fairytale of New York, Last Christmas and Slade's offering means they are still selling very high each year. It will be interesting to review this top ten in a few years to see if anything's changed.

Yes, it’s a weird one with White Christmas, but Angela’s explanation makes sense of it. I wonder what other songs aren’t getting their dues.

With Boney M.’s song, I hardly listen to it anymore. Certainly not the last few years. But that hasn’t diminished my affection for it. Just a couple of seconds of that gorgeous a capella intro and I’m a kid again, getting all hopped up on tinsel, fairy lights and a bulging stocking.

Mr Hanky and Wombles, but not Thank God It's Christmas or December Will Be Magic Again?
Tut tut!

While I naturally agree with you about the two absent tracks, I must object most strongly to any criticism of the Wombles.

 

[Ome]

My guess is that the low figure for this song is because it only includes sales since the UK singles charts were published in the early 1950s.

Yes, and even then there are reports of missing sales data from as late as the 70s.

Thank God It's Christmas or December Will Be Magic Again?

Ah - the novelty song and the festive season. If it helps, Queen's offering sold 45,000 in Denmark. Both these songs failed to hit our top 20, with Queen peaking at number 21 and Kate peaking as low as 29.

I hardly listen to it anymore

I'm the same, though I've amended that this year

The Wombles song isn't something I listen to, but I will say I loved it the other day and added it to this year's playlist.

 

[Angela Channing]

I wonder what other songs aren’t getting their dues.

The song that springs to mind is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (aka Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). This was an absolutely massive hit when it was released in the 1940s and also sold well on subsequent re-releases.

 

[Ome]

sold well on subsequent re-releases.

Interesting, and I'd love to know what happened with sales before the 50s. I can only find one entry into the charts and that was at number 51 in 1991. Do you know of other times where it sold well?

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The song that springs to mind is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (aka Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). This was an absolutely massive hit when it was released in the 1940s and also sold well on subsequent re-releases.

Interesting, and I'd love to know what happened with sales before the 50s. I can only find one entry into the charts and that was at number 51 in 1991. Do you know of other times where it sold well?

An interesting one this, as I believe Nat recorded the song several times and so some of the re-releases would presumably be counted separately as opposed to being added to sales of the original.

I have a couple of different versions by Nat in my iTunes and the earliest version is quite different to the one that usually comes to mind as his definitive rendition.

 

[Angela Channing]

Interesting, and I'd love to know what happened with sales before the 50s. I can only find one entry into the charts and that was at number 51 in 1991. Do you know of other times where it sold well?

An interesting one this, as I believe Nat recorded the song several times and so some of the re-releases would presumably be counted separately as opposed to being added to sales of the original.

You're correct Nat King Cole recorded the song several times. It was his second recording of the song in 1946 that was the massive hit but it's exact sales are unknown because it was before singles charts were compiled. It has been one of those songs, like Bing Crosby's White Christmas, that was re-released regularly and notched up good sales every time. It's inconceivable to imagine that Paul Nicholas's Grandma's Party would have sold more copies that Nat's Christmas Song.

 

[Ome]

some of the re-releases would presumably be counted separately as opposed to being added to sales of the original.

It has been one of those songs, like Bing Crosby's White Christmas, that was re-released regularly and notched up good sales every time.

I've looked up various credits with Nat King Cole and still can't find any different versions and the only entry into the official charts was that in 1991 where it spent a week at number 51.


Do you have any info on the other versions? It's doing my head in not being able to find anything out.

It's inconceivable to imagine that Paul Nicholas's Grandma's Party would have sold more copies that Nat's Christmas Song.

I'd love to agree, but then I'm reminded of Joe Dolce beating Ultravox's Vienna to number one.

Then I think of all these massive sellers

Can We Fit It
Mr Blobby
Teletubbies Say 'Eh oh'
Crazy Frog
The Chicken Song
There's No One Quite Like Grandma

I love Christmas songs and so it's always disheartening when we get million sellers like those above snagging the Christmas number one.

 

[Angela Channing]

Do you have any info on the other versions? It's doing my head in not being able to find anything out.

This is the record label of the recording that Nat made of the song in 1946, the artist is billed as The King Cole Trio:

The reason it says "with String Choir" is because he previously recorded the song a few months earlier just his usual Cole jazz trio but this version wasn't released until the 1980s. It was the version with the strings section that was the big hit, making it to number 3 in the US in 1946. The song charted every year until 1954 when it was replaced by a new recording for which Nelson Riddle conducted the string arrangement. Nat King Cole's forth and final remake was in 1961 when he did a stereo version of the song.

I don't know much else about exactly the when and where the song was released.

 

[Ome]

This is the record label of the recording that Nat made of the song in 1946, the artist is billed as The King Cole Trio:

I found that one and looked him up on various names/credits including the trio.

It was the version with the strings section that was the big hit, making it to number 3 in the US in 1946.

Don't forget, this is just the UK sales.

Going by my own memory, this song is played heavily on some stations and I know when we did Christmas at Walt Disney World, "The Christmas Song" was massive in all the parks.

I'm convinced it sold really well, but I just can't find anything, and I'm sure its appeared on many Christmas compilation records/CDs over the years.

Just to add to that, I'm shocked that it's never appeared in any of the charts since '52 (apart from that listing in 1991)

 

[Angela Channing]

Don't forget, this is just the UK sales.

I know but there is very little information about record sales in the UK before 1952. It would be the same for a song like Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again, which I would guess was a UK best seller but it would be difficult to find hard facts to find support this.

 

[Ome]

I know

I wasn't sure if the conversation had led you thinking global sales.

difficult to find hard facts to find support this.

Yeah, it's a real shame because I enjoy learning about stats around music.

Then again, I don't think sales figures were fully correct in the 50s. Frankie Lane's hit "I Believe" spent 18 weeks at number one in 1953, yet they fail to note any sales.

Not that reaching number one means great record sales. Madonna has had 13 number ones, spending 29 weeks at the top, yet failed to have a million seller in this country. I think this is partly my fascination with the whole subject.

 

[Ome]

Then we have "Last Christmas" nearly selling 2 million records and never reaching number one.



The lowest placed record (I think) is "Mr Brightside" The Killers becoming a million seller, and only reached number 10 in the charts.

 

[Ome]

Then there's the novelty song that's for charity.

This one is sitting at number two right now.