Last year I wrote up some trends in the way British people listen to Christmas music now – as expressed via the medium of the streaming-era Christmas charts, which offer a fairly accurate barometer of passive festive listening.
So what happened this year? A single year’s data isn’t likely to change the picture much – there’s signs the decline of the classic 70s UK Christmas tunes (“Glam Christmas”) has stabilised a bit but the overall trends remain in place. It’s probably more useful to look at specific winners and losers across the 2020s so far. So I’ve looked at my big Christmas spreadsheet to identify the songs that are at a 5-year high and a 5-year low in terms of Chart position. NB: This is just looking at the “official” Christmas chart – the final one before Christmas; some of these songs may have higher peaks in the run-in, if so I haven’t counted them.
HO HO HO
These songs are at a 5-year high in the Christmas charts.
#1. WHAM – “Last Christmas”: Well, duh. Overtook Mariah as the UK’s most popular Christmas song in 2021 and with Ladbaby out of the way has the field to itself. Easy to see it being No.1 every year for a while; also easy to see some behind the scenes maneuverings to keep the Charts’ biggest media event of the year interesting (for some value of interesting).
#6. BRENDA LEE – “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” / #8. BOBBY HELMS – “Jingle Bell Rock”: The big beneficiaries of the globalisation of Christmas playlists and the swing towards the old-time US Christmas canon being incorporated into British Christmas music. What’s interesting to me is the emphasis here on rock’n’roll – really not a style of music that gets played any other time of year – over the crooners, who have gained some ground but are also having to fight it out with Michael Buble and other modern covers. Lee and Helms were both kids recording Christmas songs, so there’s something perky and innocent as well as upbeat about the tracks which I’d guess is striking a chord here.
#9. ARIANA GRANDE – “Santa Tell Me” / 11. KELLY CLARKSON – “Underneath The Tree”: As we’ll see when we get to the losers, one thing that might be happening is a sorting of the 2010s modern Christmas regulars into those with genuine staying power and ones wearing out their welcome. Current popularity isn’t a brilliant guide to this – Grande is still a big name but I’m not sure Clarkson is (though her song has the benefit of being very good in a “we-have-Mariah-at-home” way).
#18. PAUL MCCARTNEY – “Wonderful Christmastime”: Elton still outstreams him but Macca’s weird, divisive synth banger is at a current high, whereas Elton has slipped a bit since the start of the 20s. I think its oddness, and the fact people have opinions on it, is doing it no harm at all.
#21. JOSE FELICIANO – “Feliz Navidad”: One of the most obvious beneficiaries of the Americanisation of the charts, “Feliz Navidad” was largely unknown here a decade ago and it’s been gaining in the charts every year. I think it’s a great addition to the UK canon, to be honest, and I’m happy for it to stick around a bit.
#22. THE RONETTES – “Sleigh Ride”: A couple of other tracks from the Spector Christmas Album have popped up in the charts but “Sleigh Ride” seems to be the one playlisters have settled on as the representative of the rest – Darlene Love fell back a bit this year. Combines American kitsch with the rock’n’roll sound that makes Lee and Helms appealing, so you can see why it’s the choice.
#23. SIA – “Snowman”: One of the subplots of the 2020s Christmas charts has been which Sia track is going to be “the one” – back in 2020 “Santa’s Coming For Us” led her pack but “Snowman” has risen every year and has triumphed – FOR NOW. I have very few opinions about Sia.
#51. JOHN WILLIAMS – “Carol Of The Bells”: It’s the one from Home Alone, obviously. Too low down to really bother with as a Christmas winner except! It only charted for the first time last year in the low 90s, and it’s jumped 40 places this time, so this is here as a watch-out in future. Movie soundtrack Christmas pop is a bit untapped and as playlisters look to shake things up a little “Carol” might well feature more heavily.
Now for the fun part, what’s on the way down or out?
NO NO NO
Tracks at a 5-year low in the Christmas charts.
#17. MICHAEL BUBLE – “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”. It’s been in the Top 10 at Christmas as recently as 2021, but this steady performer fell back sharply this year. My fingers are crossed that this isn’t a fluke, and that Brenda and Bobby are opening the door for some old school recordings of the songs Buble has trailed smarm all over.
#25. CHRIS REA – “Driving Home For Christmas”: Fell out of the Top 20 in 2022 and has kept sliding, probably because it’s a terrible dirge. Other 80s stuff is holding up, by and large, so this is just a personal affront to the Balearic legend.
#28. WIZZARD – “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day”: Emblematic of the continued fall from grace of 70s Glamsters, though Slade has rallied a bit and Macca is doing fine (see above). Clinging on to a Top 30 slot, at any rate.
#33. ED SHEERAN & ELTON JOHN – “Merry Christmas”: Released in 2021 and was in the Top 5 for three years, making it the 2020s track that looked most likely to become a standard. Not so! This is a big drop, surely down to it cycling out of (or much lower down in) playlists, as Ed’s fortunes haven’t declined that much [EDIT: I forgot that downweightibg kicks in three years after release, putting Ed and Elt on the same playing field as any other oldie, which explains the collapse]. Anyway, I can’t say I’m sad about it.
#36. LEONA LEWIS – “One More Sleep”: Ariana and Kelly have prospered this decade but Leona Lewis has been sliding in the wrong direction for a few years; in 2020 all three were in the Top 20, but a tiering of last decade’s tracks is certainly in progress. Lower profile could also be a factor, of course.
#53: JUSTIN BIEBER – “Mistletoe”: It’s hung around the lower end of the Christmas chart all decade while more recent Bieber festivities have bothered us and departed, but it fell out of the Christmas Top 40 and it’s hard (for me at least) to imagine a revival of this very forgettable tune.
#59: COLDPLAY – “Christmas Lights”: One of the few recent ‘rock bands’ to try a Christmas song – though this being Coldplay it’s not a party belter. Descending swiftly towards the Greg Lake Zone.
#86: FRANK SINATRA – “Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow”: The division of Rat Pack spoils is stark this year – Dino’s “Let It Snow” has comprehensively won this battle and is warmly ensconced in the Top 30, Sinatra has to make do with a couple of Top 100 scraps.
#92: KELLY CLARKSON & ARIANA GRANDE – “Santa Can’t You Wait”: The singers of the two most popular modern Christmas songs team up – sounds like a winner? And until this year it was climbing year on year, before plunging from #27 last year to #92 now. A Christmas mystery! [EDIT: As with Ed and Elton, the three year downweighting cliff has taken its toll]. I can’t remember anything about it, so perhaps not a great loss.
#93: MICHAEL JACKSON & THE JACKSON FIVE – “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”: Another dramatic plunge after hanging around all decade just outside the Top 40. I doubt the difference between 50 and 90 is that meaningful, though.
And finally four songs which have been in every Top 100 so far this decade until now!
OUT: KYLIE MINOGUE – “Santa Baby”: Has fallen out of favour compared to other covers (Laufey has one this year) and the Eartha Kitt original.
OUT: BING CROSBY – “White Christmas”: This is a surprise – a very steady performer, in the 50s every other year and on course to do the same last week. No idea what happened there.
OUT: THE PRETENDERS – “2000 Miles”: Even in its heyday this was a bit of a “second half of Disc 2 of the Now Christmas CD” makeweight but as with Bing it’s a fairly sudden removal and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it back.
OUT: MUD – “Lonely This Christmas”: Mud have the general 70s decline as a further headwind, as 20th Century Christmas No.1s That Are Actually About Christmas go only Cliff’s pair feel less suited for a revival. (Dickie Valentine’s people should be having a word with the playlisters, quite frankly).
And that’s how things stand this Christmas. The most striking thing for me are the falls of the two solidly successful 2021 tracks (Ed & Elton and Kelly & Ariane) now downweighting has kicked in – suggests that after the early-10s wave of attempts to write modern Christmas standards we’re back in a holding pattern, and one that streaming makes even harder to break.