{"id":8277,"date":"2017-12-08T19:13:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T19:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2021-08-11T11:22:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T10:22:30","slug":"what-is-the-best-selling-christmas-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/12\/08\/what-is-the-best-selling-christmas-song\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the best-selling Christmas song?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas means a few things \u201d\u201c feasting, family and fighting for the top spot in the UK singles chart. The Official Top 20 have pulled together the numbers to show which Christmas single is more popular than the other, but the list isn\u2019t necessarily full of what you would consider to be proper Christmas tracks. So, in the spirit of Santa, we\u2019ve taken the songs we truly associate with the holidays from the list!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do they Know it&#039;s Christmas ~ Band Aid 1984\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bjQzJAKxTrE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Do They Know Its Christmas? \u201d\u201c Band Aid<\/h3>\n<p>Band Aid was the charity-focussed project by Ultravox\u2019s Midge Ure and The Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (80s heaven, we know). <em>Do They Know Its Christmas?<\/em> was recorded to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia, and a supergroup beyond our wildest dreams was formed. Bob and Midge brought together some of the biggest names of 1984 which included Boy George, Paul Young, Bono, Phil Collins, Bananarama\u201d\u00a6 the list goes on! The single sold 3.8 million copies, although subsequent versions haven\u2019t quite lived up to the \u00a0original\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cmm1gt_2SkQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Mary\u2019s Boy Child\/Oh My Lord \u201d\u201c Boney M<\/h3>\n<p>Boney M\u2019s 1978 is instantly recognisable as a modern Christmas classic. They covered the Harry Belafonte classic <em>Mary\u2019s Boy Child<\/em> and added a new element with <em>Oh My Lord<\/em>. Although the single was recorded in a rush, you\u2019d never know \u201d\u201c it would go on to top the UK charts for four weeks, selling 1.88 million copies. It\u2019s one of the band\u2019s biggest selling singles and has become synonymous with festivities. It rightfully graces the best Christmas playlists!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E8gmARGvPlI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Last Christmas \u201d\u201c Wham!<\/h3>\n<p>The late, great George Michael could write a tune or two, and <em>Last Christmas<\/em> is one of his finest. The video is very much of the era \u201d\u201c which we love! \u201d\u201c and is far less upbeat than some of your traditional Christmas pop songs. It\u2019s all about learning your lesson after having your heartbroken. It\u2019s sold 1.82 million copies, and there is a campaign for this track to top the charts again this year, 33 years after its release. This is to mark one year since George Michael\u2019s death on Christmas Day 2016.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0A8KT365wlA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Merry Xmas Everybody \u201d\u201c Slade<\/h3>\n<p>The immortal exclamation of \u201cIt\u2019s Christmas!\u201d\u009d that Noddy Holder lets out in the intro is enough to put you in the festive spirit. This song is, understandably, Slade\u2019s biggest hit. It topped the charts in 1973, selling more than one million copies. Fun fact \u201d\u201c it beat Wizzard\u2019s equally classic <em>I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday<\/em> for the top spot. This track has been adored for almost 50 years, and no doubt will continue to be.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j9jbdgZidu8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Fairytale of New York \u201d\u201c The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl<\/h3>\n<p>This year marks the 30<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of this song which is often dubbed the ultimate Christmas track. <em>Fairytale of New York<\/em> was pipped to the top spot by Pet Shop Boys in 1987, but we were enamoured with the tumultuous love story told by MacColl and Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan. It tells the tale of an Irish immigrant in New York sleeping off in NYC\u2019s drunk tank after a binge; exactly the kind of theme expected of The Pogues. It will be a double celebration for MacGowan this year; 30 years since one of the best-loved Christmas tracks was released, and his 60<sup>th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Feeling festive? Check out the huge range of Christmas CDs on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/store\/\">musicMagpie Store<\/a> today (don\u2019t worry: we\u2019ve got plenty of non-Christmas music too!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas means a few things \u201d\u201c feasting, family and fighting for the top spot in the UK singles chart. The Official Top 20 have pulled together the numbers to show which Christmas single is more popular than the other, but the list isn\u2019t necessarily full of what you would consider &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12799,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions\/12799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}