The Christmas Number One

One of the less-well known Christmas traditions in the UK is the countdown to the Christmas « number one »: which song will be number one in the charts for Christmas? It may seem surprising but the British take a great interest in the charts, more so than any other country in the world. This interest has been fuelled by the media – newspapers and magazines publish articles about the « contentenders » for the number one position and TV programmes such as X-Factor finish just before Christmas, giving the winner a good chance of taking the number one position.

Very often several charity records are released just before Christmas to raise money for different causes. For example this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Day Truce, during World War 1. This event inspired The Farm’s 1990 hit All Together Now and many of the UK’s biggest music stars have united as The Peace Collective, to re-record the song. The new track features a backing choir of schoolboy footballers from the Premier League and German Bundesliga. All profits from the release, will go to the British Red Cross and the Shorncliffe Trust.

Read the article about it here

and watch the video here:

Another charity song is the well-known hit « Do they know it’s Christmas? »  a song that was initially written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the famine in Ethiopia. The original version became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history.  The song was re-recorded in 1989 by Band Aid II and in 2004 by Band Aid 20, again raising funds for famine relief.  The song was again re-recorded in 2014 by Band Aid 30, to raise funds for the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Do they know it’s Christmas (2014)

Another contender for the number one spot is the song which accompanies the annual John Lewis advert (see also https://anglaispourlebac.com/2013/12/03/john-lewis-christmas-ad-another-christmas-tradition/)

This year it a story about Monty the penguin , and the song is « Real Love » by Tom Odell

Article in the Daily Telegraph about the annual John Lewis advert.

Notions that could be linked to this topic

Spaces and exchanges: young German and British footballers coming together to give a message of peace 100 years after the Christmas truce and raise money for charity

Places and forms of power: The power of the media