The Tameside Radio presenter looks back at the history of the Christmas Day number one slot and tells us who is set to top the charts this year.
We got a rather unexpected phone call recently, informing us that our landlord is selling our rented house. The average price of a UK property fell by 2.3% in November, dropping from £292,406 to £285,579. It's the biggest drop since the financial crash of 2008, and the number of landlords selling up has risen by 13% in the last four months, according to recent figures. If the exodus of landlords continues, we could have a housing crisis on our hands. I've certainly noticed that are far fewer options on the market compared to 2016, and that the average rent is increasing in stark contrast to house values falling.
Meanwhile, as I stare at racks and racks of dusty CD singles, I marvel at the fact I paid £3.99 for them on average two decades ago, in the days when DJing weddings involved going down to Woolworths on new release Monday and grabbing several of the latest releases. These days, songs are 'released' on a Friday, but are usually streamed on platforms like Spotify and Deezer, meaning far less revenue for artists, but for consumers, access to pretty much all the music in the world for a tenner a month.
Something else that has altered is the importance of the UK singles chart. In days gone by, the big Britpop battle between Blur and Oasis made for excellent tabloid fodder, along with the annual race for Christmas number one. It's amazing looking at the sales statistics from as recently as 1998, when Spice Girls were in a hotly contested race for pole position with Chef from South Park, and his largely forgotten seminal pop classic Chocolate Salty Balls. Before you ask, yes, I did buy it!
Chef shifted 373,000 copies in the week leading up to the festive chart, a mere 8,000 copies behind Spice Girls' Goodbye (not their best track, in my opinion). 1998 was the year when Geri Halliwell had left the Girl Power collective and gone solo in a blaze of publicity, and they must have been well chuffed to bag the coveted Christmas number one with their first release as a four piece group. It was also their third in a row, following 2 Become 1 in 1996 and Too Much in 1997. Chef's track rose to the top the following week!
This year, it's looking like LadBaby has it in the bag once again, having received permission from the writers of Band Aid's seminal 80s classic Do They Know It's Christmas to rework the tune with Moneysaving expert Martin Lewis. Released on Friday, the new spin will raise money for the Trussell Trust and the Band Aid Trust on a 50:50 basis. It will no doubt include references to sausage rolls and the cost of living crisis, following in the footsteps of We Built This Cit, I Love Sausage Rolls, Don't Stop Me Eatin' and Sausage Rolls For Everyone. It would be their fifth consecutive Christmas chart topper.
How iconic is netting the Christmas Day number one slot these days? The days of Simon Cowell's domination now seem a distant memory, with names like Matt Cardle and Shayne Ward peppering the early 00s annals of history. The traditional Top Of The Pops festive special has been cancelled this year. It's also notoriously difficult for new festive songs to make their mark when competing with the likes of Wham, Shaky, Wizzard, Slade and Paul McCartney.
In fact, the self-styled 'Queen of Christmas' Mariah is sitting at number one at the moment for a second time with All I Want For Christmas Is You. The track was originally beaten in 1994 by furry hood wearing Walthamstow lads East 17, but she managed to top the charts during the pandemic in 2020. Perhaps it was like a comfort blanket during lockdown. Older numbers from the likes of Andy Williams, Brenda Lee, Cliff Richard and Bing Crosby still feature on many Spotify festive playlists, and of course on Tameside Radio too.
As I prepare to move, I'm reluctant to part company with my huge CD single collection, but deep down, I know it's worth virtually nothing now. Do kids even follow the Top 40 nowadays? I used to write it down, wherever I was in the country, in a little notepad. Although it may be a bit predictable if LadBaby bags it again this year, we should think ourselves lucky it's not Bob The Builder, St Winifred's School Choir, Benny Hill, or Mr Blobby. They've all managed it in the past. The Pogues never have. Pop is a strange business.
You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM.
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