{"id":1720,"date":"2012-12-23T23:18:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-23T23:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=1720"},"modified":"2012-12-23T23:18:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-23T23:18:41","slug":"charts-23-december-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=1720","title":{"rendered":"Charts – 23 December 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merry Christmas! \u00a0Yes, this is the Christmas chart, and you know what that means – everybody in their right mind runs a mile, leaving us with a two horse race between a charity record and a bloke who won\u00a0X Factor<\/em> but told everyone they should buy the charity record. \u00a0(Despite which, he was still ahead on iTunes for some of the week – so it wasn’t a complete thumping.)<\/p>\n

But further down the chart, it’s a bit of a wasteland, truth be told. \u00a0Quite simply, releasing a record in the week before Christmas is almost entirely the province of charity records, novelty acts, and lunatics, giving us one of the stranger charts of the year. \u00a0All part of the glorious tapestry, though.<\/p>\n

36. \u00a0Chris Rea – “Driving Home for Christmas”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>
\n35. \u00a0Wham! – “Last Christmas”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Two belated re-entries from the Christmas back catalogue. \u00a0“Driving Home for Christmas” was the lead track from an EP that Chris Rea released in 1988, but didn’t make the top 40 until the download era, when it achieved the dizzy heights of 33. \u00a0Even so, it keeps coming back (perhaps because a lot of people genuinely\u00a0don’t<\/em> own it). \u00a0“Last Christmas” spent five frustrating weeks at number 2 in Christmas 1984, stuck behind Band Aid.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

33. \u00a0Ellie Goulding – “Figure 8”<\/strong><\/p>\n