{"id":3631,"date":"2016-12-26T22:54:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T22:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2016-12-26T22:54:42","modified_gmt":"2016-12-26T22:54:42","slug":"charts-23-december-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3631","title":{"rendered":"Charts &#8211; 23 December 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, Christmas. \u00a0I&#8217;m determined to clear some of my reviews backlog\u00a0over the coming days, but\u00a0this is the chart with the 2016 Christmas number one, so\u00a0I&#8217;d better do it while it&#8217;s still vaguely topical. \u00a0If you haven&#8217;t seen the link already, though, do look below for the nominations thread for the Homies!<\/p>\n<p>But first&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. \u00a0Clean Bandit &#8211; &#8220;Rockabye&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/papuvlVeZg8\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s your 2016 Christmas number\u00a01. \u00a0Since\u00a0it&#8217;s spending its seventh week at the top, and its sales (even the notional figure including streaming) are nothing special by the standards of the Christmas chart,\u00a0you could see this as a bit of an anticlimax. \u00a0But\u00a0really it&#8217;s the anticlimax that&#8217;s the story here. \u00a0What&#8217;s happening here is basically the failure of the usual Christmas number 1 circus to occur.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->For generations, the British have got it into their collective head that the Christmas number 1 is in some way significant. \u00a0Unless something especially odd happens, it&#8217;s the one chart of the year that gets news coverage. \u00a0You can bet on it. \u00a0The idea\u00a0seems to\u00a0have taken root partly\u00a0because it did tend to one of the biggest sales weeks of the year (with present-buying a factor), and partly\u00a0the 1970s saw a\u00a0run of Christmas number 1s that were all at least\u00a0memorable&#8230; in one way or another. \u00a0The transition to Making A Statement with the Christmas number 1 arguably comes in 1984 with Band Aid. \u00a0But for the last decade plus, the Christmas\u00a0slot has been\u00a0dominated by\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> winning singles,\u00a0online campaigns against the\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> winning singles, and charity releases.<\/p>\n<p>So it&#8217;s a surprise, to put it mildly, to see the Christmas number one slot going to a record that could have been number one at\u00a0<em>any<\/em> time of year, and indeed was. \u00a0Those are precisely the sort of\u00a0records that don&#8217;t\u00a0traditionally get to number one at Christmas &#8211; not in the Cowell era,\u00a0and only intermittently before.<\/p>\n<p>Consider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.officialcharts.com\/chart-news\/every-official-christmas-number-1-ever-__3618\/\" target=\"_blank\">the complete list of Christmas number ones<\/a>. \u00a0The first Christmas-themed singles actually come in the 50s &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/tAGi3d8CUMg\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Christmas Alphabet&#8221; by Dickie Valentine<\/a> in 1955 and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WY3o4_iIudg\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mary&#8217;s Boy Child&#8221; by Harry Belafonte<\/a> in 1957 &#8211; but it&#8217;s pretty much business as usual through to 1967, with\u00a0people like the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Tom Jones showing up. \u00a0But after 1968 there&#8217;s a sharp turn towards novelty hits.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qcBJ2Z4DkD0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That there is the Christmas number one of 1968: &#8220;Lily The Pink&#8221; by the Scaffold. \u00a0It was followed in 1969 by Rolf\u00a0Harris&#8217;s &#8220;Two Little Boys&#8221;, and 1971\u00a0had <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/8e1xvyTdBZI\" target=\"_blank\">Benny Hill&#8217;s &#8220;Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)&#8221;<\/a>. \u00a01972 was <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YriPIujLtsA\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Long Haired Lover From Liverpool&#8221; by Jimmy Osmond<\/a>. \u00a0Those\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> singles aren&#8217;t seeming so bad right now, are they? \u00a0The mid-70s see a big lurch up in quality but a move towards the specifically Christmas-themed: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/0A8KT365wlA\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Merry Xmas Everybody&#8221; by Slade<\/a> in 1973, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/NJ6kJ7GWtv0\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Lonely This Christmas&#8221; by Mud<\/a> in 1974, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/i3OTaPgPUhA\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;When A Child Is Born (Soleado)&#8221; by Johnny Mathis<\/a> in 1976, and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hxm1FlLSfe4\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mary&#8217;s Boy Child &#8211; Oh My\u00a0Lord&#8221; by\u00a0Boney M<\/a> in 1978.<\/p>\n<p>And those two themes dominated through to the <em>X Factor<\/em> era. \u00a0The novelties: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/rsXJcIODLtQ\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;There&#8217;s No One Quite Like Grandma&#8221; by the St Winifred&#8217;s School Choir<\/a> from 1980. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FKdrqyroDlI\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Save Your Love&#8221; by Ren\u00e9e and Renato<\/a> in 1982. \u00a0An acapella version of <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EX2LuPw0VwI\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Only You&#8221; by the Flying Pickets<\/a> in 1983 (a borderline inclusion in this category, but certainly not typical chart fodder). \u00a0A reissue of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8CTs8a7dVa0\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Reet Petite&#8221; by Jackie Wilson with a comedy video<\/a> in 1986. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/h37KQu64RY4\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mr Blobby&#8221;<\/a> in 1993. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7reYh8-zR58\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Can We Fix It?&#8221; by\u00a0Bob The Builder<\/a> in 2000. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/f43nR8Wu_1Y\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Somethin&#8217; Stupid&#8221; by\u00a0Robbie Williams &amp; Nicole Kidman<\/a> in 2001. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4N3N1MlvVc4\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mad World&#8221; by\u00a0Michael Andrews &amp; Gary Jules<\/a> in 2003 \u00a0(again, not\u00a0intended as a novelty record but an oddity in chart terms).<\/p>\n<p>The Christmassy, or at least dressed up as such for promotional purposes: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bjQzJAKxTrE\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Do They\u00a0Know It&#8217;s Christmas&#8221; in 1984<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=83xYDazJavE\" target=\"_blank\">again in 1989<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aOKTW6Zt_cU\" target=\"_blank\">again in 2004<\/a> (the last year before\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> domination begins). \u00a0Cliff Richard with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BjmGbI-Mnys\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mistletoe &amp; Wine&#8221;<\/a> in 1988 and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FTI8CWSiZ40\" target=\"_blank\"> &#8220;Saviour&#8217;s Day&#8221;<\/a> in 1990. \u00a0&#8220;Stay Another Day&#8221; by East 17 in 1994 (not a Christmas song, but explicitly promoted as such anyway).<\/p>\n<p>The common theme to both these lists, of course, is that neither of them\u00a0bears the slightest resemblance what was regularly charting in their respective years. \u00a0Which is why\u00a0the backlash against the\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> wasn&#8217;t really about reclaiming the Christmas number one for &#8220;real music&#8221;, despite what some people claimed. \u00a0It was about reclaiming it for other sorts of random nonsense and dislodging a monopoly.<\/p>\n<p>That said, between 1970 and 1999, there were still some completely\u00a0normal songs which did make Christmas number one, and it&#8217;s this list which Clean Bandit now joins. \u00a0(2002 is something of a transitional case &#8211; &#8220;Sound of the Underground&#8221; by Girls Aloud, their winners&#8217; single from\u00a0<em>Popstars: The Rivals<\/em>, but\u00a0released before reality domination took hold, and a record which could credibly have been a number one at any time.) \u00a0The list is, on the whole, a pretty good one:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/TTwJr2NJmJQ\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;I Hear You Knocking&#8221; by Dave Edmunds<\/a> in 1970.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Bohemian Rhapsody&#8221; by Queen<\/a> in 1975, and again in 1991.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AcZVRiB9AQk\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Mull of Kintyre&#8221; by Wings<\/a> in 1977 (technically a AA with &#8220;Girls&#8217; School&#8221;, but come on).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HrxX9TBj2zY\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Another Brick in The Wall (Part II)&#8221; by Pink Floyd<\/a> in 1979.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/uPudE8nDog0\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Don&#8217;t You Want Me&#8221; by the Human League<\/a> in 1981.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/wDe60CbIagg\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Always On My Mind&#8221; by the Pet Shop Boys<\/a> in 1986. \u00a0(If you&#8217;ve never seen their film\u00a0<em>It Couldn&#8217;t Happen Here<\/em>, watch the first 40 seconds of the video and breathe easy.)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3JWTaaS7LdU\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;I Will Always Love You&#8221; by Whitney Houston<\/a> in 1992.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Earth Song&#8221; by Michael Jackson<\/a> in 1995. \u00a0(I did say &#8220;on the whole&#8221;.)<\/li>\n<li>The unintentional Spice Girls trilogy\u00a0&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FA5jsa1lR9c\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;2 Become 1&#8221;<\/a> in 1996, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_4VoZ6afztc\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Too Much&#8221;<\/a> in 1997 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eegDtyrSUZw\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Goodbye&#8221;<\/a> in 1998.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HkL8GuU9_0\" target=\"_blank\">I Have A Dream<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xdv83MFJd7U\" target=\"_blank\">Seasons In The Sun<\/a>&#8221; by Westlife from 1999. \u00a0(<em>I did\u00a0say &#8220;on the whole&#8221;.<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So that&#8217;s 12 basically normal\u00a0Christmas numbers 1s in a thirty year\u00a0stretch,\u00a0followed by none at all\u00a0this century. \u00a0Hence Clean Bandit coming as a surprise.<\/p>\n<p>A big factor here is the\u00a0inclusion of streaming data in the charts. \u00a0Reality show singles, charity singles and campaign\u00a0downloads are all hobbled by this because they have one thing in common: people don&#8217;t buy those records in order to listen to them, and so they\u00a0get no traction on the streaming services. \u00a0And indeed, if this had been a purely sales based chart, things would have been different &#8211; but not as much as you&#8217;d think. \u00a0Clean Bandit would not have been number 1 &#8211; but &#8220;Human&#8221; by Rag&#8217;n&#8217;Bone Man would, and that&#8217;s a record in the same category.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L3wKzyIN1yk\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And below that&#8230; Little Mix. \u00a0In fact, none of this year&#8217;s charity releases\u00a0made the top ten\u00a0<em>even on the sales charts<\/em>. \u00a0Perhaps\u00a0there were too many for the public to coalesce around any particular one. \u00a0Perhaps the cause just wasn&#8217;t there this year. \u00a0The one that did best was <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/XBLgZikvM3U\" target=\"_blank\">the London\u00a0Hospices Choir version of &#8220;The Living Years&#8221;<\/a>, which made 12 on sales, but lands at 81 on the combined chart.<\/p>\n<p>Two download campaigns\u00a0would have made the top 10 on sales. \u00a0Rangers fans were buying\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EipdAjhImrc\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>&#8220;Glad All Over&#8221; by the Dave Clark Five<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; a number 1 for two weeks in 1964 &#8211; because\u00a0they&#8217;re using it as a terrace song right now. \u00a0It made number 4 on pure sales, and lands at 31 on the combined chart. \u00a0And\u00a0&#8220;Saturn 5&#8221; by the\u00a0Inspiral Carpets, as a tribute to\u00a0recently deceased drummer Craig Gill, would have made number 7 on pure sales&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/03cy86u6Wi4\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;but winds up at 48 on the\u00a0combined chart. \u00a0(It got to 20\u00a0on release in 1994, and the band&#8217;s biggest\u00a0hit remains\u00a0&#8220;Dragging Me Down&#8221;, which got to number 2 in 1994.) \u00a0Is it a bad thing that this stuff is now being screened out of the top 40? \u00a0Depends what you think the chart is there for. \u00a0If it&#8217;s meant to be measuring actual popularity, then\u00a0arguably\u00a0screening out the disproportionate effect of download campaigns is\u00a0a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>Also on this week&#8217;s singles chart (there&#8217;s nothing to report on the album chart):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Human&#8221; by Rag&#8217;N&#8217;Bone Man<\/strong> climbs to 2, and must be on course to be the next number 1.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Touch&#8221; by Little Mix<\/strong> jumps from 23 to 4.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;All I Want For Christmas Is You&#8221; by Mariah Carey<\/strong> is up\u00a0to 5, continuing its highest run\u00a0in years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;I Would Like&#8221; by Zara Larsson<\/strong>\u00a0climbs to 6, entering the top 10.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Fairytale of\u00a0New York&#8221; by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl<\/strong> reaches this year&#8217;s peak at 15.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Last Christmas&#8221; by Wham!<\/strong> makes it to 16, its highest position since 2007 &#8211; this one obviously might stick around next week, but\u00a0that&#8217;s a story for another time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Merry Christmas Everyone&#8221; by Shakin&#8217; Stevens<\/strong>\u00a0climbs to 22, again its highest position since 2007.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Driving Home For Christmas&#8221; by Chris Rea<\/strong> climbs to 26, for a new all-time chart peak.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday&#8221; by Wizzard<\/strong> climbs to 27, matching last year&#8217;s peak.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Glad All Over&#8221; by the Dave Clark Five<\/strong> re-enters at 31; see above.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Do They Know It&#8217;s Christmas&#8221; by Band Aid<\/strong> re-enters at 35; it was last in the chart in 2012.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas&#8221; by Michael Bubl\u00e9<\/strong> re-enters at 38, again for a new chart peak.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Merry Xmas Everybody&#8221; by Slade<\/strong> re-enters at 39,\u00a0another of the crop not seen since 2012.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, Christmas. \u00a0I&#8217;m determined to clear some of my reviews backlog\u00a0over the coming days, but\u00a0this is the chart with the 2016 Christmas number one, so\u00a0I&#8217;d better do it while it&#8217;s still vaguely topical. \u00a0If you haven&#8217;t seen the link already, though, do look below for the nominations thread for the Homies! But first&#8230; 1. \u00a0Clean [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3632,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}