2023 Christmas No.1

funky said:
I’m a big fan of Christmas songs and I might dabble a bit in November, but seeing Mariah and Wham already heading to top ten is a bit obscene for me. I mean how can people be listening to them THAT much, especially considering they are on ACR or whatever it’s called (reduced scoring on the charts due to being catalogue songs)

I guess a lot of it is background music in places that are licenced, such as bars, restaurants and shops.
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The charts are dead. They died in July 2014. RIP
 
funky said:
I’m a big fan of Christmas songs and I might dabble a bit in November, but seeing Mariah and Wham already heading to top ten is a bit obscene for me. I mean how can people be listening to them THAT much, especially considering they are on ACR or whatever it’s called (reduced scoring on the charts due to being catalogue songs)

I guess a lot of it is background music in places that are licenced, such as bars, restaurants and shops.
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Over a quarter of the songs in streaming top 100 (excluding the Christmas hits) have been on the chart over a year, so much of the competition is already on ACR anyway, considering that kicks in much sooner. The chart is simply fucked.

I see Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms has crept into the bottom of the chart again. That's a song which has been made a hit due to prime playlist exposure. Didn't chart until 2017, has improved its position every year since, and entered the top ten for the first time last year, peaking at #7.

'Christmas Hits' appears to be the biggest Christmas playlist on Spotify, with over 5m followers. Helms is the fourth track on that playlist (Brenda Lee at #3, Wham #2, Mariah #1), so expect more of the same old shit at the top this year.
 
I really don't understand how the OCC thinks that this benefits anyone. Record labels might as well close shop in December. No new singles (unless you're Taylor Swift)
 
Is this why songs like Merry Xmas Everybody and Fairytale of New York seem to take much more of a back seat these days?
 
Rita said:
Is this why songs like Merry Xmas Everybody and Fairytale of New York seem to take much more of a back seat these days?
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Yeah we talked about it last year, I was sort of fascinated by what old songs had crossed over a generation and which hadn't as successfully, until someone rightly pointed out that it's less what people have responded to and more what streaming platforms choose to care about. The streaming platforms are largely international - yes they have tailored local content but they are largely influenced by mass market playlists and so the international Christmas hits are winning out over the more local ones. Wizzard and Slade and Shakin Stevens still perform well, but they're being slowly overtaken by songs that used to be comparably smaller - Elton John, Michael Buble, Kelly Clarkson... and of course the rise of the jazz standards which American generally prefers over the pop stuff (excluding a few such as Mariah)
 
I think it was either 2020 or 2021 that the old Christmas hits charted in the exact order they were playlisted in the biggest Spotify playlist.

Obviously there is more than one Spotify Christmas playlist, and other streaming platforms, so there may be the odd variation, but there's a clear and undeniable pattern that position on playlists determine chart position more than anything else at Christmas.
 
It feels like it won't be too long - maybe 10 years or so - where almost every major act who's recorded a Christmas song will have it as their biggest "seller" by default, simply because they sit on playlists that get hammered year in, year out (I don't know when streaming peaks in the UK, but the Christmas numbers always seem absurdly high).

Britney's My Only Wish is already her 18th biggest "seller" despite having never peaked higher than #68. Santa Baby was Kylie's 30th biggest "seller" in 2018, and it's by far her most streamed song, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was close to - if not already in - her all-time top 20 by now.
 
CGYOOMH has 433m streams compared to Santa Baby's 204m, and I believe streams significantly enough throughout the rest of the year to maintain a strong lead, but it's only going to continue opening a lead over #3.

Santa Baby went platinum in December 2021, so that must put it in her top ten, I'd have thought...
 
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Santa Baby got 1.748m Spotify streams the week including Christmas last year, and had 1.302m, 1.092m and 1.026m the three weeks before.

Padam Padam peaked at 1.057m in June.
 
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Rita said:
Is this why songs like Merry Xmas Everybody and Fairytale of New York seem to take much more of a back seat these days?
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They're also a lot less "easy" listening. Slade has loud guitars, The Pogues have Shane MacGowan's rasping voice. They're less playlist friendly compared to Wham and Mariah.
 
octophone said:
They're also a lot less "easy" listening. Slade has loud guitars, The Pogues have Shane MacGowan's rasping voice. They're less playlist friendly compared to Wham and Mariah.
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The annoying thing is I don't think that matters to most of the audience, in the UK at least - I'm sure most people here would actively choose to listen and rather sing along with those two. They are part of the fabric of a British Christmas.

The Bobby Helms one in particularly really irritates me, because as much as I've no doubt people know the song, I bet hardly anyone knows his name, or even has a preference for his version.
 
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lolly said:
CGYOOMH has 433m streams compared to Santa Baby's 204m, and I believe streams significantly enough throughout the rest of the year to maintain a strong lead, but it's only going to continue opening a lead over #3.

Santa Baby went platinum in December 2021, so that must put it in her top ten, I'd have thought...
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Is that global streams?

There was an updated list of Kylie's most streamed songs released this summer, and they have Santa Baby on 74 million (#1) against CGYOOMH's 57 million (#2). Obviously, the physical sales of CGYOOMH will give it a massive boost in the combined totals, but at the current rate - presuming the figures are correct - the gap will narrow each year. And I guess the more prominent some festive songs become, the higher they'll move in the various playlists, even if there's no organic change in their popularity.

As much as I loathe this conflation of physical, digital and streaming units into a generic "sales" total, it is interesting to see how much it's changing the statistics around many acts' back catalogues in general. S Club 7 now have three million-selling singles - Don't Stop Movin', Bring It All Back and Reach - where previously they had none, while 5,6,7,8 is Steps' second biggest-selling single (>700,000 copies) and consistently closing the gap on Heartbeat/Tragedy.
 
The other thing to consider is if Spotify decide to promote a different version of Santa Baby, that will probably reduce streams of hers considerably, as I'm sure the majority of her streams are from playlists rather than her fans seeking it out.
 
The good thing about the slow decline of Fairytale of New York is avoiding the annual furore over the F SLUR.
 
Shane MacGowan is practically on the verge of death so if he kicks the bucket between now and Christmas expect it to be Christmas number one.
 
GNL said:
The good thing about the slow decline of Fairytale of New York is avoiding the annual furore over the F SLUR.
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I was going to say that I don’t think that matters to the majority of the great unwashed but then I suppose the majority of the people that it does matter to are the people that are streaming, right?
 
rhythmbandit said:
Shane MacGowan is practically on the verge of death so if he kicks the bucket between now and Christmas expect it to be Christmas number one.
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He's just out of hospital but there's inevitable speculation that this is because there's no more that can be done for him. Poor sod - alcohol did much to ruin him but the culture surrounding alcohol did so much more.
 
GNL said:
The good thing about the slow decline of Fairytale of New York is avoiding the annual furore over the F SLUR.
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There's an edit knocking around but AI must have advanced to the point where they can lift Kirsty cleanly from that live take and drop her into the studio version.
 
Sidemen will easily do it if they release a song. Christmas Drillings got to #3 behind LadBaby and Ed/Elton and that was 3-4 weeks after they released it. Their fans will download, stream it and buy unsigned CDs. They would be my bet.
 
How come SOOTY has a single? Is the whole thing not that he has no voice, ever? Will this be where he reveals his voice and it turns out to be Cliff or something?
 
rhythmbandit said:
Shane MacGowan is practically on the verge of death so if he kicks the bucket between now and Christmas expect it to be Christmas number one.
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Has Shane MacGowan not been on the verge of death for at least the past fifteen years?
 
Good Lord. I've just accidentally listened to this and now you all have to as well.



WHY IS HE SINGING LIKE THAT?
 
Wham and Mariah were #6 and #7 on Spotify yesterday. Last year on the same Thursday a month before Christmas, they were #10 and #7, but they are both substantially up in terms of humber of streams - Mariah by 15%, Wham by 29%.

It was this weekend (the last one in November) that was the first weekend the Christmas songs began to dominate on Spotify last year. These were the Saturday figures:

01 Mariah 427k
02 Wham! 403k
05 Brenda Lee 313k
07 Michael Buble (It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas) 299k
11 Ariana 258k
12 Bobby Helms 256k
15 Shakin' Stevens 249k
17 Kelly Clarkson 220k
19 Chris Rea 209k
 
lolly said:
Wham and Mariah were #6 and #7 on Spotify yesterday. Last year on the same Thursday a month before Christmas, they were #10 and #7, but they are both substantially up in terms of humber of streams - Mariah by 15%, Wham by 29%.

It was this weekend (the last one in November) that was the first weekend the Christmas songs began to dominate on Spotify last year. These were the Saturday figures:

01 Mariah 427k
02 Wham! 403k
05 Brenda Lee 313k
07 Michael Buble (It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas) 299k
11 Ariana 258k
12 Bobby Helms 256k
15 Shakin' Stevens 249k
17 Kelly Clarkson 220k
19 Chris Rea 209k
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And although Jack Harlow holds #1, there are more Christmas songs in the top 20 on the corresponding last Saturday in November this year - and all except Shakin' Stevens have increased streams over last year.

#2 Wham! 518k
#3 Mariah 515k
#4 Brenda Lee 422k
#7 Bobby Helms 336k
#9 Michael Bublé 328k
#11 Ariana Grande 302k
#12 Andy Williams 289k
#13 Kelly Clarkson 252k
#14 Dean Martin 246k
#16 Michael Bublé 230k
#18 Shakin' Stevens 227k
 
I wonder whether the chart is simply reflecting the fact that many shops started putting out their Christmas stock earlier (even by current standards) this year. The Christmas music didn't start immediately, but it won't have been far behind...
 
I would guess the theory from a different thread (maybe Sheena?) is right - that most of the Christmas streams atm are actually coming from commercial / businesses rather than the public actively rushing out almost two months early to listen to Bobby Helms.
 
I think that's probably true for most midweek listening this far ahead. But increasingly now it'll be 'Alexa, play Christmas music' and getting whatever you're given.
 
The insanity has started properly

Spotify, November 26

#1 Wham!
#2 Mariah Carey
#3 Brenda Lee
#5 Bobby Helms
#6 Michael Bublé (It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas)
#7 Ariana Grande
#8 Andy Williams
#12 Kelly Clarkson
#13 Dean Martin
#14 Michael Bublé (Holly Jolly Christmas)
#16 Shakin' Stevens
#17 Pogues & Kirsty MacColl
#18 Ronettes
#19 John Lennon
#20 Band Aid

#47 Leona Lewis
#153 Kylie
 
Sam Ryder is at #10 on the first midweek flashes. Last Christmas is also at #6, Mariah at #7.
 
Oh I forgot to look for Sam in the final chart last week
 
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