2023 Christmas No.1

Jingle Bell Reet said:
Am I the only one that quite likes it come December when the Christmas songs invade the chart? :santa:
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It was fun the first year but it's just boring now. It's not even interesting to see how songs ebb and flow because we know why - Spotify/Apple/Amazon playlists.
 
I find it bizarre the OCC won't take action. They introduced rules to stop a repeat of Ed Sheeran's 17 of the top 20 or whatever it was but not for this?
 
A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
My problem isn't really that they do, as much as how they do it.
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the octy and the ivy said:
It was fun the first year but it's just boring now. It's not even interesting to see how songs ebb and flow because we know why - Spotify/Apple/Amazon playlists.
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I totally get your gripes and agree with it to the fact that the hierarchy seem to be able to control what makes it to the top of the chart and the charts have very little to do with genuine music lovers anymore.

On a personal level I don’t generally listen to the playlists, nor do I play Christmas songs to death so do look forward to the nostalgia of all the old Christmas songs of years gone by getting their annual moment in the sun.
 
I also often wonder why successful artists don’t all have a Christmas song? An easy retirement fund for anyone.
 
the octy and the ivy said:
I find it bizarre the OCC won't take action. They introduced rules to stop a repeat of Ed Sheeran's 17 of the top 20 or whatever it was but not for this?
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Essentially, they are complicit in chart rigging at this point. And I don't really understand why the labels aren't applying more pressure to get it resolved. Obviously money is being made from all those streams, but that's going to be made anyway. People aren't going to stop streaming Christmas songs because they don't dominate the singles chart for 10% of the year.

But whose interest is it in that the chart is a festive wasteland? That new artists and songs can't get a look in?
 
Apart from anything else though, all this thread proves is how hard it is to launch an enduring Christmas hit now, because the system massively favours old tracks. Streaming dominates and it's hard for a new track to compete.

In the old sales chart you'd have a far better chance of getting a hit in the first place.Today, to succeed on sales you need a huge amount like LadBaby manage to pull a hit off. And let's not forget his 5 #1s have spent a combined total of 8 weeks in the top 75. The songs were conceived to be listened to once, if that.

The only 'new' Christmas hit of the last few years which has returned on a competitive level has been the Sheeran/John duet, which of course had the benefit of him being a streaming behemoth already. And even that hasn't been tested yet when it's competing on a level playing field.
 
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A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
Essentially, they are complicit in chart rigging at this point. And I don't really understand why the labels aren't applying more pressure to get it resolved. Obviously money is being made from all those streams, but that's going to be made anyway. People aren't going to stop streaming Christmas songs because they don't dominate the singles chart for 10% of the year.

But whose interest is it in that the chart is a festive wasteland? That new artists and songs can't get a look in?
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Well exactly - this used to be a busy time for new releases and now it's a dead zone. It's very unhealthy.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy December having all the Christmas songs around me. Just as a chart fan it’s pretty much 6 weeks with no music or interesting charts - may as well just copy the top 40 from 2020 and be done with it :D
 
Last Christmas did over 54000 sales (86.71% ⬆️) this week and it’s only going to rise next week. They have physicals for wc 15th as well…
 
MegaDolly said:
Last Christmas did over 54000 sales (86.71% ⬆️) this week and it’s only going to rise next week. They have physicals for wc 15th as well…
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Surely that’s a given for number 1 then. I was reading that The Pogues were favourite for Christmas number 1 but surely they can’t compete with that?
 
Jingle Bell Reet said:
Surely that’s a given for number 1 then. I was reading that The Pogues were favourite for Christmas number 1 but surely they can’t compete with that?
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Those TikTokers seem to believe they have it in the bag but their campaign hasn’t even started yet. I think sales are gonna be through the roof for the big streaming songs compared to last year and starting from 0 isn’t going to help any “charity” singles.
 
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Jingle Bell Reet said:
Surely that’s a given for number 1 then. I was reading that The Pogues were favourite for Christmas number 1 but surely they can’t compete with that?
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The Pogues can't compete with Wham or Mariah because Spotify playlists are so stacked against them. That it managed to be #4 while only being 28th on the biggest Spotify playlist is astonishing enough.
 
These are the Christmas songs on the top 40 this week, with their position on the Spotify 'Christmas Hits' playlist - the biggest Christmas playlist.

01 Last Christmas (2)
02 All I Want Is You (1)
04 Fairytale Of New York (28)
06 Rockin Around The Christmas Tree (3)
07 Merry Christmas (37 - not on ACR)
08 It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (4)
09 Jingle Bell Rock (6)
10 Merry Christmas Everyone (40)
11 Santa Tell Me (5)
12 You're Christmas To Me (Amazon exclusive, not on ACR)
13 Underneath The Tree (10)
15 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of Year (9)
16 Do They Know It's Christmas (17)
17 Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow (7)
19 Happy Christmas (War Is Over) (12)
21 Holly Jolly Christmas (14)
22 Driving Home For Christmas (32)
23 Santa Can't You Hear Me (22)
24 Step Into Christmas (46)
26 Stay Another Day (Amazon exclusive, not on ACR)
27 Snowman (20)
28 Wonderful Christmastime (13)
29 Sleigh Ride (11)
30 I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (35)
32 Feliz Navidad (15)
35 One More Sleep (31)
38 Mistletoe (21)
39 Merry Christmas Everybody (not on playlist)

The highest song on the playlist at #7 which is not in the top 40 is Winter Wonderland by Laufey, which apparently is a Spotify exclusive.

Probably also worth pointing out that Cher's DJ Play A Christmas song is #24 on the playlist and #6 on sales. But it's not in the top 100, so its streaming numbers must be really poor - even more so when you consider its not on ACR.

I'd be interested why Shakin Stevens seems to be outperforming his playlist position. I'm guessing he may be getting a better position on Apple playlists.
 
Sure enough, Shakin Stevens is the third track on Apple's Essential Christmas playlist. And they also have Slade at #9, which can help explain that charting considering it's not on the Spotify playlist at all.
 
I'm not sure I ever will. But the :david: in me can't resist anyway.
 
A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
These are the Christmas songs on the top 40 this week, with their position on the Spotify 'Christmas Hits' playlist - the biggest Christmas playlist.

01 Last Christmas (2)
02 All I Want Is You (1)
04 Fairytale Of New York (28)
06 Rockin Around The Christmas Tree (3)
07 Merry Christmas (37 - not on ACR)
08 It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (4)
09 Jingle Bell Rock (6)
10 Merry Christmas Everyone (40)
11 Santa Tell Me (5)
12 You're Christmas To Me (Amazon exclusive, not on ACR)
13 Underneath The Tree (10)
15 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of Year (9)
16 Do They Know It's Christmas (17)
17 Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow (7)
19 Happy Christmas (War Is Over) (12)
21 Holly Jolly Christmas (14)
22 Driving Home For Christmas (32)
23 Santa Can't You Hear Me (22)
24 Step Into Christmas (46)
26 Stay Another Day (Amazon exclusive, not on ACR)
27 Snowman (20)
28 Wonderful Christmastime (13)
29 Sleigh Ride (11)
30 I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (35)
32 Feliz Navidad (15)
35 One More Sleep (31)
38 Mistletoe (21)
39 Merry Christmas Everybody (not on playlist)

The highest song on the playlist at #7 which is not in the top 40 is Winter Wonderland by Laufey, which apparently is a Spotify exclusive.

Probably also worth pointing out that Cher's DJ Play A Christmas song is #24 on the playlist and #6 on sales. But it's not in the top 100, so its streaming numbers must be really poor - even more so when you consider its not on ACR.

I'd be interested why Shakin Stevens seems to be outperforming his playlist position. I'm guessing he may be getting a better position on Apple playlists.
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Fabulous, thanks for this - good to see it broken down.

Interesting that Apple does have significant impact, as does Amazon. Kelly for example is higher than Ariana on Apple (which seems to be a slightly older leaning platform, which makes sense given perhaps someone from the iTunes era would switch to that) which probably means she ‘catches up’ a bit compared to Spotify.

Cher was only added to the Xmas playlist yesterday so she may well debut next week.

On a tangent I see Britney is already back in the top 100 and the #23rd biggest Xmas song since 2000 according to OCC. Very pleased this seems to have become a bit of a minor classic in recent years, it really would’ve been smart to Double A it with Stronger back in the day given it is a pretty appealing Christmas track.
 
Actually is there any stats for the UK on the % that Spotify has on the streaming market? I think in the US it is around 33%, but I’d assume the UK was a bit more on a hunch.
 
It's interesting to hear that Cher was only added to that list yesterday. I'm just slightly annoyed they didn't put it higher. And that they haven't bumped The Pogues up.
 
Devil said:
Actually is there any stats for the UK on the % that Spotify has on the streaming market? I think in the US it is around 33%, but I’d assume the UK was a bit more on a hunch.
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I'm sure I read a while back that Spotify has about 50% of the UK streaming market.
 
The OCC are so fucking useless. I despise them so.

I’ve told them four times now that they’ve included Fairytale of New York twice. In one paragraph MacGowan’s dead, and the other he’s been hospitalised.
www.officialcharts.com

Christmas Number 1 2023 contenders revealed

With the Official Christmas Number 1 race 2023 blown wide open with the news earlier this week that LadBaby will be stepping down following their record-breaking streak of five Official Christmas Number 1 wins, Official Charts can now reveal the contenders who will be fighting it out for the...
www.officialcharts.com www.officialcharts.com
 
That was what I was thinking. Amazon, Apple and Youtube probably making up the bulk of the rest?

It is good to know that the others do get a bit of representation. Zara Larsson‘s latest two hits reaching the top 40 prior to Spotify acknowledged them shows it’s possible, but really it is won and lost with their playlists.
 
Madíson said:
The charts are dead. You just need to get through the stages of grief. It feels much better afterwards.
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They’re not dead exactly. We just need to stop pretending that they have any relation at all to the sales chart that has existed since 1952. The current chart has as much relevance to that as the 1969 chart had to the sheet music charts of the 1920s.
 
I know it sounds silly, but what if the streaming stations had a feature where you could virtually go in and pretend to buy a single or album - and that could count for one sale?

You could only buy something once, and each one would count toward the charts. People would only bother to do it with the ones they loved, so it could work in theory.
 
MegaDolly said:
Last Christmas did over 54000 sales (86.71% ⬆️) this week and it’s only going to rise next week. They have physicals for wc 15th as well…
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Do we know how many physicals there are? The CD single is supposedly "very" limited but these things are relative - I would guess 2-3000?
 
I intend to buy the Sleaford Mods 12" if I can find it but surely it's not a real contender? I know the PSBs are on-board and have done a remix but *that* voice isn't going to delight the airwaves.
 
the octy and the ivy said:
Do we know how many physicals there are? The CD single is supposedly "very" limited but these things are relative - I would guess 2-3000?
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No but each one has sold a couple of hundred and there are still available. I think all extra physical and download sales will help Wham! get the #1 because I can see them getting 70k+ streaming sales at the rate the Christmas songs are increasing.
 
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Wham! had 12.9m total streams in the Christmas number 1 week last year, when it fell from 1 to 2 behind LadBaby, who had 65k combined sales.

The chart after Christmas (ie the week including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Last Christmas increased to 18m streams, 79k combined sales. LadBaby fell to #85.

I guess sales of the physical CD and 7" will be for the Christmas #1 week, and streaming will peak the week after, but totals are going to be big in both cases.
 
Last Christmas had 5.909m streams on Spotify last week. If Spotify does have just over 50% of the UK streaming market, it's already very close to the 12m it had last year in the Christmas chart week.

Last week in the corresponding chart week (the first full week of December), it had 4.427m. So it's up almost exactly a third year on year in terms of streaming numbers.
 
A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
Last Christmas had 5.909m streams on Spotify last week. If Spotify does have just over 50% of the UK streaming market, it's already very close to the 12m it had last year in the Christmas chart week.

Last week in the corresponding chart week (the first full week of December), it had 4.427m. So it's up almost exactly a third year on year in terms of streaming numbers.
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Wham! are #3 on Apple Music behind Pogues at #1 and Jack Harlow and are also #1 on Amazon. Last Christmas is definitely dominating the streaming market.

FONY was less than 15k sales behind this week so in theory it could do it if there is a campaign but it still seems like a big ask.

Last year LadBaby were most worried about Mariah Carey which is why people wanted to support them!
 
MegaDolly said:
Wham! are #3 on Apple Music behind Pogues at #1 and Jack Harlow and are also #1 on Amazon. Last Christmas is definitely dominating the streaming market.

FONY was less than 15k sales behind this week so in theory it could do it if there is a campaign but it still seems like a big ask.
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I'd like FONY to do it, but 15k is a huge number when you look at number of streams that means it needs to get - particularly when streaming numbers are still increasing, that Wham! are much more favoured on Spotify playlists (and presumably Amazon, if it's #1 there), and that Wham! will have the physicals.

I think that tiktok sub-LadBaby effort is the most likely competitor at the moment, but I'm not sure if I'm overestimating that.

If anything else gets Christmas #1 though, I think it's almost certain that Wham! will dethrone it the following week.
 
A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
I'd like FONY to do it, but 15k is a huge number when you look at number of streams that means it needs to get - particularly when streaming numbers are still increasing, that Wham! are much more favoured on Spotify playlists (and presumably Amazon, if it's #1 there), and that Wham! will have the physicals.

I think that tiktok sub-LadBaby effort is the most likely competitor at the moment, but I'm not sure if I'm overestimating that.

If anything else gets Christmas #1 though, I think it's almost certain that Wham! will dethrone it the following week.
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Yes but I think a 15k-30k download campaign for FONY is much more likely to be successful than a 70k+ download campaign for the TikTokers. Sidemen were an anomaly in that they were still getting millions of streams but they still only managed 21k downloads and 10k signed* CDs (*which are not allowed anymore).

On a side note, Sam Ryder is doing some in-person city events with Amazon UK next weekend which presumably will allow him to sell CDs and merch (I think Stormzy did that once?).
 
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If Spotify bumped FONY up their main playlist, I'm confident it would manage it in terms of streams at least. The sales of the physicals are a bit of an unknown. I don't think it's pure coincidence that FONY #1 on Apple when it's in a more prime playlist position.

I don't think it has left #1 on iTunes since McGowan died, has it? I'm assuming sales were dropping though, as the lower charting version of it had all started to drop considerably. But the funeral yesterday seems to have boosted it again - it's #1, #17, #18 and #29 now.
 
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