95% of Brits can't name a single Christmas number one from the past decade

18 December 2019 - Press release

The Christmas number one isn’t as important as it used to be, with just 4% of people able to name last year’s festive chart topper. 

In 2018, LadBaby hit the chart summit with We Built This City, a fact the vast majority of the 2,000 people StubHub UK polled* were unable to correctly identify. 

This year, football pundit Chris Kamara, Tones and I, Lewis Capaldi and Stormzy are all vying for the top spot, but according to 68% of Brits, the race to the top isn’t as big a cultural moment as it was ten years ago. 

Some 54% blamed X Factor winners’ domination of the Christmas chart during the 00s, while 57% believe the rise of streaming has meant the chart is less important than it used to be. 

In fact, 95% of Brits can’t name a Christmas number one from the past decade. 

Brits’ favourite Christmas number one is Do They Know It’s Christmas (1984) by Band Aid, with Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody (1973) in second place. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (1975), East 17’s Stay Another Day (1994) and Ed Sheeran’s Perfect (2017) rounded off the top five. 

The top festive tune of all-time, however, was The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, which was pipped to the number one spot in 1987 by Pet Shop Boys’ Always on My Mind. 

The top ten Christmas tunes were [a full top 20 can be found below]:

1 - Fairytale of New York, The Pogues
2 - Last Christmas!, Wham
3 - All I Want for Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey
4 - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, Wizzard
5 - White Christmas, Bing Crosby
6 - Merry Xmas Everybody, Slade
7 - Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth, David Bowie and Bing Crosby
8 - Wonderful Christmas Time, Paul McCartney
9 - One More Sleep, Leona Lewis
10 - Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town, Lou Rawls 

The poll also showed that not all Brits love a Christmas song: 29% said it actually puts them off buying presents when they hear Christmas music in a shop, with Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe named the worst festive single. 

The poll was commissioned by online ticket marketplace StubHub UK, which is offering a huge range of festive and non-festive gig tickets this year to either get people in the Christmas spirit, or entertain those who want a break from all things Yuletide. 

Among the tickets currently on offer include Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams and The Libertines. 

StubHub’s FanProtect promise means that every resale order is protected by the FanProtect Guarantee, meaning that fans will receive genuine tickets or a comparable replacement ticket, or their money back.