What I Have Done
Ah, Christmas. The one time of the year when what I do is guaranteed to become topical. Friday was quite the day, let me tell you. Even if I quite clearly hadn't slept the night before.
A Lesson In Promotion
It may generally only be mentioned in passing in relation to the perceived big guys of Spotify and Apple Music, but amongst the Digital Streaming Providers (DSPs), Amazon Music has slowly carved out a niche for itself. Not least because it is essentially the default choice on any echo speaker. Even if you don't pay for any music service, you can still stream the playlists from Amazon's free catalogue just by logging in, even if the specific choice of song is not available to you.
Since the start of the decade, the American giant has also taken steps to do something different with the holiday, sponsoring a series of original recordings of both older Christmas favourites and new compositions, branding them as the Amazon Exclusives and giving them pride of place on those self-same default Christmas playlists.
This has long been a point of contention amongst chart watchers. These new recordings benefit both from this force-fed approach and the small but significant factor that as new releases they are exempt from the ACR status that envelops the usual festive back catalogue. With just half the streams of their contemporaries, they can still barge their way to significant chart places, even if you have to be a customer of one particular service to partake.
This approach reaped dividends in just the second year of the promotion. Ellie Goulding's Amazon-sponsored cover of Joni Mitchell's song River was a surprise No.1 on the final chart of 2019, posting a sale that was almost certainly out of step with its overall public appeal (note it has never charted since). The column I wrote on this No.1 single and the circumstances behind it to this day remains one of the most-read original pieces on this site.
Perhaps realising that the mini scandal was not such good publicity, Amazon appear to have been more circumspect ever since. The annual Originals have had pride of place on their playlists, but not quite as prominently as before. They have been left to find their own level as it were. Some came mightily close – Sam Ryder was a very very strong No.2 with That's Christmas To Me in 2023, but most were of the level of last year's offering It Can’t Be Christmas by Tom Grennan which could only go Top 5. Heck, remember when Olivia Dean's only chart entry was her Amazon-pushed take on The Christmas Song (2021, No.19).
But this year, there has been one crucial point of difference. The performer of the prime-focus Amazon original (at least on these shores) has been one Kylie Minogue. As we've been tracking over the past few weeks, her song XMAS has benefitted not just from its 'free' promotion, but the fact that it is a track on what has turned out to be a much in demand expanded album of her own, a song she has promoted with enthusiasm (most notably Strictly Come Dancing last weekend) and for which there are also physical copies available. Collectibles all for the strong band of most enthusiastic gay men who make up the majoroity of her most loyal fanbase. Added to that it is the song playing in the background of the Amazon adverts that have been running on TV all week (with a cheeky nod to Gwen Stefani's Shake The Snowglobe as an aside). This was a track with a huge amount of exposure.
The perfect storm comes to fruition this week. For the first time, an Amazon exclusive – XMAS by Kylie Minogue – is the official Christmas No.1. But that's why you are here, right?
Record Breaker Sport
With this one single, the veteran Australian performer writes herself a whole new set of benchmarks and records. It is her eighth No.1 in total, and notably her first in a shade over 22 years. Not since Slow in November 2003 has she been this high up the listings. She becomes only the fifth act in chart history to have No.1 singles in four different decades, with chart-topping records to her name in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and now the 2020s. It seems almost churlish to note she only just sneaks in under the wire with that one, she spent just a single week at No.1 in the 1990s, and that was on the very first chart of the decade. But they all count.
The other four decade artists are all men – Elton John, Elvis Presley, Queen, and of course Cliff Richard who stands proud as the only artist ever to land at the top in FIVE different decades.
Back to Kylie, and she is the first solo female singer to be Christmas No.1 for 12 years, the last being X Factor winner Sam Bailey who took Skyscraper to the top in December 2013. She isn't the first Australian woman, however, that honour going to Nicole Kidman who duetted with Robbie Williams on Somethin' Stupid, the Christmas No.1 in 2001. And of course, the very Australian Rolf Harris was Christmas No.1 with Two Little Boys in 1969, but nobody ever wants to talk about that any more.
As far as solo international females go however, Kylie is only the third ever to top the charts at Christmas. The others: Trinidadian Winifred Atwell with Let's Have Another Party in 1954 and American Whitney Houston with I Will Always Love You in 1992. Fun to note that the 20th century's biggest female superstar Madonna has never been close to Christmas No.1, despite being the bookies' favourite on many occasions in her career.
It means no third consecutive Christmas No.1 for Last Christmas, and if you are a regular reader you will recall that those past two triumphs have largely been by default. At the top for Christmas simply because nobody else stepped up. The Christmas songs actually reach a streaming crescendo next week, not this, meaning the total chart sales for songs such as the Wham classic are large but not superlative. Kylie on the other hand did indeed do huge numbers. Throughout the week she maintained a lead over her rivals of over 7,000 units and indeed ended the week on almost 56,000 chart sales - fully 11,000 ahead of the ACR-suppressed total of George and Andrew. On streams alone Kylie would have clocked 37,000 sales - only enough to take her to No.4. That push over the line came entirely thanks to digital downloads and a raft of CD, 7-inch and 12-inch physical releases.
Now, if you want to apply some humbug to the situation, that is possible. There will be those who note that for all the headlines this will generate, XMAS is still at the end of the day an Amazon original. Streamed by plenty who like for sure, but benefitting from its default placing at the head of a streaming queue. Whereas her triumphant return after a long absence to the Top 10 two years ago with Padam Padam was as a result of genuine love for the song, if you feel that this chart triumph is all a bit, well, inorganic, I hear you.
But the records do not lie. And Kylie has set plenty. In decades to come nobody will care about these nuances. Above all she will now be part of trivia quizzes forever more as the artist at the top of what everyone views as the most important chart of the year, even if they struggle to explain why – just as I did on TV. Having famously missed out in 1988 (Especially For You spent four weeks at No.2 in December before ascending to No.1 in the new year) you might argue that justice has finally been served. After two years of the Christmas No.1 being no big deal really ("A 40 year old song that charts every year anyway? Boring!") and after many many years of "oh bloody hell not Ladbaby again" we finally have something newsworthy, notable and a little more memorable at the top of the charts for the holiday. What's not to love after all?
Which One's Pink?
Strangely enough, Kylie's isn't the only astonishing Christmas No.1 tale to tell. Once upon a time Christmas really mattered for the albums market. Gift giving time meant this was where everyone really made their margins for the year. Sales were never higher, shops were never busier. And so having the top album in late December meant you truly were the biggest of the big. The one that everyone was getting as a stocking filler.
In 2025? Not so much. Nobody really gifts music any more, unless of course it is of an expensive box set you might not be able to justify at any other time. Step forward then Pink Floyd who this week, with immaculate timing, released a new 50th anniversary edition of their celebrated (although, aren't they all?) Wish You Were Here album. The 25,000 or so sales it accumulated were more than enough to ensure it outstripped the market, returning the record to the top of the charts after a gap of over five decades - narrowly setting a new record for such a chart return, beating out Abbey Road by The Beatles. And you will note further that this is Pink Floyd's second No.1 album of the year, following Live At Pompeii earlier in the spring. Perhaps most unexpectedly of all they can now claim a career festive grand slam - the famously single-averse rock band were Christmas No.1 for 1979 with Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2).
The Rest
Back to singles, and although the biggest of the big are pretty much as you would expect (Wham stuck at No.2, Mariah Carey at No.3, Brenda Lee at No.4). Despite being the "Christmas chart", this week's survey doesn't actually reflect peak Christmas consumption - that comes next week. Meaning there are still a handful of contemporary and non-seasonal hits holding their own.
This year's token charity offering Lullaby by Together For Palestine is the highest new entry at No.5. Perhaps never the most unifying cause, the track didn't take off in quite the way its backers had hoped and was never in contention to be the festive No.1. But No.5 is still a darn sight better than some other Christmas charity offerings, so fair play.
Also making what in the circumstances is an astonishing play is long-standing hit Raindance by Dave and Tems. That stands on its head every known expectation with a strong chart rise, storming back to No.7 after being ejected from the top ten by festive faves last week. This isn't down to any tactical releases or remixes, just a new burst of virality prompted by Tik Tok clips from the performers themselves. And you will note that (Lullaby aside) it is the biggest non-festive hit of the week. Is that the kind of momentum that might carry it to No.1 two weeks hence? Suddenly, a new player has entered the chat.
As for the rest of the Top 40, I got nothing to share. The Yule Log count of Christmas songs in the Top 100 stands at 57, up from this time last year, but still some way short of the Christmas chart record of 63 set in 2021. The shift in the calendar is still a small factor, but the truth is the library of more contemporary hits are more than holding their own against the onslaught for now. Even so, next week is the true killer. Counting streams of Christmas hits from 19-25 December inclusive, the maximum possible concentration festive consumption. Even what we see this week will bear no relation to the landscape in seven days time. And yes, I'll be here on Boxing Day to reveal all.
In the meantime, if you need a last minute gift for the music and Christmas fan in your life, as well as my own tomes I can wholeheartedly recommend "The Story Of The Xmas No.1: Mistletoe And Vinyl" by Marc Burrows (affiliate link), a fantastic book that traces the origins of Christmas songs right back through history before embarking on a study of just what made each Christmas chart-topper special. I've learned stuff about famous songs I never knew before.
