Every year in the UK Singles Chart, there is a highly publicised race for the top slot on the chart immediately prior to Christmas, an honour known as the Christmas Number One. The UK public take a particular interest in chart performance and sales of singles are especially high in the two weeks before Christmas. The race for first position at Christmas has become a British institution and people will speculate, comment and bet upon the outcome.[1]
The following is a list of UK Singles Chart Christmas number twos, songs that came in second place on the chart.
Background
“Christmas Number 2, isn’t that bonkers? When we wrote this song, in the blazing month of August, we didn’t even expect it to chart. But here we are, in a Mariah Carey and WHAM! sandwich, and we’re the filling. I’m stoked! I hope this has given some vigour and some fire to upcoming grass roots and indie artists. You can do it – you’ve just got to set your heart ablaze and get out there. Believe, have faith.
Sam Ryder, 2023 Christmas number two, to the Official Charts Company[2]
The only group to have both Christmas numbers one and two in the same year is The Beatles, a feat they achieved twice, in 1963 and 1967. George Michael, Ed Sheeran (twice) and Elton John have appeared first and second on the same chart as part of different acts—Michael with Band Aid and Wham! in 1984, Sheeran as a solo artist and as a featured artist with Eminem in 2017, and Sheeran and John as a duo and as featured artists with LadBaby in 2021. The 2021 appearance by Sheeran and John was also the only time any artist(s) have appeared first and second with different versions of essentially the same song, scoring second with "Merry Christmas" and first with its parody, "Sausage Rolls for Everyone." Cliff Richard has finished second on the Christmas charts four times, the most of any act. The highest selling Christmas number-two is "Last Christmas" by Wham! (which is also the only time a record has finished first and second in separate years) followed by "She Loves You" by The Beatles.
Another factor in the greater interest in the Christmas number two is the growing influence of reality television programmes on the chart. Popstars: The Rivals (2002) produced all of the top three singles on the Christmas UK Singles Chart. The Choir produced the number-one single in 2011 and, indirectly, 2015. The most sustained reality-orientated run at the top of the Christmas charts was The X Factor, whose winner charted number one or number two on the chart every year from the second series from 2005 to 2014. Bookmakers began to notice the X Factor trends in 2007, when, assuming the X Factor single would be a certainty for the number one, they started taking bets on who Christmas number two would be instead.[7][8]The X Factor's dominance has also led to numerous novelty campaigns to attempt to prevent the show's winner from reaching the top of the chart, although only "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine was successful in 2009. Charity records have pushed the X-Factor winners down to number-two in 2011 and 2012, while in 2013 and 2014 the X-Factor winners pushed two records that would eventually sell over a million copies down to number two. The X Factor winning single plummeted dramatically in popularity beginning with the 2015 single ("Forever Young" by Louisa Johnson), the sales for which fell over 80% year-over-year,[9] until it was cancelled in 2021.
List
Tracks marked * topped the chart either in the run-up to, or shortly after, Christmas.
^Kilkelly, Daniel (6 October 2007), "Bookies encourage Xmas number two betting", Digital Spy, Hearst Magazines UK, retrieved 17 August 2012, William Hill is encouraging punters to bet on who will reach this year's Christmas number two spot. ... A William Hill spokesman explained: 'The annual X Factor single has wiped out a national institution. There's little real competition for the top single on Christmas Day, so we've opened a book to open the race up again.'
