Results: It's A Christmas Survey! It's A Music Poll! That's Because This Is About #1 Pop Singles In Great Britain During The Week Of The Aforementioned Holiday!

For a half-century, the record to top the U.K.'s official pop singles chart during Christmas week has been a cause of national speculation and celebration to a greater extent than it likely is anywhere else in the world. There had been charts published every week, including during Christmas, since the chart's inception in 1952, obviously; however, the introduction of color to what was then BBC TV's pop countdown show at the time, Top Of The Pops, the apex of glam rock by the likes of T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music, et al, and an especially dire time in history--what the troubles in Ireland, rising gasoline prices, etc.--conspired to give the public a festive distraction by investing in the holiday week's top tune. The battle was between two English glam bands that didn't make much of a U.S. impression: Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" and Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody." The latter beat the former to the summit, but both have become British seasonal staples. Before starting this poll, with which song(s) were you familiar?

Since the rise in interest of the Christmas #1 in U.K. media, it may have become an honor and marketing opportunity; but it's also something of a roulette spin. Trends have emerged though. For three years running in the 1990's, the Spice Girls nabbed it. A stretch of chart-toppers in the mid-late '00's were by winners of Simon Cowell's pre-American Idol singing contest show, The X Factor (before a '09 grassroots internet campaign launched U.S. metal/hip-hop fusionists Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In the Name" into pole position). From 2018-22, insufferable--my call, that!--English YouTuber LadBaby landed atop the chart, usually with a parody of an oldie, but incorporating lyrics about a greasy holiday dish favored by many Britons: sausage rolls. At least those goofy tunes have benefitted a hunger charity...while also, it appears, having enriched Mr. Baby and his family. Have you ever been suspicious of a celebrity's efforts for a charitable cause?

Two songs have topped the U.K. Christmas singles chart twice. "Mary's Boy Child," first in reached the summit in 1957 by American calypso/folk singer Harry Belafonte, then in 1978 by German disco/pop group Boney M in a medley with "O My Lord." Queen took "Bohemian Rhapsody" to the peak both at the time of its initial release in 1975 and in 1991 after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury. Whether they're about anything Christmas-related or not, are there any songs you like to hear annually this time of year?

Popular as they have become, at least a couple of songs that one might reasonably think would have hit #1 on Christmas week in Great Britain haven't yet. Though Wham!'s 1984 release, "Last Christmas," is the U.K.'s pop #1 at the time of this survey's composition, it has yet to reach that position during Christmas week. Neither has Mariah Carey's 1994 rendition of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (currently nipping at Wham!'s heels at #2). I've not read about it being a serious contender this year, but I'd be pleased to see The Pogues & Kirsty McColl's holiday-themed 1987 song, "Fairytale of New York" reach the top in commemoration of the recent passing of Pogues singer Shane MacGowan; it would be going one spot higher than it did in '87. Are there any Christmassy songs you think should be more popular than they may be?

In lieu of The Pogues topping this year's U.K. Christmas singles chart, I'd be, perhaps, even happier to see The Krackpots' "Proper Christmas" make it there. Never heard of The Krackpots. If you've kept up with the British singles chart this time year for the past few years and/or comedic musical protests against that nation's royals and Conservative Party politicians, you may have heard of the band's original name, which is rather profane. But you may also know of the leader's less punk rock, more synth pop identity as ____ and the Gang, whose songs are often filthy as they are funny. Since "Proper Christmas" is genuinely wholesome (and musically reminiscent of Slade's and Wizzard's Xmas hits), are you at all surprised that this band, if you're aware of them, aren't swearing a blue streak this Christmas season?