A Decade Of Christmas Number Ones

Most of us may regard Christmas Number One as a foregone conclusion, as indeed it has been for most of the last few years, but can you remember what the festive chart-toppers have been over the last decade? Here Yahoo! Music's chart expert James Masterton takes a look back at a decade of Christmas Number Ones, and allows himself a small "what if" peek at the almost forgotten singles that made Christmas Number 2.

1997: Spice Girls - "Too Much"

If '96 was the year the famous five announced themselves to the world, '97 was the year that they conquered it. After touring the world, attaching their name to just about every piece of merchandise going (I was a big fan of the socks) and still finding the time to release a second chart-topping album, they rounded things off with the Boxing Day release of 'Spiceworld - The Movie' which saw them channel the spirit of Hard Days Night in a wild and often surreal tale whose plot afforded them plenty of time to perform their hit singles. 'Too Much' was the song that played over the opening titles and like everything else they released at the time was an instant and inevitable Christmas Number One. With '2 Become 1' having done the trick the previous year, the Spices became the first act since The Beatles to have back to back Christmas chart-toppers.
The runner-up: Teletubbies - "Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh"

1998: Spice Girls - "Goodbye"

By contrast '98 had seen the girls' first flush of fame start to run out of steam. Geri Halliwell quit in the summer and before the end of the year Mel B had released a single as a solo act. Although they insisted the title of the track was nothing more than a coincidence, one-off single release 'Goodbye' was essentially a temporary farewell release and was to be their last new offering for almost two years. Like its predecessor it marched to the top in Christmas week itself but even the most ardent fan will have had to admit that they were fast running out of steam. Nonetheless they became the first act since The Beatles to have the Christmas Number One three years running.
The runner-up: Chef - "Chocolate Salty Balls"

1999: Westlife - I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun

With the Spices out of the way, the stage was clear for a brand new pop phenomenon. 1999 was undoubtedly the year of Westlife and this festive offering was their third single and their third Number One in a row. The Christmas chart-topper this year carried with it an extra significance as whoever claimed the crown would not only close out the decade and the Millennium as well. Appropriately enough the original version of 'I Have A Dream' was a Christmas hit itself, hitting Number 2 in December 1979.
The runner-up: Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer

2000: Bob The Builder - "Can We Fix It"

One of the few times in the last ten years that a geniune race developed for the seasonal crown. At the head of the pack was the astoundingly popular Bob The Builder single, sung by actor Neil Morrissey who supplied the voice of the animated tradesman in the TV series. Attacking him from all quarters were Westlife who until that point had a 100% strike rate of Number One singles and regarded a second consecutive Christmas Number One as theirs almost by right. For once the power of the nation's four year olds won out over those 14 and over and even a desperate promotional push could not stop Bob and friends becoming the most unlikely and yet in many ways most entertaining Christmas Number One for many, many years. It was no one-off either, as Bob/Neil would be back at Number One again before the year was out.
The runner-up: Westlife - "What Makes A Man"

2001: Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman - "Somethin' Stupid"

The 'Swing When You're Winning' album was never supposed to be anything more than a small vanity project, an album of old rat pack standards released by Robbie Williams as a way to see out his record contract in a more creative way than a Hits collection. Instead it wound up being one of the defining moments of his career, topping charts all over the world and spawning a Number One hit single with this are they/aren't they duet with Nicole Kidman on a track originally made famous by Frank and Nancy Sinatra.
The runner-up: Gordon Haskell - "How Wonderful You Are"

2002: Girls Aloud - "Sound Of The Underground"

Also known as the point where it all started to go wrong. TV talent show Popstars - The Rivals was the first one timed to climax a week before Christmas - for one very good reason. The concept was simple, to create through auditions and a series of public votes, two acts. A girl group and a boy band who would then release simultaneous singles and compete for the Christmas Number One. Even as the series progressed it was clear that it was the girls who had the lions share of the talent, the final vote ending in a huge public row as the best singer Javine Hylton lost out to Sarah Harding in the final head to head. The two singles were theoretically given equal promotion and equal chance to succeed but the song given to Girls Aloud was the more inspired choice, a raucous Xenomania penned track that had originally been recorded by failed pop hopefuls Orchid, although a minor row developed with the revelation that the single itself was the Orchid track with the lead vocals deleted and the TV winners grafted over the top. The better single of the two won out, beating rival boy band One True Voice and sold a quarter of a million copies in the process. For Girls Aloud of course this was just the start of the story. If anyone had grumbles over the way the Christmas market had been hijacked in this way, they kept them quiet.
The runner-up (literally): One True Voice - "Sacred Trust"

2003: Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - "Mad World"

As is so often the case, the 2003 Christmas Number One was meant to be a foregone conclusion. It had been the year of The Darkness, the joyously retro rock band having captured popular imagination with their unashamed refusal to conform to fashion or prevailing musical trends. In a year when they had become amazingly famous by doing everything that a rock group were not supposed to do any more, they announced they would close it by doing something else desperately unfashionable and release a Christmas single. Number One was theirs for the taking surely. They reckoned without a stripped to the bone cover of a classic 1980s track. Originally heard on the soundtrack of cult movie 'Donnie Darko', Michael Andrews' piano and solo voice take on Tears For Fears' 'Mad World' somehow struck a chord. As moving as it was depressing, the song was released in Christmas week with a pre-order that rivalled that of The Darkness. Although it trailed midweek, causing many bookmakers to fatally lengthen its odds, it was by no means too small a gap to overcome. In the biggest shock result for decades, the outright odds-on favourite failed to make the grade, leaving the way clear for a Christmas Number One that virtually nobody had predicted.
The runner-up: The Darkness - "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)"

2004: Band Aid 20 - "Do They Know Its Christmas"

Twelve months later and the seasonal chart-topper was a foregone conclusion once again, although for the very best of reasons. To mark the 20th anniversary of the original and with famine in Africa once again on the agenda, Bob Geldof agreed to pleas to once again gather together the cream of British talent to record a new version of the record that all but defined the charity single back in the 1980s. Some criticism was levelled at the new version which thanks to the cast of participants had a rather more middle of the road tone to the original (Dizzee Rascal notwithstanding). In spite of this a massive sale was all but assured, with even the first series of the X Factor steering clear of competing and waiting until the new year to release the single of inaugural winner Steve Brookstein.
The runner-up: Ronan Keating featuring Yusuf Islam - "Father And Son"

2005: Shayne Ward - "That's My Goal"

So the predictability began. With no charity singles to get in the way this time, the 2005 X Factor winner was primed from the very start to top the festive chart. Having pipped singing binman Andy Abraham to the crown on the final show on December 17th, Shayne Ward's single was raced to the stores with the added frisson being that the Christmas chart would be unveiled on Christmas Day itself. Shifting three quarters of a million copies, the single temporarily silenced complaints that the seasonal race was being reduced to an irrelevance and instead gave the singles market a very welcome boost. It took time, but two years on Shayne Ward appears to have thrown off the stigma of his early work and emerged as a popular and startlingly credible act.
The runner-up: Nizlopi - "JCB Song"

2006: Leona Lewis - "A Moment Like This"

For the second year running X Factor brought us the Christmas Number One again, this time with an artist whom even the most hardened cynic had to agree was an incredibly exciting prospect, needless to say her work so far having proved most of those predictions correct. Her debut single was the track that had first been written for American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson and which had topped the US chart over four years earlier. To most people in this country however it was brand new and in tone and delivery was the perfect coronation for a lady who would turn out to be one of the best singers the television genre had ever produced.
The runner-up: Take That - "Patience"
2007: Leon Jackson - "When You Believe"

No wait a moment, that's getting presumptuous, but just imagine the story we could tell in five years time if it doesn't happen. See you at the weekend when all will finally be revealed.