Rarely does a Christmas song make it to the No.1 spot in Australia, in fact the last one was 51 years ago, and ever rarer is an older song climbing to a new peak, but this week Mariah Carey’s 1994 released song “All I Want for Christmas is You” jumps up nine spots to land at No.1 in Australia.
Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” becomes the 1081st No.1 song in Australia (1940 to 2018) and the 516th for ARIA (1983 to 2018), plus the 117th for the record label Columbia (and their second this year after George Ezra’s “Shotgun” in Sept. and Oct.), and as this is the final No.1 for 2018 it becomes the 13th No.1 for the year (matching similar years of 1974, ’76, ’77, ’83, ’93, 2006 and 2011 {plus we had one more than 2017’s 12 #1’s}). “All I Want for…” is the new No.1 streamed song in the country (it’s sitting at No.9 on the digital sales chart) and it also takes out the top spot for the first time in New Zealand and is sitting at No.2 in the UK charts.
The last time that a Christmas song went to No.1 DURING the seasonal period was back in 1967 when The Royal Guardsmen were at the top with “Snoopy’s Christmas” (23-Dec, 1967, 2 weeks) whilst overall this is the fourth song with ‘Christmas’ in its title to hit the top spot, and the last one was back in mid January of 1985 when the original Band Aid song “Do They Know it’s Christmas” held for four weeks (it debuted at No.2 in late 1984 and as the charts back then were on hold for two weeks during the Xmas-NY’s period it didn’t hit the top until the second week of January, held off by Madonna’s first No.1 here “Like a Virgin”), while the first ever song was Bing Crosby with “White Christmas” (5 months at No.1 from June 1943 until the end of October 1943), and overall this is the sixteenth song with ‘Want’ in it’s title to hit No.1 here too.
This new No.1 song becomes the 694th by an American singer to hit the top here and this is now Mariah’s third chart-topping song in Australia, her first came as the song she released after her new No.1 for this week in “Fantasy” (1 wk, 8-Oct, 1995) and then just under ten years later she scored her second chart-topper here in “We Belong Together” (2 wks from 27-June, 2005). Thus by scoring a No.1 song in three consecutive decades she becomes one of eleven acts to have done so, the other ten were Frank Sinatra (1944, 1953 and 1966), Elvis Presley (1959, 1960 and 1970), The Rolling Stones (1965, 1973 and 1981), The Beach Boys (1966, 1970 and 1988), John Farnham (1968, 1970 and 1986), Olivia Newton-John (1971, 1981, 1991), Michael Jackson (1982, 1980 and 1991), Madonna (1984, 1990 and 2000), Kylie Minogue (1987, 1994 and 2000) and lastly U2 (1988, 1991 and 2000). Mariah is also one of 28 acts to have landed three No.1’s in Australia including Jason Derulo, Snoop Dogg, Christina Aguilera, Paul McCartney (with Wings), Pharrell, Silverchair, Shaggy, Roxette, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Nelly and many more.
Now post Christmas charts notoriously drop their seasonal tunes in the following week, so will next week become the first time that a No.1 song leaves the entire Top 100 (this has never happened before to either ARIA or earlier Australian charts), plus with two more seasonal songs within the Top 10 could there be three songs leaving the chart from the Top 10 next week. The Wham! 1984 song “Last Christmas” jumps up thirteen places to No.5, scoring its first Top 10 berth since its initial chart run and an overall eleventh week within the Top 10, while the 2014 “Do They Know it’s Christmas” (HP-3, peaked Nov. 2014) by Band Aid 30 leaps twenty-nine places to land at No.8 scoring its second overall week within the Top 10.
This is also the second longest gap between the songs initial chart run and eventual No.1 spot in Australian chart history, taking 24 years to achieve it for Mariah’s song, but the record is still held by The Righteous Brothers and their version of “Unchained Melody”, which first charted in August of 1965 hitting No.3, and then from the ‘Ghost’ soundtrack it went to No.1 at the end of November in 1990 making it 25 years and four months to finally hit the top spot.
Waiting to take over the top spot for a second week at No.2 is the Post Malone and Swae Lee track “Sunflower”, while also on hold at its peak of No.3 is the Ava Max track “Sweet but Psycho”, which climbed to No.1 in England and holds for a second week at No.1 in Ireland (it was replaced in Germany after five weeks this week). After six weeks at No.1 the Ariana Grande track “thank u, next” is down three spots this week to No.4, while it maintains its lead in both America (5th week) and Canada (7th week).
The current No.1 digital selling song is the George Ezra track “Shotgun” which is down one spot to No.6, followed by Halsey and “Without Me” which is down three chart rungs to No.7. The Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper duet “Shallow” is down two spots to No.9 while the Marshmello and Bastille collaboration is down one place to land at No.10 this week.
UP:
* After a couple of weeks at No.26 the latest Hilltop Hoods track “Leave Me Lonely” rises five spots to land at a new peak of No.21 (did it rise because Santa Claus is mentioned in a lyric?).
* Kian is back to his former peak of No.24 with “Waiting”, up one spot this week.
* There are soooo many bulleting Christmas tunes that most of the mainstream chart is not climbing very much this week, with two non-seasonal songs re-entering being “Money” (HP-65) for Cardi B at No.83 and “Havana” for Camilla Cabello at No.99.
DOWN:
* The two songs leaving the Top 10 this week are “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” (HP-6, WI10-2) for Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus, down five to No.11 (the week after Miley married Liam Hemsworth) and “Sicko Mode” for Travis Scott with Drake (HP-7×2, WI10-5), which is down four to No.12, and with the Xmas exodus occurring next week these songs should/could return to the ten next week.
* Khalid drops down five spots to No.19 with “Better” and is also down with “Saturday Night” (41 to 51) and Lovely” alongside Billie Eilish (46 to 71) while Billie also falls ten spots to No.29 with “When the Party’s Over”.
* Ariana Grande’s new entry from last week “Imagine” drops down seven spots to No.22, while she also falls with her first No.1 “No Tears Left to Cry” (75 to 90) and leaves with “Breathin” (#90).
* Calvin Harris and Sam Smith drop down six spots to No.27 with “Promises”, while Calvin teaming with Dua Lipa and “One Kiss” drops eighteen places to land at No.91.
* After a rebound last week the Panic! at the Disco tune “High Hopes” is back down eight to No.31.
* Maroon 5 with Cardi B and “Girls Like You” falls eight spots to No.32, and Cardi B also drops down with “I Like it” (59 to 62) and on the DJ Snake track “Taki Taki” (58 to 76).
* Queen move down with “Bohemian Rhapsody” (34 to 38), Another One Bites the Dust (77 to 78) and climb slightly with “Don’t Stop Me Now” (97 to 93) and “Somebody to Love” (99 to 98), plus they score a new Christmas entry too.
* Jonas Blue falls ten spots to No.39 with “Rise”.
* Kodak Black tumbles thirteen places to No.41 with “Zeze”.
* This time last year Ed Sheeran was at No.1 with “Perfect”, which this week drops down seven places to No.43, while his ‘Longest Charted Single’ in “Shape of You” slides down four places to No.68 on its 103rd week within the Top 100.
* XXXTentacion only has two songs left within the Top 100 this week, “Arms Around You” (33 to 46) with Lil’ Pump and “Sad!” (62 to 74), as he departs with “Bad” (#71) and “Jocelyn Flores” (#100).
* The four week old Meek Mill and Drake track “Going Bad” falls sixteen places to No.48, while Drake is also down with “God’s Plan” (61 to 64) and “In My Feelings” (52 to 69).
* Zara Larsson falls back down twelve places to No.50 with “Ruin My Life”.
* Sheck Wes tumbles thirteen spots to land at No.52 with “Mo Bamba”.
* Shawn Mendes’ remix for “Lost in Japan” drops thirteen to No.55.
* Pink’s version of “A Million Dreams” is down nine to No.56, while the James Arthur and Anne-Marie cover of “Rewrite the Stars” falls nineteen places to No.86 (Anne-Marie’s “2002” falls seventeen spots to No.70), and the original soundtrack version of ‘”This is Me” from ‘The Greatest Showman’ by Keale Seattle falls twenty to No.89.
* Juice WRLD drops down fourteen chart rungs to No.59 with “Lucid Dreams”.
* Lil’ Pump and Kanye West with “I Love it” and The Chainsmokers track “This Feeling” both drop twenty spots apiece to No.65 and No.66 respectively.
* Followed right behind at No.67 by a nineteen place slump for “Leave a Light on” by Tom Walker.
* Lady Gaga is down to two tracks in the chart this week as “Always Remember us This Way” falls twenty-one spots to No.72.
* After peaking at No.63 last week the NOTD track “So Close” falls back down fourteen spots to No.79.
* There’s a twenty-seven place tumble for the Little Mix track “Woman Like Me” to No.81.
* There’s a nineteen place drop for both the Peking Duk track “Fire/Reprisal” and “Happy Now” by Kygo with Sandro Cavazza to No.84 and No.85 respectively.
* Silk City with Dua Lipa decline seventeen places to No.87 with “Electricity”, and what follows after lightning (or electricity) is “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons which is down fourteen to No.88.
* Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” tumbles sixteen spots to No.95.
* Bazzi drops down with “Beautiful”, which falls fifteen places to land at No.96.
CHRISTMAS SONGS:
* For the first time ever this century there is a No.1 Christmas song in the Mariah Carey (now) classic “All I Want for Christmas is You”, plus it’s also the first time ever that we have had three seasonal songs within the Top 10 too (none of which were penned this century) with Wham! and “Last Christmas” at No.5 and the 2014 rendition of “Do They Know it’s Christmas” by Band Aid 30.
* A third record has also been broken in that there are 21 Christmas songs within the Top 100 this week, the next of which is the 1971 John Lennon song “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” which leaps up forty-two spots to land at a new 21st century peak of No.14 and its first Top 50 berth since its third chart run in 1988-89 (HP-21).
* Ariana Grande has two seasonal songs this week in “Santa Tell Me” (40 to a new peak of No.18) plus she also debuts with “Santa Baby” at No.77 featuring Liz Gillies which was originally issued in December of 2013.
* Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” (HP-20) bullets fifty-three spots this week to land at No.25.
* The Jackson 5 debut at No.30 with their rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, making its first Australian chart appearance, originally released in December of 1970.
* Last week Brenda Lee returned her 1960 song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” at No.96, and this week that tune is Top 10 in New Zealand and here it leaps up sixty-one spots to score its overall new peak (1960 and now chart runs) of No.35.
* Last year Paul Kelly’s classic seasonal-themed song “How to Make Gravy” made its first chart appearance peaking at No.54 (Dec 2017), and this year it returns to the chart at a new peak of No.37.
* Tony Bennett’s rendition of “Winter Wonderland” was issued in 2014 and makes its first chart entry this week at No.40.
* Actor and singer Burl Ives last charted in Australia back in July of 1968, and now this week his seasonal classic “A Holly Jolly Christmas” debuts for the first time ever at No.42.
* In December of 1973 Elton John issued his first ever Christmas tune, which this week makes its first chart appearance in Australia, as “Step into Christmas” debuts at No.44.
* Stevie Wonder also has his first ever seasonal-song charting at No.45, “What Christmas Means to Me”, which he first released back in December of 1967.
* Two versions of the same song chart this week in “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, the most recent chart entry version being by Sam Smith, which returns at No.47 (former HP-63 in Dec. of 2014) and one of the original versions by Ella Fitzgerald which she issued back in Dec of 1960, is a new entry at No.58.
* As featured in the film ‘Home Alone’, the Chuck Berry song “Run Rudolph Run” also makes its first chart entry this week, coming in at No.49, with Chuck lasting charting back in October of 1972.
* The Bobby Helms track “Jingle Bell Rock” first charted out-of-time in that it hit No.43 in July of 1958, so its return at No.57 during the Christmas period is its first seasonal chart-run.
* Queen land a fifth entry this week as their late 1984 release “Thank God it’s Christmas” makes its first ever chart debut at No.80 this week.
* The US rock band The Eagles had one Christmas single which made it to No.46 in January of 1979 titled “Please Come Home for Christmas” its returns at No.94 this week.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #92 – A Lot by 21 Savage feat J. Cole becomes the sixth overall Top 100 entry here for the rapper born Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, plus this track is taken from his new album “I Am > I Was” which is the only new albums chart entry this week at No.34
* #97 – Africa by Toto is the 1983 classic by the band who also charted with “Rosanna” (HP-16, 1982) and their first Top 10 hit “Hold the Line” (HP-8, 1979). This song hit No.5 here in early March of 1983 to become their highest charted single in Australia.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
