Number Twos On The Christmas Charts Quiz

Answer: Elvis Presley

"It's Now Or Never" was one of Presley's biggest selling singles ever, but got stopped off at number two in the UK in the 1960 Yuletide season. Indeed it did not make number one in the UK at any time.

Cliff Richard and The Shadows held The King off the top with their song "I Love You".

Answer: Bill Haley & His Comets

It has been claimed that the song was written for Hayley, but he was not the first to record it. That had been Sonny Dae and His Knights in March 1954.

Inclusion on the soundtrack of the movie "Backboard Jungle" probably helped sales. It became a Billboard number one and, according to the UK's Official Charts Company, was number one for three weeks in early December 1955, fell to number two for three weeks, and then returned to the top for two.

Dickie Valentine took the coveted Christmas number one spot with "Christmas Alphabet".

Answer: David Whitfield

David Whitfield hailed from the city of Hull and was to have a UK number one with "Cara Mia" in 1954. It was a US number 10 when sung with Mantovani and his orchestra.

The 1952 UK Christmas number one was "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino and the 1953 topper was "Answer Me" by Frankie Laine

Answer: False

According to the UK's Official Charts Company, the Extended Play (EP) "Magical Mystery Tour" first charted at number 20 on December 19 (the Christmas week), was number three on Boxing Day and then number two for three weeks in a row. It spent 12 weeks on the charts in all

Did the Fab Four mind: probably not since they also had the number one at Christmas 1967, "Hello, Goodbye".

Answer: Jeff Buckley

The Leonard Cohen composition "Hallelujah" reached the UK top 10 nine times between 1979 and 2015. Buckley's version spent 22 weeks in the chart.

Probably gratingly for Buckley, the number one that year was television talent show winner Alexandra Burke with... "Hallelujah".

All of the suggested answers are among those to have covered the song. In 2015, "Newsweek" rated John Cale's cover as the best of 60 versions. Buckley was at number two, Wainwright at number three, and Spektor at number six. Leonard Cohen was at number eight (!).

Answer: Fairytale of New York

"It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank..." was the story of a mismatched couple sharing their dreams and despairs.

"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues with Kirsty McColl has topped many polls to be named favourite Christmas song of all. Controversy has followed it. In particular some of the language used was not seen as being politically correct. There was storm in a tea cup in 2020 when BBC Radio One refused to play the song with the original lyrics, while stablemate BBC Radio Two was happy to.

On its first release in 1987, the song spent a staggering 103 weeks on the Official UK Charts, peaking at number two. Four years later it spent five weeks on the charts.

The Pet Shop Boys had the Christmas number one with "Always On My Mind".

Answer: John Lennon

This became a posthumous number one for Lennon. It was released on October 24 1980. He was murdered on December 8. It reached number one in the UK on December 20, but fell to number two for the next two weeks. It was also a number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Christmas number one in 1980 was "There's No One Quite Like Grandma", a novelty song by St Winnifred's School Choir.

Answer: Showaddywaddy

"Under The Moon Of Love" was another song that peaked too soon. It went to number one on the official UK charts on December 4 and stayed there for two more weeks, then fell to the second spot. This was Showaddywaddy's only number one among six songs that reached the top 20

This was a cover of a 1961 Curtis Lee song that was co-written with Tommy Boyce.

Johnny Mathis scored the Christmas number one with "When A Child Is Born".

Answer: Mariah Carey

"All I Want For Christmas Is You" is on the list of the biggest-selling singles of all time: 16 million and counting. A website that counts the material worth of top stars and celebrities has calculated that Carey makes between $600,000 and $1 million dollars each year in royalties from this song.

On December 11 2020, the UK's Official Charts Company confirmed the song had reached number one: 26 years after it was first released. It was reported that in the seven days before the release of that chart, the song had been streamed 11 million times.

However, it was not to be the 2020 'Christmas number one". That accolade went to Ladbaby, whose "Don't Stop Me Eatin'" completed their hat trick of successve Christmas chart toppers. Carey was at number top for a second time. In 1994, she was kept off the top spot by East 17 and their hit "Stay Another Day".

Answer: "Last Christmas" by Wham

Wham's "Last Christmas" was a number two at Christmas 1984. In the run-up to Christmas each year when shops have festive playlists and radio stations play cheery Christmas tunes, many people play a game called "Whamageddon", in which they see how long they can go without hearing the song.

'Whamageddon' was started in Denmark in 2005. The game runs each year from December 1 to midnight on Christmas Eve. Once you have heard the original version, you are out. This quiz author heard the song in an hotel on December 12 - but it was a cover version, so that does not count.

Not only did Wham peak out at number two with this song in December 1984, they achieved the same feat in December 2007. Incidentally, all of the wrong answers also had Christmas number two songs in the UK.

In 1984 the top spot was the famine charity fundraiser "Do They Know It's Christmas" by the collective talents of Band Aid.