List Of UK Singles Chart Christmas Number Twos
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. The following is a list of UK Singles Chart Christmas number twos, songs that came in second place on the chart. Background The Christmas number one is a highly coveted prize in the United Kingdom, so much so that a coattail or slipstream effect occurs with all of the competing songs earning publicity, regardless of whether or not they succeed. On PRS for Music's 2010 list of the most popular Christmas songs of the year, the top three songs were all songs that had finished second on the chart: 1987's "Fairytale of New York" by The P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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East 17
East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. They are best known for their 1994 hit single " Stay Another Day", which was the UK Christmas number one that year. The group has released 18 top-20 singles and four top-10 albums and was one of the UK's most popular boy bands during the early- to mid-1990s, aided by strong tabloid interest in their 'bad boy' image, compared to the clean-cut style of rivals Take That. Their style blended pop and hip hop in songs such as " House of Love" and " Let It Rain". East 17 has sold over 18 million albums worldwide and according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the group has been certified with sales of 1.8 million albums and 2.8 million singles in the UK. East 17 have undergone multiple lineup changes, with Coldwell remaining the only constant member. The group continues today under the lineup of Terry Coldwell, Joe Livermore, and former Artful Dodger ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin is one of the most successful in history. John was the 19th EGOT winner in history. He has sold over 300 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time. John learned to play piano at an early age, winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1960s, he formed the blues band Bluesology, wrote songs for other artists alongside Taupin, and worked as a session musician, before releasing his debut album, ''Empty Sky'' (1969). Throughout the next six decades, John cemented his status as a cultural icon with Elton John albums discography, 32 studio albums, including ''Honky Château'' (1972), ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' (1973), ''Roc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play ''No. 5 Collaborations Project''. He signed with Asylum Records the same year. Sheeran's debut album, ''+ (album), +'' ("''Plus''"), was released in September 2011 and topped the UK Albums Chart. It contained his first hit single, "The A Team (Ed Sheeran song), The A Team". In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist, Best British Male Solo Artist and Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act, British Breakthrough Act. Sheeran's second studio album, ''x (Ed Sheeran album), ×'' ("''Multiply''"), topped charts around the world upon its release in June 2014. It was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In the same year, ''×'' won Brit Awards 2015#Nominees and winn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling recording artists of all time. Michael was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. Born in East Finchley, Middlesex, Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. He took part in Band Aid (band), Band Aid's UK number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984 and performed at the following year's Live Aid concert. His debut studio album, ''Faith (George Michael album), Faith'' (1987), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and became one of the List of best-selling albums, best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Michael then went on to release a series of multimillion-selling albums, including ''Listen Without ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band in Western popular music and were integral to the development of Counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat music, beat and 1950s rock and roll, rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from Folk music, folk and Music of India, Indian music to Psychedelic music, psychedelia and hard rock. As Recording practices of the Beatles, pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the Baby boomers, era's youth and soc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's Lennon–McCartney, songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the Skiffle revival, skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon initially was the group's ''de facto'' leader, a role he gradually seemed to cede to McCartney, writing and co-writing songs with increasing innovation, including "Strawberry Fields Forever", which he later cited as his finest work with the band. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including ''How I Won the War'', and authoring ''In His Own Write'' and ''A Spaniard in the Works'', both collections of literary nonsense, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Death Of John Lennon
On the evening of 8 December 1980, the English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. The killer, Mark David Chapman, was an American Beatles fan who was envious and enraged by Lennon's lifestyle, alongside his 1966 comment that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus". Chapman said he was inspired by the fictional character Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger's novel ''The Catcher in the Rye'', a "phony-killer" who loathes hypocrisy. Chapman planned the killing over several months and waited for Lennon at the Dakota on the morning of 8 December. Early in the evening, Chapman met Lennon, who signed his copy of the album ''Double Fantasy'' and subsequently left for a recording session at the Record Plant. Later that night, Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned to the Dakota to say goodnight to their son before an impromptu date night. As Lennon and Ono approached the entrance ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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(Just Like) Starting Over
"(Just Like) Starting Over" is a song written and performed by John Lennon from the 1980 album, '' Double Fantasy''. It was released as a single on 24 October 1980 in the United Kingdom, with Yoko Ono's " Kiss Kiss Kiss" as the B-side. It reached number one in both the US and UK after Lennon was murdered on 8 December 1980. It was Lennon's final single released in his lifetime. Background "(Just Like) Starting Over" was the first single released from '' Double Fantasy'' and the first new recording Lennon had released since he left the music industry in 1975. It was chosen by Lennon not because he felt it was the best track on the album, but because it was the most appropriate following his five-year absence from the recording industry. He referred to it during production as the " Elvis/ Orbison" track, as he "tongue in cheek" impersonated their vocal styles. Lennon explained, "All through the taping of 'Starting Over,' I was calling what I was doing 'Elvis Orbison': ' I want y ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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St Winifred's School Choir
St Winifred's School Choir, from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, was a choir of children whose single entitled "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in 1980 became that year's British Christmas number one single. Career Formation The choir had formed in 1968 and been recording songs since 1972, when Miss Terri Foley played the guitar with the choir and the conductor was Miss Olive Moore. In 1978, they were the uncredited backing vocalists on the number one hit " Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" by Brian and Michael (actually Kevin Parrott and Michael Coleman). The single concerned the paintings of L.S. Lowry and gave the choir their first appearance on the BBC One show ''Top of the Pops''. "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" Their first major single under their own name came in November 1979. During this time, Foley trained and conducted the choir. In 1980, the choir signed to Music for Pleasure, an EMI associat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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There's No One Quite Like Grandma
"There's No One Quite Like Grandma" is a song by the Stockport-based primary school choir St Winifred's School Choir, released as a single in November 1980. It was number-one on the UK Singles Chart from 21 December 1980 to 3 January 1981. The song was written by Gordon Lorenz, recorded at 10cc's Strawberry Studios in Stockport and features Rick Wakeman on keyboards. The song was the 1980 Christmas number-one single in both the UK and Ireland. In the UK, it demoted John Lennon's last single, " (Just Like) Starting Over", to number two. After two weeks at number one, a previous Lennon song, " Imagine", replaced it. This was a posthumous release as Lennon had been killed three weeks prior. Another song that "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" prevented from reaching number one was "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie, which has since become a Christmas favourite in the UK that finished at number three on the Christmas chart. More recently, the song was used within the one-off Chann ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Recurrent Rotation
In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely shuffled, so as to avoid varying the time between any two consecutive plays of a given song by either too much or too little. When measuring airplay, the number of times a song is played is counted as spins. Stations playing new music typically have a short rotation of around four hours, while stations playing "classics" may go as long as eight hours, with a few stations promising "no repeats" where a song is not played again during a broadcast day to allow a much broader playlist (or if there is a purposeful repeat on that type of station, it ties into a station contest for a prize, such as tickets to the played artist's concert). College radio and indie radio stations sometimes have no particular rotation, only the music director's sugg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |