''Cliff at Christmas'' is the 2003

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

album of Cliff Richard, containing eight new songs and nine previously released songs including all of his previous hit Christmas-themed singles included. One new single was released from the album, entitled "Santa's List", which reached a peak position of #5 in the UK charts over the festive period. The album reached #9 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and was certified platinum. In 2018, it was number 3 on the Official Top 20 biggest selling Christmas albums of the 21st century in the UK, having sold 409,000 copies. The album marked a brief return to record label

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

with whom he had previously been signed for 41 years.

Background

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

was signed to

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

since his single "

Move It "Move It" is a song written by Ian Samwell and recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters (the English band that would later become the Shadows). Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single ...

", released in 1958. In 1999, he left the label due to a dispute over the release of "

The Millennium Prayer "The Millennium Prayer" is a song recorded by English singer Cliff Richard, in which the words of the Lord's Prayer are set to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne". It was released in November 1999 as a charity single in the lead-up to the new millenniu ...

", with the single subsequently being released on the

Chrysalis Group Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in '' Sunday Times Rich List 2009'' of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books an ...

owned

Papillon Records Papillon Records was a record label started by the Chrysalis Group (who had sold their Chrysalis Records division to EMI) in 1999 with longtime Chrysalis act Jethro Tull. Whilst Echo Records was formed to provide an outlet by new and indepe ...

label and becoming his first number one single in nine years. He returned to EMI in 2003 to release his single "Santa's List" and the album ''Cliff at Christmas''. Richard had previous success with singles at Christmas, and is closely associated with the season having had number ones over the period in 1999 with the aforementioned "The Millennium Prayer", in 1988 with " Mistletoe and Wine" and in 1990 with "

Saviour's Day Saviours' Day is a holiday of the Nation of Islam commemorating the birth of its founder, Master Wallace Fard Muhammad (W. D. Fard), officially stated to be February 26, 1877. It was established by Elijah Muhammad. History The Community of ...

". It was with this album and the single "Santa's List" that he was aiming to achieve another Christmas number one record. However bookmakers

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...

placed his chance this happening for the third time at fifty to one. "Santa's List" was written by Chris Eaton (the same songwriter who wrote "Saviour's Day") and Nick Trevisick.

Promotion

To coincide with a number of other 2004 Christmas releases, including a number of "best of" albums, EMI re-released ''Cliff at Christmas'' in 2004 with a £150,000 advertising campaign. This promotion of the previous year's album was announced two weeks after Richard left the label to join

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

Reception

In the

, ''Cliff at Christmas'' entered the charts at number 38 on 29 November 2003. Over the course of the following three weeks it climbed the charts until it peaked at number 9 on 20 December. It dropped slightly during the Christmas week to number 14 and then exited the chart in January. When re-released in late 2004 it entered the chart at 66 on 11 December, before climbing to 60 the following week and then left the charts for the final time. The 2003 release of the album went platinum in the UK charts, selling over 300,000 copies. It was Richard's first album to go platinum since the release of '' The Whole Story: His Greatest Hits'' in 2000.

Track listing

Tracks 3, 5, 7, 11–14, and 16 are new recordings.

Chart performance

Weekly album charts

Year-end album charts

Singles charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cliff at Christmas Cliff Richard albums 2003 Christmas albums Christmas albums by English artists Pop rock Christmas albums