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It's Bonkers Time (Again) On the UK Charts

“Just a sausage roll, in a year that’s out of control, feeding the nation is our Christmas call…”

It's Bonkers Time (Again) On the UK Charts

By Martin Melhuish

“Just a sausage roll, in a year that’s out of control, feeding the nation is our Christmas call…”


For the third consecutive year, bloggers Mark and Roxanne Hoyle, collectively known as LadBaby, have laid claim to the coveted Official Christmas number one song in the U.K. with another charity tribute to a beloved constituent of British haute cuisine: the sausage roll.

This year’s chart-topper, Don’t Stop Me Eatin’, a parody of the Journey hit Don’t Stop Believin’, follows up last year’s triumphant track I Love Sausage Rolls, a pastiche of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll and 2018’s We Built This City (On Sausage Rolls), after Starship’s 1985 hit.

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Nostalgia and Yuletide-themed tunes traditionally play a huge role in this yearly pop chart free-for-all. There are 26 festive songs on the chart this year, including Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, which dropped out of the top spot to become runner-up with a tune she first released at this time of year in 1994.

Wham! is at number three with Last Christmas, a seasonal classic first released in 1984, written and produced by the duo’s George Michael. At number four is This Christmas by Jeff Glynne and, sitting at number five, is British punk band The Kunts, who got into the Christmas spirits early to release an 81-second – there’s a single edit at 56 seconds – sign-of-the-political-times bar carol titled, Boris Johnson is a Fucking Cunt.

This is a chart for “kids from one to ninety-two.” Think that cobweb-dusted classics like It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Andy Williams), White Christmas (Bing Crosby), Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow (both the Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra versions), The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole), and It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas (both the Perry Como and Michael Bublé versions) had been relegated to the mists of time? Think again!

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Those chestnuts are here along with other re-releases of perennial rock-era seasonal hits like Fairytale of New York (Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl), Happy Xmas (War is Over) (John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band), Jingle Bell Rock (Bobby Helms), Sleigh Ride (Ronettes), Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade), Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano), Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Michael Jackson & Jackson Five), Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Darlene Love), Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley), Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry), Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt) and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (Brenda Lee).

A cover of the Brenda Lee song by Justin Bieber, that placed at number eight, represents one of his four appearances on the chart, which include the tracks Mistletoe, Monster, with fellow-Canadian Shawn Mendes, who also charted solo with his song Wonder, and Holy, featuring Chance the Rapper and a backstory that typifies the charitable nature of many of these altruistic Christmas projects, the king of which, Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid, was back on the charts at number nine.

100 percent of profits from the LadBaby songs support UK food banks and The Trussell Trust, which supports more than 14 million people in the U.K. living below the poverty line. This year, Bieber renewed his previous association with the Lewisham & Greenwich National Health Service (NHS) Choir, made up of doctors and nurses from southeast London, which dates back to 2015 when they were both competing for the coveted number one spot. The choir prevailed with the song A Bridge Over You but not without considerable help from Bieber, who, after learning the proceeds were going to charity, urged his fans to support their bid over his entry Love Yourself.

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This year, he approached the choir, which supports NHS Charities Together, representing over 230 NHS charities, and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Charity, to add their voices to a special version of his U.K. hit “Holy.” Their voices were added to the song, which ultimately placed at number 41 on the current chart, at a recording session at Abbey Road Studios in London. On Christmas Day, the choir performed the carol Joy to the World from Windsor Castle at the close of the Queen’s annual Christmas address.

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Awards

Jade Eagleson, The Reklaws Lead CMAOntario Nominations in 2024

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