A time for giving
If you’ve ventured into a supermarket, turned on the radio or visited a pub anytime since 1st December you can’t help but have noticed the return of one of the UK’s most enduring traditions.
Not the mistletoe, not the pudding, or even the festive jumper, no I’m referring to the pop songs that provide the soundtrack to the shopping days of Christmas.
The battle for the coveted Christmas number 1 spot has raged for 70 years, creating a legacy of some of the greatest ever songs – as well as some real Christmas turkeys.
When polls are done on the best ever Christmas record there are three songs that usually come out top. Wham’s Last Christmas”, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” and the The Pogues “Fairytale of New York”.
And yet none of these belters ever actually made it as the UK’s Christmas number 1 – unlike Benny Hill, Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder.
In the 70 years of the official UK charts only one in ten of the Christmas Day number ones actually have Christmas in the title and on three occasions it was the same song – Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”.
Wizzard’s guaranteed dancefloor filler – “I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday” – only made it to number four whilst Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas made a lowly 53 on its initial release.
Wham’s last Christmas was for 36 years the biggest selling song never to reach number 1 – until that is January 1 2021 when it reached the top spot. Remarkably Mariah Carey had finally made it to number one four weeks earlier but both classics were beaten to the Christmas Day slot by Ladbaby.
It marked the third year on the trot that vlogger Ladbaby and his family took the Christmas number 1 spot and just like those other three-time Christmas champs, Band Aid, all proceeds raised go to fighting hunger.
Whereas the Bob Geldof classic has helped relieve starvation in Ethiopia, proceeds from Ladbaby’s cover versions of classic songs reworded in praise of sausage rolls have helped The Trussel Trust support food banks across the UK and funded hundreds of thousands of food parcels.
Teaming up this year with Ed Sheeran and Elton John, Ladbaby has a massive chance of becoming the first artist to nail four Christmas number 1s in successive years with his latest single “Sausage Rolls for Everyone” which was released on 17th December.
At Zorba we are big supporters of community food groups and have donated 2,826.5kg of food to Fareshare which equates to just less than 9,000 meals. .
In many supermarkets where our products are sold you’ll find collection food points, please, if you are able to, help someone in need this Christmas by buying an extra item of food and donating.
