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

Although the Christmas number one is a highly coveted prize in the United Kingdom, the second-place finisher on the Christmas singles chart has also earned a certain degree of popularity, especially since the 1980s. 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 Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, 1984's "Last Christmas" by Wham!, and 1994's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", now considered a Christmas standard both in the UK and in performer Mariah Carey's native United States but one that lost the Christmas number-one to East 17's "Stay Another Day". In some cases, the Christmas number-one is a novelty song that has little shelf life after the Christmas season, whereas the number-two has a greater life in recurrent rotation. An example of this was 1980's "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" by St Winifred's School Choir, a song that forced " Starting Over" by the recently deceased John Lennon out of the number-one spot.
The only group to have both Christmas numbers one and two in the same year is The Beatles, a feat they achieved twice, in 1963 and 1967. George Michael and Ed Sheeran have been Christmas number one and number two the same year in different groups. Cliff Richard has finished second on the Christmas charts four times, the most of any act. The highest selling Christmas number-two is 'Last Christmas by Wham! followed by "She Loves You" by The Beatles.
Another factor in the greater interest in the Christmas number two is the growing influence of reality television programmes on the chart. produced all of the top three singles on the Christmas UK Singles Chart. The Choir produced the number-one single in 2011 and, indirectly, 2015. The most sustained reality-orientated run at the top of the Christmas charts was The X Factor, whose winner has charted number one or number two on the chart every year from the second series from 2005 to 2014. Bookmakers began to notice the X Factor trends in 2007, when, assuming the X Factor single would be a certainty for the number one, they started taking bets on who Christmas number two would be instead. The X Factor's dominance has also led to numerous novelty campaigns to attempt to prevent the show's winner from reaching the top of the chart, although only "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine was successful in 2009. Charity records have pushed the X-Factor winners down to number-two in 2011 and 2012, while in 2013 and 2014 the X-Factor winners pushed two records that would eventually sell over a million copies down to number two. The X Factor winning single plummeted dramatically in popularity beginning with the 2015 single, the sales for which fell over 80% year-over-year.

List of Christmas number two singles

Tracks marked * did top the chart either in the run-up to, or shortly after, Christmas.
YearArtistSongNotes
1952Jo Stafford"You Belong to Me"*
1953David Whitfield"Answer Me"*
1954David Whitfield"Santo Natale"
1955Bill Haley & His Comets"Rock Around the Clock"*
1956Guy Mitchell"Singing the Blues"*
1957Johnny Otis and his orchestra with Marie Adams"Ma He's Making Eyes at Me"
1958Lord Rockingham's XI"Hoots Mon"*
1959Adam Faith"What Do You Want?"*
1960Elvis Presley"It's Now or Never"*
1961Frankie Vaughan"Tower of Strength"*
1962Cliff Richard"The Next Time"/"Bachelor Boy"*
1963The Beatles"She Loves You"*
1964Petula Clark"Downtown"
1965Cliff Richard"Wind Me Up "
1966Donovan"Sunshine Superman"
1967The BeatlesMagical Mystery Tour
1968The Foundations"Build Me Up Buttercup"
1969Kenny Rogers and The First Edition"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"
1970McGuinness Flint"When I'm Dead and Gone"
1971T. Rex"Jeepster"
1972Chuck Berry"My Ding-a-Ling"*
1973Gary Glitter"I Love You Love Me Love"*
1974Bachman–Turner Overdrive"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"
1975Greg Lake"I Believe in Father Christmas"
1976Showaddywaddy"Under the Moon of Love"*
1977Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band"The Floral Dance"
1978The Village People"Y.M.C.A."*
1979ABBA"I Have a Dream"
1980John Lennon" Starting Over"*
1981Cliff Richard"Daddy's Home"
1982Shakin' StevensBlue Christmas EP
1983Slade"My Oh My"
1984Wham!"Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants"
1985Whitney Houston"Saving All My Love for You"*
1986The Housemartins"Caravan of Love"*
1987The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl"Fairytale of New York"
1988Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan"Especially for You"*
1989Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers"Let's Party"*
1990Vanilla Ice"Ice Ice Baby"*
1991Diana Ross"When You Tell Me That You Love Me"
1992Michael Jackson"Heal the World"
1993Take That"Babe"*
1994Mariah Carey"All I Want For Christmas Is You"
1995The Mike Flowers Pops"Wonderwall"
1996Dunblane"Knockin' On Heaven's Door"*
1997Teletubbies"Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!""*
1998Chef"Chocolate Salty Balls "*
1999Cliff Richard"The Millennium Prayer"*
2000Westlife"What Makes a Man"
2001Gordon Haskell"How Wonderful You Are"
2002One True Voice"Sacred Trust"
2003The Darkness"Christmas Time "
2004Ronan Keating featuring Yusuf Islam"Father and Son"
2005Nizlopi"JCB Song"*
2006Take That"Patience"*
2007Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy"What a Wonderful World"*
2008Jeff Buckley"Hallelujah"
2009Joe McElderry"The Climb"*
2010Rihanna featuring Drake"What's My Name?"*
2011Little Mix"Cannonball"*
2012James Arthur"Impossible"*
2013Pharrell Williams"Happy"*
2014Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars"Uptown Funk"*
2015Justin Bieber"Love Yourself"*
2016Rag'n'Bone Man"Human"
2017Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran"River"*
2018Ava Max"Sweet but Psycho"*
2019Stormzy featuring Ed Sheeran & Burna Boy"Own It"*