Entertainment

Three most-streamed Christmas number ones of all time don’t actually mention Christmas

Ed Sheeran’s hit song Perfect has been named the most streamed UK Christmas number one of all time.

The ballad landed the top spot during the 2017 festive period and fended off competition from global superstars, including Whitney Houston and Queen, to claim the title.

To draw in the holiday season, the Official Charts Company created a top 40 list for BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds of the most streamed Christmas number ones since it began recording in 1952.

In second place was Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which is the only song to ever be a Christmas number one twice – once in 1975, and again in 1991 after Freddie Mercury died.

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Clean Bandit’s Rockabye was third – meaning the top three songs in the list actually have nothing to do with Christmas.

Shakin’ Stevens hit Merry Christmas Everyone was fourth, Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas was fifth, and Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody was sixth.

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The rest of the top 10 is once again mostly dominated by non-festive tracks – including The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name.

But Mary’s Boy Child by Boney M does make an appearance in 10th place.

The top 40 songs by The Official Charts have calculated a combined streaming total of more than 2.25 billion audio plays, although only six of the 40 actually mention Christmas in the lyrics.

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