Ghosts of Christmas chart: The festive songs that never made Christmas Number 1

As any self-respecting popstar will tell you, getting a Number 1 is what it’s all about. There are at least 52 chances a year to get one, but it’s still a feat some artists never achieve.

The treasured Number 1 spot is never more hotly contested than the last couple of weeks in the year – the hallowed Official Christmas Number 1. They vary from super-festive to super-silly to super-serious, but grabbing a Christmas chart-topper is a surefire way to ensure you go down in the history books.

But what about the songs that never made it, or the festive classics you hear year after year – the songs that sum up Christmas perfectly but never quite hit the top spot? We take a look at some of the ghosts of Christmas chart, the festive Number 1s that never were…

Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

Originally released in 1994, Mariah’s modern classic is widely regarded as the ultimate Christmas song. It’s sold over a million, it has returned to the Top 40 every single year since 2007 – it'seveb back in the Top 40 this week! – plus, it’s Mariah’s top seller in the UK and yet… not a Number 1. No.

The highest it's managed is Number 2, in 1994, when East 17's Stay Another Day beat it to Number 1

MORE: See all Mariah Carey's hit UK singles and albums

Wham! – Last Christmas

Probably the most famous festive near-miss of them all, Last Christmas is a million-seller that certainly made a good stab at getting to Christmas Number 1.

On original release in 1984, it entered at Number 2 and stayed there for five weeks, kept off the top by the original Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas.

Last Christmas was reissued in 1985 for another go, making it to Number 6. It’s returned to the Top 40 seven times and has the distinction of being the biggest selling single in the UK not to make it to Number 1.

MORE: Wham's full archive of hit UK singles and albums

The Pogues FT Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale Of New York

The soundtrack to any tinsel-inspired drunken argument, this classic first charted 27 years ago, peaking at Number 2 behind Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind. It’s a million seller and has returned to the Top 10 three times, in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and the Top 20 seven further times, reaching Number 11 last year.

The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping

Another alternative Christmas message, swapping out a huge argument for just being totally bored with the whole Santa thing, Christmas Wrapping has, shockingly, never made the Top 40. Nope, never.

The original version, by no-nonsense American band The Waitresses was released first in 1981 and didn’t chart at all. Another go in 1982 reached Number 45.

The closest it has got to being an Official Christmas Number 1 is by appearing as the B-side to one. Spice Girls covered it in 1998 and plonked it on the other side of their first post-Geri release Goodbye, which as we all know was the band’s third Christmas Number 1 in a row – a feat only the Beatles can also claim.

Kylie Minogue has teamed up with Iggy Pop to cover Christmas Wrapping on her new festive album – can she take it to the Top 40 for the first time?

Bing Crosby – White Christmas

Dear Uncle Bing’s wish for a little bit of snow on Christmas Day is one of the most famous songs in the world, and yet has never been a Number 1.

It’s the oldest million-seller too – having been in circulation since 1942. It had to wait 35 whole years before it got a shot at the charts, reaching Number 5 in 1977.

John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

The late great Beatle John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War is Over) isn’t the cheeriest track in the world, we’ve got to admit, but being a bit reflective is what Christmas is all about, isn’t it?

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) has been a Top 10 hit three times – twice for John & Yoko in 1972 and 1980 and then for the finalists of Pop Idol in 2003. The 1980 rerelease following the death of John Lennon is the one to hit the highest – peaking at Number 2 behind St Winifred’s School Choir with There’s No One Quite Like Grandma. Oh yes.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) last made the Top 40 in 2007.

MORE: See all John Lennon's charted singles and albums

Silent Night

A standard of many an excruciating nativity play, yes, but did you know it’s also been a Top 10 hit twice?

Bing Crosby pops up here again, taking the track to Number 8 in the very first Christmas Number 1 race in 1952. Al Martino may have won that year with Here In My Heart, but you never hear that at a Christmas party do you?

Thirty-six years later, Bros fared rather better with it, hitting Number 2 in 1988 when they released it as a double-A side with Cat Among The Pigeons.

Winter Wonderland – Johnny Mathis

A song that would make even the stiffest upper lip quiver with emotion, the jaunty, optimistic Winter Wonderland has been around since 1934 and covered by a slew of big names, including Leona Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Eurythmics, Diana Ross and Michael Bublé. And yet it has hit the Top 40 just once, and for none of those acts.

Johnny Mathis went walking in a winter Top 20 with it, reaching Number 17 in 1958, changing quite a few lyrics along the way. Johnny would go on to have an Official Christmas Number 1 of his own in 1976, hitting the big one with When A Child Is Born.

MORE: Search for your favourite Christmas song to see its entire chart history in our archive

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

We all know the Jackson 5 version, and you may well be a fan of renditions by Bing Crosby (hello again Bing!), Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, and perhaps even Dannii Minogue. But when it comes to chart power, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town has made it just twice.

The Carpenters first had a modest hit with it, reaching Number 37 in 1975. Its only other appearance, and a Top 10 one at that, is thanks to none other than Bruce Springsteen. Yep, the Boss himself reached Number 9 in 1985 with a double-A side of My Hometown.

O Holy Night

This rousing number has been covered by just about everyone who ever put themselves in front of a microphone, but it has reached the Top 40 just once.

And who made it? Susan Boyle? Celine Dion? Kelly Clarkson? Whitney Houston? Well, no. Ladywell Primary School are the only ones to have a hit with it, reaching Number 39 in 2012.

Santa Baby

A saucy Christmas classic that’s been trilled by all the greats – Eartha Kitt, Mariah, Madonna, Kylie, and recently, Ariana Grande. And yet it’s never made the Top 40. Not once.

The nearest it’s got is thanks to Kylie Minogue, who took it to Number 76 in 2007. Will this be the year it breaks through?

MORE: All Kylie's UK hit singles and albums in her Official Chart archive

Wizzard – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

Originally released in 1973, this Christmas staple has never made it higher than Number 4. The Official Christmas Number 1 that year was Slade’s Yuletide classic Merry Xmas Everybody, leaving Roy Wood and the backing vocalists from Stockland Green School in the cold.

A reissue in 1983 took it to Number 23, and since downloads were included in the Official Singles Chart, it has broken back into the Top 40 six times – it hit Number 35 last year.

What's your fave Christmas classic? And did it chart as high as you think? Search our all-seeing, all-knowing database and all will be revealed.

Let us know what makes your bells jingle on Facebook and Twitter, using #XmasNo1 so we can see you!