The full festive 2011 albums and singles round up

The Christmas 2011 Official Singles Chart is likely to go down in history as the ‘People power chart’, as the UK public have evidently exercised their passion and voting power with their wallets.

After Military Wives became the 60th Official Christmas Number 1 of all time earlier this afternoon and claimed the first ever Official Singles Chart Number 1 Award, Lou Monte’s Dominick The Donkey (3) – a track which has been championed by BBC Radio 1’s Chris Moyles Breakfast Show, has clip-clopped all the way into the Top 5, shifting nearly 93,000 copies. Originally released in 1960, the song has never charted in the UK before today, that’s a whole 51 years later. 

Chris Moyles told www.theofficialcharts.com: 'We've been playing Dominick the Donkey on our show every Christmas for years - our listeners love it!  I'm so excited that it's made it into the charts  - consider it my Christmas present to the nation! But don't blame me if you hear it every Christmas from now on...'

Alex Day (4) is a YouTube musician and blogging phenomenon who, though unsigned, has managed to build a fan base to the tune of half a million YouTube subscribers, and has nearly notched up an astonishing 70 million video views on YouTube to date.  Oh, and he has also gate-crashed this week’s Official Singles Top 5 with self-released single Forever Yours.

Marketing the single to his social media fan base, Alex has watched the sales rack up to nearly 53,000 units this week.  The video for the single has scored over 2.5m hits already, all without the backing of a record label. His channel is currently achieving more hits per day and growing at a faster rate than Lady Gaga’s official YouTube channel

Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company commented on Alex’s chart entry: “The week before Christmas is always an incredibly competitive sales week, so for Alex to make such a big impact in the Top 10 without the support of a traditional record label (big or small) is truly impressive.  

Forever Yours is certainly one of the most successful self-released tracks we have ever seen, the Official Charts are based on sales, and sales alone, so Alex’s achievements this week are a genuine reflection of the passion of his army of fans, and of course, the power of social media.  His success is why the Official Singles Chart truly is “the people’s chart”.

Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit (11) – The Facebook-driven attempt to repeat the Rage Against the Machine success of 2009, this week lands at Number 11, with sales of over 30,000 copies.  The campaign is in support of children’s charity Rhythmix and is even receiving the backing of the Rage Against The Machine campaign orchestrator Jon Morter.

Also commenting on this week’s ‘people power’ chart, Martin Talbot says: “All these campaign records demonstrate comprehensively, at the start of its 60th year, that it is not hype, marketing or promotion which decides what records will hit the Official Singles Chart – but the choices of the great British public.”

To see the full Official Singles Chart, click here.

Official Albums Chart: Michael Buble’s crowned king of Christmas

Another strong week of sales for Michael Buble, the Canadian crooner is now crowned king of Christmas 2011, with his festive release, Christmas holding solidly in the top spot for a second week running, three weeks non-consecutively.   

After last week shifting a staggering 269,000 copies to score the biggest weekly sales of any album this year, it appears that Christmas shoppers have been out in force yet again this week to scoop up another 317,000 copies. 

Michael Buble’s Christmas has this week become the fourth album of 2011 to pass the 1 million sales threshold to also become the biggest seller of December. His closest rival is the posthumous release of Amy Winehouse’s final recordings (2), alongside albums by Olly Murs, Coldplay and the Now! 80 compilation. Christmas spends its ninth week in the Official Albums Chart, having never left the Top 5 since release.

Buble comments “I’m absolutely thrilled to be Christmas Number 1.  The UK is one of my faviourite places to visit and it’s a real honour to have my record in so many fans’ homes this Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone!”

Christian Tattersfield, CEO, Warner Music UK & Chairman, Warner Brothers Records UK added: “Christmas Number 1 and over a million albums sold in two months, further proof that Michael Buble is a unique superstar.  Her is an extraordinary entertainer who has made one of the definitive Christmas records which will be enjoyed for years to come.”

To see the full Official Albums Chart, click here.