Historical First As The Entire Aus Top 10 Goes Christmas

In fact 34 of the Top 50 entries this week are seasonal-singles, ranging from the 1940's to today, with the leader once again for a third consecutive week being Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You", which now racks up it's seventh overall week at the singles-summit in Australia. The song has now also become one of fifty songs to rack up seven weeks at #1 locally, while the song for Mariah also holds the lead in The U.S.A. (11th overall week) and Canada (6th overall stay), while it sits at #2 in England, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand. 

The new #1 single in New Zealand this week is "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for Brenda Lee, her third in that country, while here the song leaps five places to land at #2, giving the song it's highest ever chart placement in Australia, far surpassing its original #53 peak from 1960. The classic tune is also at #2 in both The U.S. and Canada, while its at #4 in England, #3 in Ireland and #5 in Germany, where their No.#1 track is our #3 non-mover for Wham! and their "Last Christmas", which has also now accumulated one-year of charting on the ARIA charts (52 weeks), while the song is also spending it's first ever week at the top in Ireland, plus it regains it's top-berth in both Germany and England for a third overall week in both markets, plus it also rises in New Zealand (4 to #3), The U.S.A. (6 to #5) and Canada (8 to #3). 

Michael Bublé is the only artist this week with two Top 10 entries, a first for his chart career which started here in 2004, as his annual returned track "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (HP-3) is up one spot to #4, it's fourth annual Top 5 berth, while he lands his third ever Top 10 entry as his rendition of "Holly Jolly Christmas" jumps fourteen places to land at a new peak of #7, having previously peaked at #19 in both 2019 and 2021, plus he also has the highest charted seasonal-album this week as his "Christmas" set rises to #2. 

Last Christmas Ariana Grande saw her Xmas-ode "Santa Tell Me" hit #5, well this year she gets the same present, as the song moves up three places to re-peak at #5 this year, plus the track is logging its fourth ever week within the Top 10 too. After which there are four songs which make their Top 10 debuts, one of which I mentioned earlier for Michael Buble. 

The classic 1958 Bobby Helms tune "Jingle Bell Rock" (HP-43, June 1958) had only ever climbed as high as #13 on the ARIA chart last season (Jan. 3rd, 2022), having appeared every year since 2018 (#58), 2019 (#41) and 2020 (#37), with the song this week rising eight places to land at #6, while this is now his second ever Top 10 placement in Australia, as his first single "My Special Angel" also hit #6 in March of 1958. 

Two songs from 1963 also land their first week's within the Top 10, as Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" jumps up seventeen spots to #8 (previously 2019 (#16), 2020 (#41), 2021 (#19)), becoming his first Top 10 placement in Australia since his 'Love Story' theme tune "(Where Do I Begin) Theme from Love Story" hit #5 in July of 1971 (51 and-a-half years ago), and overall this is his seventh Top 10 entry in Australia (6 AMR, 1 for ARIA). 

The Ronettes only ever had three singles chart in Australia in the 1960's, the biggest of which was their lead single "Be My Baby" (HP-24, late 1963), and now the girl-group lands their first ever Top 10 entry in Australia as their seasonal-song "Sleigh Ride" flies up eighteen places to land at #9, after which we see a return at #10 (up nineteen places from last week) for the Band Aid 30 edition of "Do They Know it's Christmas?", it's now third ever week within the Top 10, having first debuted and peaked at #3 in 2014, while a return in 2018 saw it climb to #8, after which it cracked the Top 20 each successive year; 2019 (#11), 2020 (#19) and 2021 (#14). 

MORE PRESENTS FOR XMAS:

With only Christmas songs rising this week, the UP section is also the Christmas section; so continuing the double-up-theme for this week we see a second (and original) rendition of "A Holly Jolly Christmas" for Burl Ives leap twenty-nine spots to land at a new peak of #11, having charted four of the five past years (2020 it didn't chart), giving the ARIA Charts the Top eleven Xmas tunes this week (and 17 out of the Top 20 too) {England, Ireland and New Zealand all have 18 out of Top 20, The USA 15 out of the Top 20, and Canada 14 out of the Top 20). 

Six of the seven Top 20 Xmas tunes scores new chart peaks this week, with the only one not doing so being the John Lennon and Yoko Ono track "Happy Xmas (War is Over)", which jumps up twenty-two spots to #14, one place lower than it's ARIA #13 peak from 2019 (it also hit #14 in 2018, #18 last year), with the song originally hitting #9 in February of 1973. 

Kelly Clarkson's "Underneath the Tree" climbs nine spots to a new chart height of #15, claiming it's first ever Top 20 berth, as last week and in 2021 it peaked at #24, followed by the highest charted Australian act this week in Sia with "Snowman", which rolls up seventeen spots to a new peak of #16 and only it's second time within the Top 20, having reached #17 in last year, after which is the second time within the Top 20 this week that the same song has placed, as earlier we saw "Holly Jolly Xmas" at #7 and #11, now there's "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!", the Frank Sinatra rendition blitzing up twenty-nine spots to a new chart height of #17 (former peak was #21 in 2019), followed by a twenty-five place leap to a new peak of #20 for the Dean Martin version, having only made it as high as #42 last year. 

But the biggest leap into the Top 20 this year is the Jose Feliciano 1970 song "Feliz Navidad", jumping thirty places to land at #19, nine places higher (#28) than it reached in 2021, and now eighty places higher (#99) than it achieved on it's initial chart run in early 1971. The track also rose to #21 in England, #11 in Ireland and Canada, plus #8 in New Zealand and The U.S.A.

Another track getting close to its former peak is the Justin Bieber song "Mistletoe", having first reached #20 on its original run in 2011, the song climbed to #23 last season, and this year it climbs thirteen places to land at #21. Nat King Cole is the second of three acts with multiple Xmas tunes within the Top 50 this week (Bublé and Elton John are the other two), as he sees two songs landing first time Top 50 placements on the ARIA chart (and his first entry since 1996), starting with a fifty place jump to #27 for "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" {1962} (#54 in 2021), while he also debuts at #50 with "Deck the Hall'' {1963}, both songs having never charted within the Top 50 previously.

That third dual-chart-occupant this week is Elton John (who actually has three Top 50 entries, two of which are Xmas tunes), with his current UK #3, Irish #4 and New Zealand #24 entry alongside Ed Sheeran with "Merry Christmas" (HP-10, 2021) moving back up here thirty-six places to #28, while Elton's 1973 song "Step into Christmas" lands it's highest chart position by rising fifty places to #37, surpassing the #40 peak it scored in 2021, having also charted in 2019 (#46) and 2018 (#44). 

In 2018 Chuck Berry's 1958 song "Run Rudolph Run" made it to #49, last year it climbed as high as #37, and now this year it lands within the Top 30 for the first time by flying up fifty-two spots to #29, a new peak for the song, which is followed two places lower by another new peak for Paul McCartney's 1979 song "Wonderful Christmastime" (#61 in 1979; #38 in 2021), which sees a forty-four place climb to #31 this season, while it's followed by a forty-eight place rise to #32 for The Jackson 5 rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (#30 in 2018; #43 in 2019 and #29 in 2021). 

The Chris Rea 1988 classic "Driving Home for Christmas" makes its second appearance on the chart, as last year it peaked at No.26, this year it sees a forty-eight place drive up the chart to park at No.35, while Shakin' Stevens' 1985 song "Merry Christmas Everyone" lands a fourth successive year of charting by rising forty-nine spots to #36 (#52 in 2019; #73 in 2020; #27 in 2021). The third song with dual editions inside the Top 50 this week is "Jingle Bell Rock", the other version being the 1983 cover by Hall & Oates, which this week is back up fifty-four spots to No.40 (#36 in 2019; #58 in 2020; #32 in 2021). 

The oldest song within the Top 50 this week is the 1942 Bing Crosby classic "White Christmas" (which also saw the same-titled movie it came from screen on TV just prior to Xmas), being the biggest climbing song of the week, up a massive seventy-two places from last week (LW-113) to sit at #41, it's first time within the ARIA Top 50, and only it's second ever chart week this century, as it hit #76 in 2021, while originally the song spent five months at No.1 from June to the end of October 1943 (23 weeks, second longest ever behind "Dance Monkey" at 24 weeks). 

A 70's and 80's Christmas tune both see returns to the Top 100 this week, as The Eagles' 1978 single "Please Come Home for Christmas" re-enters the chart at a new peak of #42 (#46 in 1978; #94 in 2018; #82 in 2019; #53 in 2021), giving the song it's first ever ARIA Top 50 appearance, and it's third Top 50 week overall (2 for AMR, 1 for ARIA), while the 1987 duet for The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl with "Fairytale of New York" returns to the chart at #45, another new peak, as the song peaked at #46 last year, while previously charting at #75 in 2020 and #49 in 2019 (it never charted prior to 2019). 

What's Christmas without Gravy, and Paul Kelly has delivered the recipe for his mixture for a sixth year in a row, as "How to Make Gravy" rises nine places to land at #47, having previously seen it charting in 2017 (#54), 2018 (#37), 2019 (#45), 2020 (#49) and it's highest placement was last year in 2021 when it went as high as #34. 

DOWN:

The sixteen remaining Top 50 entries that aren't Xmas tunes all dive down this week, but if there were no Christmas tunes within the chart this week, SZA would've scored her first No.1 single, as "Kill Bill" (HP-2, WI10-2) is the highest non-seasonal song this week, dropping down ten places to land at #12, followed by a nine place drop to #13 for "Unholy" (HP-1x5, WI10-13) by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, while Taylor's "Anti-Hero" (HP-1x6, WI10-9) tumbles twelve spots to land at #18, while she retains the #1 Albums spot with "Midnights" for an eight broken week.

The last two Top 10 dropouts for this week are "Made You Look" for Meghan Trainor (HP-3, WI10-6; 9 to #22) and "Miss You" (HP-4, WI10-8) for Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz, which falls thirteen places to land at #23. This is followed by the OneRepublic track "I Ain't Worried" and "I'm Good (Blue)" for David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, both falling twelve spots each to #24 and #25 respectively, after which there's by a fifteen place slide to #26 for "Escapism" for RAYE and 070 Shake, which should all rebound back up next week once the Xmasnami subsides.

Last week's highest entry for Central Cee and "Let Go" halves it's position this week by slipping down fifteen places to #30, while we also see seventeen place drops for "Creepin'" by Metro Boomin' with The Weeknd and 21 Savage along with "As it Was" for Harry Styles to #33 and #34 respectively, with the Glass Animals long-running single "Heat Waves" dropping eighteen places this week to perch at #38, it's lowest placing since first entering the Top 40 on January 4th, 2021. 

Elton's third Top 50 entry this week is his former No.1 duet with Dua Lipa and "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)", which drops down sixteen places to #44, while there are twenty-four place slumps for both "Bad Habit" by Steve Lacy (19 to #43) and "B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)" for Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal (22 to #46), while the biggest fall within the Top 50 this week is a thirty place slide down to #48 for the Drake and 21 Savage collaboration "Rich Flex".

NEW ENTRIES:

* #39 - Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys (Capitol) was originally released in 1963 with their rendition of "The Lord's Prayer" on the b-side, with this track now making its first ever chart appearance in Australia. It hits a new peak also this week in England (96 to #57), New Zealand (#39 debut), The U.S.A. (#30) and Canada (#35) (both a return to the chart at a new peak), while overall this becomes The Beach Boys' 38th Top 100 entry (since their first in 1962) and their first singles chart appearance in almost thirty years (last charted on Jan 31st, 1993). 

* #49 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love (EMI Blackwood/Sony) is now the second ever solo chart entry for the lead singer of 60's girl group The Crystals, with this 1963 track making it's first ever appearance on the chart as it flies up fifty-nine spots to score a Top 50 berth (LW-108). This new entry also becomes her first ever Top 50 placement in Australia, as her first (and only other) chart entry was with "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" (HP-78, June 1963), while this track is also rising in England (39 to #29, HP-22), Ireland (44 to a new peak of #27), The U.S.A. (25 to a new peak of #15) and Canada (returns at a new peak of #36). 

* #50 - Deck the Hall - Nat King Cole (Capitol) {see #27 above for details}

No new Certifications this week. 

HP = Highest Position

LW = Last Week

WI10 - Weeks in Top 10

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 23rd to the 29th of December 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.