Following the biggest Christmas take-over of all time, Sabrina Carpenter takes home the Christmas Number 1 of 2024

After an insanely successful 2024, Sabrina Carpenter proves she is the currently reigning queen of pop as “A Nonsense Christmas” soars up fourteen places to Number 1, earning the Christmas Number 1 of 2024, one my chart’s most prestigious honours. To think that this time last year, she was struggling to even get a Top 20-peak is unimaginable. “A Nonsense Christmas” marks Sabrina Carpenter her fourth consecutive Number 1-smash hit, following the back-to-back multi-platinum successes of “Espresso”, “Please, Please, Please” and “Taste”. She now becomes the second ever act to score four Number 1s in one calendar year, joining the Spice Girls who accomplished this feat back in 1997. She isn’t the best-scoring artist of 2024 for nothing, of course. Meanwhile, “A Nonsense Christmas” is the second Xmas song to peak at Number 1, following last year’s “ It’s Beginning to Look...” by Michael Bublé. She is also the first American female solo artist to take home the Christmas Number 1 since Taylor Swift with “Blank Space” exactly ten years ago. In her battle towards the top, Sabrina Carpenter manages to pull ahead of other holiday hits, Sam Fender and Gracie Abrams.

Meanwhile, an all-time number of Christmas songs take over the Top 10, superseding last year’s take-over. Michael Bublé lands at #2 with his festive “It’s Beginning to Look...”, nearly topping this chart again. Sam Fender only barely manages to hold onto his #3-postion, immediatelly followed by Perrie’s new “Christmas Magic”, which finishes as the highest-peaking new Christmas song released this year. Perrie caps off a successful debut year as a solo artist. Ariana Grande also celebrates another big year on the charts, after having scored two Top 2-hits, peaking at #5 with her modern classic “Santa Tell Me”, possibly boosted by Wicked its success. Kelly Clarkson reaches a brand new peak position with “Underneath the Tree”, peaking at #6 for the very first time, nearly eleven years after its chart debut. It is quickly followed by the classic “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey at #7 and Band Aid’s charity hit “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Yade Lauren proves a Christmas single can also be a club-ready dancefloor filler with her “Hitte in de Winternacht”, which soars up to #9 this week. Its trap-infused rhythm is very much up Yade Lauren’s alley, yet it feels warm and Christmas-y as well. With a new #9-peak, “Hitte in de Winternacht” is the first ever Dutch Christmas song to reach my personal Top 10. Previous Dutch artists have come close, such as Ch!pz or Emma Heesters, but they fell just short during the holiday takeover. Yade Lauren has had an interesting career so far, beginning small on YouTube posting covers. She was then approached by DJs Yellow Claw and scored a big international Top 40-hit. She then switched to Dutch, releasing the critically “Papa”, and collaborating with big household names. On this chart, though, most singles fail to climb any higher than the Top 30. “Hitte in de Winternacht” becomes her third Top 10-hit on this chart, being preceded by “Als Ik Je Niet Zie” and the solo hit “In De Nacht”.

Further down, Wham! reach an all-time high at #11 with their festive classic “Last Christmas”, while Kylie Minogue her “Santa Baby” also reaches a brand new peak up at #15 in its second charting year. Justin Bieber peeps around the cornet at #20 with his old school “Mistletoe”, nearly equaling last year its performance. In absence of any new charting hits, Norwegian pop star Sigrid also makes a return to my chart with “Home to You”, re-entering at #25 this week. Tom Grennan makes the only debut of the week with “It Can’t Be Christmas” at #27. It’s been a serious contender for the Official UK Christmas Number 1. On this list, Tom Grennan has enjoyed charting success with Top 10-hits such as “Little Bit of Love” or “Lionheart (Fearless)”, but his previous solo singles failed to reach my Top 40, so this is a nice comeback just in time for the holidays.

To celebrate a new Christmas Number 1, I have decided to list all the festive chart-toppers on my own chart since 1995. The very first holiday Number 1 was “Ademnood” by Dutch girl group Linda, Roos & Jessica, which still ranks as a 90s classic and one of the highest-scoring Dutch songs of all time. In the next three years, the Spice Girls took over and scored the Christmas Number 1 thrice back-to-back with “2 Become 1”, “Too Much” and “Goodbye”. Only two other artists managed to score this special Number 1 three times as well, namely Adele and Maan, yet they did not earn them consecutively. The highest-scoring Christmas Number 1 of all time is Cheryl’s diamond-certified “Fight For This Love” in 2009, which was released just in time for the holiday period and boosted by Cheryl’s tenure on The X Factor. Male artists, funnily enough, do very poorly when it comes to the Christmas Number 1 with only Michael Bublé and Robbie Williams managing to earn one on their own. Nothing will beat a girl group though, with the Sugababes, Little Mix and Girls Aloud all earning one during their heyday.

List of Christmas Number 1s

• 2024: “A Nonsense Christmas” – Sabrina Carpenter

• 2023: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” – Michael Bublé

• 2022: “Stiekem” – Maan & Goldband

• 2021: “Dat Heb Jij Gedaan” – MEAU

• 2020: “Nu Wij Niet Meer Praten” – Jaap Reesema & Pommelien Thijs

• 2019: “Don’t Start Now” – Dua Lipa

• 2018: “Hij Is Van Mij” – Kris Kross Amsterdam, Maan, Tabitha & Bizzey

• 2017: “Blijf Bij Mij” – Ronnie Flex & Maan

• 2016: “Touch” – Little Mix

• 2015: “Hello” – Adele

• 2014: “Blank Space” – Taylor Swift

• 2013: “Story of My Life” – One Direction

• 2012: “Troublemaker” – Olly Murs, Flo Rida

• 2011: “People Help the People” – Birdy

• 2010: “Rolling in the Deep” – Adele

• 2009: “Fight For This Love” – Cheryl Cole

• 2008: “Make You Feel My Love” – Adele

• 2007: “Valerie” – Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse

• 2006: “Patience” – Take That

• 2005: “Ugly” – Sugababes

• 2004: “1001 Arabian Nights” – Ch!pz

• 2003: “Jump” – Girls Aloud

• 2002: “Dilemma” – Nelly & Kelly Rowland

• 2001: “Something Stupid” – Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman

• 2000: “My Love” – Westlife

• 1999: “She’s the One” – Robbie Williams

• 1998: “Goodbye” – Spice Girls

• 1997: “Too Much” – Spice Girls

• 1996: “2 Become 1” – Spice Girls

• 1995: “Ademnood” – Linda, Roos & Jessica