MEAU’s “Dat Heb Jij Gedaan” becomes the special Christmas Number 1 of 2021

Dutch indie-singer Meau brings home the most coveted chart Number 1 of the year – the special Christmas Number 1 of 2021, with her breakout smash “Dat Heb Jij Gedaan”. The Dutch ballad holds off competition from Kris Kross Amsterdam, Sam Fender and a string of Christmas songs. Within a few weeks, “Dat Heb Jij Gedaan” has become one of this year’s biggest songs, racking up over seventy streams to date. Meau joins several other artists across my chart history whose singles were already atop the chart before eventually earning the coveted Christmas Number 1; “Dilemma” by Nelly & Kelly, Take That’s comeback hit “Patience” and Dua Lipa’s best-seller “Don’t Start Now” come to mind. Meanwhile, Meau holds off competition from Antoon, Kris Kross Amsterdam and Sigourney K., who finish the race in second place with “Vluchtstrook”. Sigrid’s Christmas ballad “Home to You” finishes in third place, becoming the highest-charting Christmas single of this year.

This year welcomed a host of new contenders battling for the Christmas Number 1, while other seasonal classics made their usual re-appearance. Mariah Carey soars to fifth place with “All I Want For Christmas”, the song its highest peak since 2016. Mabel her cover of Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time” reaches a new peak at Number 7, becoming the British singer her fifteenth Top 10-hit. Elton John and Ed Sheeran their festive collaboration “Merry Christmas” jumps up to Number 8, while George Ezra his Amazon-exclusive “Come on Home for Christmas” peaks exactly at Number 10, becoming the singer his first Top 10-entry since the 2018-hit “Shotgun”. Ariana Grande her “Santa Tell Me” falls just short, stranding at Number 12 this year.

Other festive classics also jingle their way (back) into the Top 40. Band Aid’s 1984-classic “Do They Know It’s Christmas” re-enters the list at Number 21, the song its first appearance inside the Top 40 since 2007. The Voice-coach Kelly Clarkson also reappears with her modern classic “Underneath the Tree”, finishing at Number 30 this year. Camila Cabello debuts at Number 34 with her Amazon Original “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, which fuses the classic holiday sound and her signature Latin-sound.

Amongst all the Christmas chaos, 20-year-old newcomer Emmy Meli debuts with her breakout single “I Am Woman”. The California-singer’s single first went viral on TikTok, where it has received over 22 million views. Its message about female empowerment resonated with viewers and has led to international chart success. The single already broke the Top 40 in Australia and is slowly climbing the UK Official Charts and the Billboard Hot 100. On this chart, Emmy Meli debuts at Number 39; making it this week’s only non-Christmas debut.

For many fans of the official charts, the race for the annual Christmas Number 1 is often one of the most exciting times of the year. Recently, the Official UK Charts took a look at a selection of tracks that topped the Christmas chart week, so I have decided to do the same. The first ever Christmas Number 1 was claimed in 1995 by the Dutch girl group Linda, Roos & Jessica with “Ademnood”. The following year, the iconic Spice Girls debuted atop the chart with “2 Become 1”, which was the first of three consecutive Christmas 1s, followed by “Too Much” in 1997 and “Goodbye” in 1998. This rare streak has not been matched by any other act. Adele also notched up three Christmas Number 1-hits, but did not score them consecutively. “Make You Feel My Love”, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Hello” reigned the Christmas charts of 2008, 2010, and 2015 respectively. Dutch hit-singer Maan came close to equalling the Spice Girls’ streak, topping the Christmas chart of 2017 and 2018 with “Blijf Bij Mij” and “Hij Is Van Mij”, respectively.  The most-successful Christmas Number 1 of all time is Cheryl Cole her first solo single “Fight For This Love”, which topped the holiday chart in 2009. It went on to spend twelve weeks atop the list and became the second single in chart history to acquire diamond status. For a full list of all my personal Christmas Number 1s, check the list below this week’s special holiday chart.