Kylie Minogue has made history by landing the coveted Christmas Number One spot with ‘XMAS’.
Her eighth official UK Number One, it makes Kylie the only female solo artist to have topped the chart in four different decades – something only Elton John, Elvis Presley and Queen have previously done.
It follows on from her new Christmas album ‘Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped)’, a re-release of the original album on its 10th anniversary, which also topped the UK Albums Chart last week, and brings Kylie level with David Bowie, Eminem and Rod Stewart on 11 Number One albums.
Speaking about ‘XMAS’ hitting the top spot, Kylie has said: “It’s hard to put into words how special this feels. Being Christmas Number One really is the most wonderful gift! I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been listening and sharing the love and I’m wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!”
‘XMAS’ is also the first Amazon Music Original single ever to reach Number One, and Kylie recently spoke to NME about the track’s success. “It’s been amazing,” she said. “Like with all songs, once they go out into the world, all you want is for them to go out and have their own life. So now it’s pretty weird and amazing having people doing the ‘XMAS’ [dance on such a wide scale]. I think it’s going to follow me around forever!”
“I saw that a whole village in Devon made a video doing the ‘XMAS’ dance together,” she added. “It was like [CMAT’s] ‘the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker’ trend, and it made me very emotional. To see straight away that it has connected with people and that it means something to them… It’s amazing.”
Among the other contenders for Christmas Number One was ‘Lullaby’, a charity single from Together For Palestine that included contributions from Brian Eno, Celeste, Bastille‘s Dan Smith, Leigh-Anne and others. That track landed at Number Five.
Wham!’s ubiquitous ‘Last Christmas’ had topped the Christmas singles chart for the last two years, but just missed out this time around, landing at Number Two. Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’ and The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s ‘Fairytale Of New York’ also made the top six.
