Christmas Number One

If you're reading this blog, this probably at least sounds familiar: the Christmas Number One.

It's the top single in the UK for the week before Christmas. They've been naming it since the 50s.

Yes, this is a thing. In fact, it's a major part of the plot of Love, Actually. You know, Bill Nighy plays and aging rocker who re-records his hit, "Love is All Around" as "Christmas is All Around" in the effort of getting the Christmas Number One. Fact is, that is the kind of fare you can expect for the Number One.

The list of winners is a strange, strange list. It can be Christmas song, but certainly doesn't have to be. Everyone from Al Martino to the Beatles have been on it. Of course, the Fab Four have been on it more than anyone (three years in a row during the mid-60s). For the last several years, it's been mostly X-Factor winners. Sometimes the song is a comment on a previous Number One: I think "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has won two or three times. Sometimes, there are exciting letter-writing campaigns (now Facebook campaigns) ... last year, fans made sure Rage Against the Machine won for "Killing in the Name," even though that song is nearly a decade old.

This year, the honor goes to Matt Cardle, a Factor alum, with "When We Collide." That song is taken from "Many a Horror" by Biffy Clyro.

You know, the UK really is another country (as evidenced by almost everything in that last paragraph), even though they import all kinds of stuff from here. The amazing thing is that Brits have these little things that bond them. Apparently, people around the country used to arrange their Christmas dinners around the Top of the Pops special that highlighted the Number One, which in turn, aired right before the Queen's Christmas message.

That the kind of thing that unites a people. I can't think of anything like that in America. The Super Bowl? Sport doesn't count. Elections? I really can't think of anything.

Now I just have to find somewhere to download Matt Cardle's song. Believe it or not, iTunes only had the karaoke version.