Martin Belam 

Quiz: how much can you remember about Christmas No 1s?

As a survey reveals people’s sketchy knowledge of festive chart-toppers, put your memory to the test
  
  

Noddy Holder of Slade
Noddy Holder of Slade gets in the festive mood. Photograph: Erica Echenberg/REDFERNS

The Christmas No 1 single used to be one of the music calendar’s highlights of the year, and something the whole music retail industry focused on, with the winning record ubiquitous throughout the festive season.

But a survey by StubHub has recently revealed that 95% of the British public cannot name a single Christmas No 1 from this decade. Can you believe that? We couldn’t, and we were sure that Guardian readers would have their finger on the pulse of popular culture, and would prove this wrong. So have a crack at our quiz, on Christmas No 1s through the years.

Remember, there are no prizes, it’s just for fun. Let us know in the comments how brilliantly you’ve got on.

The Guardian’s Christmas No 1 quiz

  1. Who was Christmas No 1 last year?

    1. Sweet But Psycho - Ava Max

    2. LadBaby - We Built This City

    3. All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

    4. Ariane Grande - Thank U Next

  2. What about the year before, who was Christmas No 1 in 2017?

    1. Big Shaq - Man's Not Hot

    2. Rita Ora - Anywhere

    3. Eminem ft Ed Sheeran - River

    4. Ed Sheeran - Perfect

  3. X Factor

    This X Factor winner had a Christmas No 1 this decade. Name her

    1. Grace Davies

    2. Saara Aalto

    3. Sam Bailey

    4. Louisa Johnson

  4. So, can you remember the Christmas No 1 from 2016 ?

    1. Matt Terry - When Christmas Comes Around

    2. Louis Tomlinson & Steve Aoki - Just Hold On

    3. Rae Sremmurd ft Gucci Mane - Black Beatles

    4. Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie - Rockabye

  5. Going back a bit now. Which band had three consecutive Christmas No 1 singles in the 1990s?

    1. Spice Girls

    2. Take That

    3. Westlife

    4. East 17

  6. Mr Blobby

    Mr Blobby inexplicably topped the Xmas chart in 1993. With which song?

    1. Mr Blobby

    2. The Blobby Song

    3. Blobby Blobby Blobby

    4. We Wish you a Blobby Christmas

  7. Feed The World

    The original Band Aid single came out in 1984. But which year was Band Aid II the Christmas No 1?

    1. 1988

    2. 1989

    3. 1994

    4. 2004

  8. An online campaign got which unexpected song to No 1 in 2009?

    1. Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench

    2. Pixies - Debaser

    3. Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days

    4. Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name

  9. The campaign was to stop X-Factor artists clogging up the charts. But which X-Factor artist was the first to have a Christmas No 1?

    1. Leona Lewis

    2. Shayne Ward

    3. Alexandra Burke

    4. Leon Jackson

  10. George Michael in the video for Wham!'s Last Christmas

    Which year was Wham!'s Last Christmas No 1?

    1. 1983

    2. 1984

    3. 1985

    4. It never was

  11. Michael Andrews and Gary Jules had a Christmas No 1 with their stripped back version of the Tears For Fears song Mad World. But which film soundtrack did it come from?

    1. Hannibal

    2. Ocean's Eleven

    3. Donnie Darko

    4. The Fast and the Furious

  12. Right, back to the present decade. In 2015, charity single A Bridge over You was Christmas number one. Who sang it?

    1. Military Wives with Gareth Malone

    2. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir

    3. The Justice Collective

    4. St Winifred's School Choir

  13. Ben Haenow was Christmas No 1 in 2014 with Something I Need. Can you pick him out of this line-up?

    1. X Factor

      This guy?

    2. X Factor

      This one?

    3. X Factor

      Him

    4. X Factor

      Or him?

  14. Now spot Matt Cardle, who had the Christmas No 1 in 2010

    1. X Factor

      Him?

    2. X Factor

      Him?

    3. X Factor

      This one?

    4. X Factor

      That one?

  15. The Beatles and a Snowman

    How many Christmas No 1s did The Beatles have?

    1. One

    2. Two

    3. Three

    4. Four

  16. Robbie Williams had a Christmas No 1 duetting with which famous Australian?

    1. Kylie Minogue

    2. Dannii Minogue

    3. Nicole Kidman

    4. Cate Blanchett

  17. In 1973 Slade and Wizzard competed against each other for the Christmas top spot. Who won?

    1. Slade

      Slade?

    2. Wizzard

      Wizzard?

  18. LadBaby

    LadBaby is attempting to repeat his Xmas No 1 feat this year. Which song has he ruined/improved* with sausage roll references this time around? [*Delete according to taste]

    1. AC/DC's Rock'n'Roll Ain't Noise Pollution as "Sausage Rolls Ain’t Food Pollution"

    2. Joan Jett's I Love Rock'n'Roll as "I Love Sausage Rolls"

    3. Oasis' Roll With It as "Sausage Roll With It"

    4. Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven as "Sausage Roll Over Beethoven"

Solutions

1:B - Re-themed to be about sausage rolls, and with all proceeds going to The Trussell Trust to fund food banks, LadBaby's cover of the Starship 'classic' topped the charts this time last year. In 2016 GQ magazine declared the original to be the worst song of all time, 2:D - Sheeran was at number one with Perfect, and his guest appearance with Eminem was a new entry in the charts that week at number two. Perfect, 3:C - Bailey was No 1 with Skyscraper in 2013 having won the TV show, 4:D - Rockabye stayed at No 1 for Christmas day having already topped the charts for the previous six weeks. Consistent., 5:A - The Spice Girls hogged the top spot in 96, 97 and 98 with 2 Become 1, Too Much and Goodbye respectively, 6:A - With a minimum amount of effort, the novelty single was simply given the same name as the 'hilarious' mischievous character. The 90s were weird like this to be honest, 7:B - Band Aid II topped the charts five years after the original had. Band Aid 20 repeated the feat in 2004. All of them somewhat patronisingly asking whether a continent that contains over 600 million Christians would know whether it was Christmas or not., 8:D - A Facebook campaign designed to prevent a fifth consecutive Christmas number one being the product of the X Factor TV show demonstrated that fuck you, the British people won't do what you tell them. Unless you tell them on Facebook to all buy the same song at Christmas, in which case we are down with that, 9:B - Ward was No 1 in 2005 with That's My Goal. Lewis, Jackon and Burke all topped the Christmas charts in the late noughties as well, 10:D - Last Christmas only reached number two - outsold by Band Aid's Do They Know Its Christmas, which the band also appeared on, 11:C - Yes it was the oddball science fiction psychological thriller with a big rabbit in it that spawned a Christmas No 1, 12:B - Three of these artists had Christmas No 1s this decade. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir topped the charts with A Bridge Over You in 2015. Military Wives with Gareth Malone were top in 2011 with Wherever You Are, and the Justice Collective took He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother to No 1 in 2012. St Winifred's School Choir topped the chart way back in 1980, 13:A - That's him. They definitely like a particular type on X Factor, don't they?, 14:C - Well done, this is Matt, 15:D - It was a fab four for the Fab Four. I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out and Hello Goodbye were all festive number ones for the band. Paul McCartney also had a Christmas number one with Wings in the shape of Mull of Kintyre, 16:C - Their cover of Somethin' Stupid was top spot in 2001, 17:A - Slade were the winners. Merry Xmas Everybody was No 1 at Christmas, while I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day stalled at number four, 18:B - It is Joan Jett who is the victim this year. Well her, and 70s rock band The Arrows who originally wrote and recorded it. And I guess Britney Spears, who also had a hit with it. LadBaby's version is all for a good cause though, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Scores

  1. 4 and above.

    Tried hard but could do better. Like most Xmas No 1s

  2. 8 and above.

    Excellent effort. You are obviously full of Christmas cheer

  3. 0 and above.

    Bah Humbug. What a Scrooge

  4. 15 and above.

    Great job. You will always be our Christmas No 1
 

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