Boybands, Girl Bands, Festive Collaborators, And Solo Artists: Songs From The Screen That Made It To The Christmas Number One!

Every December, the race is on to secure the coveted Christmas Number 1 spot. Boybands, girl bands, festive collaborators, and solo artists all compete to have their song of the season in the number one place for Christmas Day. But over the years, there have been several films which have spawned songs that have made it to number one. Who will take each year's position is a subject of big speculation.

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This feeling of excitement coupled with festive cheer leads to a big spike in bets being noted at bookies. As Christmas draws closer betting sites and online platforms are busy setting the new Christmas number one odds as people rush to bet on which song will come out on top. This surge in so-called “novelty bets” is often due to people hoping to gain a bit of extra cash for the festive season, as well as get in the Christmas mood.

Classics like The Sugababes 'Too Lost in You" from Love Actually, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" from the film of the same name, and Aled Jone's "Walking in the Air" from The Snowman, all have a special place in our hearts but didn't even make it to the coveted spot.

Let's take a look at some of those that succeeded, and some of those who failed and disappeared without a trace!

Donnie Darko

The 2001 psychological thriller that delighted a generation of emo kids, Donnie Darko had an unlikely Christmas number one two years after its release. A cover of "Mad World" by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules hit the number one spot in December 2003, beating the bookie's odds and leaving The Darkness "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)" in second place. A seemingly glum choice for a festive tune, it managed only one week at the top.

The Bodyguard

The Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner led to the release of the soundtrack, Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You". The song was a huge hit in 1992 and holds the world record for the best-selling single by a woman in the history of music. It spent 10 weeks at number one in the UK and re-entered the charts in 2012 after her death.

Poke-no

In 2011 a campaign started to get the Pokémon theme to number one, following the death of franchise creator Takeshi Shudo. While the show has a huge cult following all over the world, the attempt was futile, and the Facebook campaign got only 800 likes.

Star Wars fail

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Last but not least, let’s talk about that time that the Star Wars theme was pipped for number one in 2015. Arguably, Star Wars has one of the biggest cult followings in the world, for example, do you remember when people started putting ‘Jedi’ as their religion on the UK census? This widespread love for the movie franchise wasn’t quite enough to help them. It ranked outside of the top 100 and the NHS Choir toppled Justin Bieber and secured the spot with their song “A Bridge Over You”.

As for this year, top contenders include Liam Gallagher, Robbie Williams, and Jess Glynne with not a single movie soundtrack to be seen as a possible contender.