Can a robot engineer a better Christmas chart topper than us?
Christmas is upon us; a time of food, singing, giving and well, more food. It is perhaps the most wonderful time of the year but before we get ahead of ourselves and start jingling our bells, let’s look into the burning question of which song will make it to Christmas number one this year.
Christmas related songs have jumped to the top post-millennium, which was Bob the Builder’s year, seeing ‘Can We Fix It?’ as that year’s Christmas number 1, (what were we doing that year?!). With music icons, cartoon characters, punk-rock disruptors, TV talent show winners, and all-star charity records each topping the Christmas charts, every year is as unpredictable as the last.
Now in the Christmas charts 70th year, we take a look at the big questions on everyone’s mind: how many Christmas related songs have made number one?, who has topped the Christmas number one charts the most? How can tech help create the perfect Christmas song? And just how did Bob the Builder beat both Madonna and Craig David to Christmas number one?
Contenders for 2021
With competition fiercer than ever, let’s take a look at the runners and riders. Ladbaby topped last year with ‘Don’t Stop Me Eating’ and ‘I Love Sausage Rolls’ the year before that. If he wins this year, he will make Christmas chart history with four years at number one consecutively. He currently has as many number ones as The Beatles and The Spice Girls, on three each.
Current contenders are Ed Sheeran and Elton John who released ‘Merry Christmas’ which has been number 1 for two weeks now. It being Elton John’s first-ever Christmas song with a very, ehm, inventive title name, can a classic Elton with a classic Christmas song be the one to knock sausage roll loving Ladbaby, off his streak?
Speaking of Christmas classics, Wham! are making a comeback with their ‘Last Christmas’ being the most streamed track of the Christmas week so far. As if George Ezra, with ‘Come on Home from Christmas’ currently on the move rising two places over the past week alone. In its 69 years we’ve seen the traditional, unpredictable, the crazy and the festive reach the top, so in the spirit of Christmas here are some awards we’d like to give out.
The award goes to …
The record for most held Christmas number 1’s: The Beatles with 3.
Longest distance in topping the chart and only song to make it twice by the same artist: Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rapsody, with 16 years apart!
First cartoon to top the chart: Bob the Builder, ‘Can We Fix It?’. Talk about new era!
Most repeated chart-topper with different artists: ‘DoT Know It’s Christmas?’ With three times at the top, Band Aid’s version became the biggest selling Christmas number 1 of all time.
The longest Christmas number one: Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’ (a whopping 6 minuets and 46 seconds!)
And lastly, the most weeks spent at number one, inclusive of Christmas: Sean Paul and Anne-Marie ‘Rockabye’ (9 weeks if you’re interested).
With only 7 of the previous 69 Christmas number one’s, having ‘Christmas’ in its name and only 12 of the songs related to Christmas at all, it’s still all up for grabs this year!
Has technology changed the way we listen?
So, where does the magic, creativeness and ingenuity of these songs come from? Well, a team of researchers called ‘Made by AI’ took a look into how to make the perfect Christmas song. Not through Christmas tree shopping, gingerbread house making or from driving home for Christmas; they took toartificial intelligence (very festive). They first began training the neutral network, by inputting top and catchy Christmas tunes into its system. Neutral networks are a type of programme that imitates the way the brain learns, so by presenting existing festive favourites the AI can come up with the perfect Christmas song… in theory.
The system, after recognising 100 Christmas songs, picked out recurring themes and rhythms to produce catchy classics with names such as ‘Cocoa Jollyfluff’, ‘Peaches Twinkleleaves and ‘Cinnamon Hollybells’. Now doesn’t that just scream Christmas?
Well, give it alisten. It maybe doesn’t provide classic festive cheer but might leave children screaming and send shivers up your spine… perhaps we’ll leave this one up to Ed and Elton.
This year the officially 2021 Christmas number one will be announced on Friday 24th December live on BBC Radio 1. We doubt it’ll be leading AI topping it this year, but keep your eyes peeled, who knows what’s in store for 2022.
