Top 10 Christmas one-hit wonders: The wonders that have graced charts of Christmas past?

• Though many festive songs manage to return to the top of the UK charts, there are those earworms that only managed it once.
• So this Christmas, why not spare a few Spotify plays for these artists and their festive single entries?
• These are the top ten Christmas one-hit wonders, according to Spotify and Google search data.

Christmas - a time for giving to those in need, including those who released a Christmas single in the past to achieve success, only for it to be their “only” success.

While the likes of Wham! and Mariah Carey are still songs that managed to climb and place in the UK top 40, there are a series of memorable songs that managed to have an immediate effect upon release, only not to have that same commercial appeal that their subsequent singles have done.

A Christmas miracle on the UK charts, or a case of once again being caught up in the array of novelty songs that come out this time of year. What else could explain Mr. Blobby keeping a prime-era Take That off the top of the 1993 Christmas chart?

The team at Slingo decided to undertake the task, determining what songs of Christmas past are still considered, to this day, festive one-hit wonders.

The science part

To determine what song topped the one-hit wonder list, Slingo examined several one-hit wonder artists, comparing their big hits to their other popular tracks to determine whether they had continued success.

The team also took a deep dive into some well-known Christmas hits, which are widely regarded as one-hit wonders, and then used Spotify streams and Google search data to reveal which artists’ songs have remained popular globally.

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What are the biggest Christmas one-hit wonders?

Surprisingly - no Mariah Carey on the list, despite her appearance elsewhere on another list.

But instead, the classic “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms topped the chart, amassing a Spotify streaming total of 969 million streams, but no subsequent follow up song that came near the number of streams that festive song had.

“Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano came second, with the song earning 669 million streams while his nearest other hit only had 247 million streams, while controversially Band Aid’s “Do They Know It's Christmas?” came in third with 565.9 million streams. However, that is the original 1984 version - not the subsequent re-releases that came afterwards.

While the refrain “Stop the cavalry, stop the cavalry” has become iconic and is instantly recognizable, Jona Lewie’s song of the same name came in fourth with 90 million streams, with the next closest song to that amount only had 11 million, and rounding out the top five was Gayla Peevey and her unusual (and risky) request, “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas.”

The top ten Christmas one-hit wonders

1. Bobby Helms - “Jingle Bell Rock”
2. Jose Feliciano - “Feliz Navidad”
3. Band Aid - “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
4. Jona Lewie - “Stop The Cavalry”
5. Gayla Peevey - “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas”
6. The Waitresses - “Christmas Wrapping”
7. NewSong - “The Christmas Shoes”
8. Peter Auty - “Walking in the Air”
9. Bo Selecta! - “Proper Crimbo!”
10. Aled Jones - “Walking in the Air”

Did you buy any of the songs that are featured on the list, or are they still songs that you add to your Christmas playlist? Let us know your favourite Christmas one-hit wonder by leaving a comment down below.