Which Pink Floyd song got to Christmas number one?
In the UK, the Christmas number one is a coveted achievement. Each year, bands and singers clamour to top the charts over the festive period, hoping to soundtrack Christmas dinners up and down the country. The history of the Christmas number one is a long and winding one, with talent show winners, LadBabies, and giant pink and yellow blobs all taking home the honour, as well as some of the most acclaimed artists in history.
Falling into the latter category are Pink Floyd. The London-born rockers spent the 1970s pushing the boundaries of the genre with all-time great albums like The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. Although they made six chart-topping albums over the course of their career, Pink Floyd only went to the top of the charts with a single once, and it just so happened to be over Christmas.
In the winter of 1979, just ahead of the release of The Wall, Pink Floyd shared their lead single for the record, ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2’. Penned by Roger Waters, the track took aim at the schooling system, repeatedly declaring, “Leave them kids alone!” over a gorgeous collection of guitars, a bouncy bassline and the odd synthesiser.
“You couldn’t find anybody in the world more pro-education than me,” Waters once shared with Mojo while discussing the meaning of the track, “But the education I went through in boys’ grammar school in the ‘50s was very controlling and demanded rebellion… The song is meant to be a rebellion against errant government, against people who have power over you, who are wrong…”
When it was released on November 30th, 1979, the song immediately captured audiences, who sent it to the top of the charts. ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2’ would mark Pink Floyd’s first and only number one, taking the top spot at the beginning of December in 1979. It maintained this position for over a month, spending five months at number one, including the week of Christmas.
The track was only knocked off the top spot at the beginning of 1980 when the Pretenders topped the chart with ‘Brass in Pocket’ in late January. The following year, it was the St Winifred’s School Choir who achieved the Christmas number-one with ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’.
What was the last Christmas number one?
Last year, Wham! topped the charts during the festive season with their iconic track ‘Last Christmas’. The synth-driven song was first released in 1984 and has since become a Christmas staple, but it never quite attained the number-one spot in the UK charts. It was Band-Aid who took home the title in 1984 with ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
Decades later, Wham! finally achieved their goal with the song. “George would be beside himself that, after all these years, we’ve finally obtained Christmas Number 1,” Wham! Member Andrew Ridgeley shared with the Official Charts at the time, “George said that he wrote ‘Last Christmas’ with the intention of writing a Christmas Number 1 – it’s mission accomplished!”
Other artists who have achieved the festive feat include Queen with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Rage Against the Machine with ‘Killing in the Name’ and The Beatles, who topped the chart for three years running in the early 1960s. This year, the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift have all been storming the charts, but Christmas number one is unpredictable.
