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The Week in Number Ones: ‘Three Lions’, Christmas, and Eminem rule the charts

Thu 1 December 2022 7:30, UK

Welcome back to The Week in Number Ones, where all the biggest movers from the US and UK charts get condensed into one article. Last week, we put nostalgia firmly in our sights as we took a look at three different takes on the concept.

First up, we had Meghan Trainor returning to the sound that she was most known for on her most recent single, ‘Made You Look’. Elsewhere, The Weeknd scores a better-late-than-never chart run with the years-old single ‘Die For You’. Finally, we had a look at 50-year-old Chuck Berry scoring his first number one in both the US and UK with the novelty song ‘My Ding-a-Ling’.

Speaking of nostalgia, we’re coming up on the end of the year, which means it’s going to be time to round up 2022 and all its hit singles. What was your favourite number one of the year? Are you still listening to ‘As It Was’? Did anything boggle your mind the way an entire cast of a movie scored a number one hit with ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’? Did you forget that ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ was this year?

This week, we dig into the curious history of England’s constantly rehashed theme song for their World Cup dreams, ‘Three Lions’. We also brace ourselves for the overtake of Christmas music on the charts and look back at when Eminem officially jumped from controversial rapper to mainstream hitmaker with ‘Lose Yourself’. All that and more as we round up the best chart news of the modern-day and recent past.

Current UK Number One: ‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift

It’s World Cup season again, and if you happen to live in England, that means you have another powerhouse team that could theoretically take home the top prize. But what good is a team without a theme song? Thankfully, the English have one song that returns time and again to soundtrack each year’s run at the solid gold trophy: The Lightning Seeds’ ‘Three Lions’.

‘Three Lions’ was actually first conceived for the 1996 UEFA European Championship, but since then, pretty much every major English football run has had the song behind it. The Football Association asked Lightning Seeds leader Ian Broudie to compose a song for the squad, but Broudie decided to bring in two ringers to write the lyrics, comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel, who presented the BBC football comedy show Fantasy Football League.

Skinner and Baddiel tapped into a uniquely English view of football: losing is just a part of the game. And boy have England lost ever since ‘Three Lions’ became the official rallying cry. 1996 was a wash, as was the 1998 World Cup campaign. In fact, every World Cup and Euro tournament since the song’s release has seen England on the losing end.

That hasn’t stopped ‘Three Lions’ from becoming an iconic part of cheering for the titular squad. And don’t worry, there’s a new version of the song with updated lyrics relating to the 2022 team. It’s not a football season without ‘Three Lions’, the one song where losing only makes it more beloved.

UK Singles Top Ten (Week of November 30th, 2022):

‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift
‘Unholy’ – Sam Smith & Kim Petras
‘Made You Look’ – Meghan Trainor
‘Miss You’ – Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz
‘Messy In Heaven’ – Venbee & Goddard
‘Psycho’ – Anne-Marie and Aitch
‘Rich Flex’ – Drake & 21 Savage
‘Hide & Seek’ – Stormzy
‘Rocket Science’ – Clavish ft. D-Block Europe
‘Calm Down’ – Rema

Current US Number One: ‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift

Wait… you smell that? A scent of pine? The cool whisp of air? A palpable sense of dread? No, you’re not dreaming: it’s officially the Christmas season. The US charts are wasting no time embracing the holidays, with four different Christmas songs invading the top ten before we’ve even officially landed in December.

So, it’s officially time to take sides and declare allegiances as the Christmas music apocalypse officially descends on the charts. If you shack up with Mariah Carey, not only have I lost all respect for you as a human being with ears, but I also don’t believe you actually like ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. Maybe you’ll want to hedge your bets and line up with the king of Christmas tunes, Burl Ives. Perhaps you’re more of a ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ kind of person.

Me? I’m going with the one Christmas song that always invades that top ten that I can actually stomach. In fact, it’s a song I actually, genuinely, truthfully enjoy every season – ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ by Brenda Lee. It might sound crazy, but I always sensed just a twinge of early rock ‘n roll in Lee’s Xmas classic, something that gets drowned out by schlock in most yuletide tunes.

Whereas most Christmas songs have been stale for years, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ has an evergreen feeling to it. Maybe I’m just getting a bit of that sentimental feeling myself, but if I had to go to war and only had one Christmas song to have my back, I’m going with four-foot-nine Brenda Lee to protect me at all costs. It won’t beat out Carey for the number one spot, but a boy can dream.

Billboard Top Ten Singles (Week of December 3rd, 2022):

‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift
‘Rich Flex’ – Drake & 21 Savage
‘Unholy’ – Sam Smith & Kim Petras
‘Bad Habit’ – Steve Lacy
‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ – Mariah Carey
‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ – Brenda Lee
‘I’m Good (Blue)’ – David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
‘As It Was’ – Harry Styles
‘Jingle Bell Rock’ – Bobby Helms
‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’ – Burl Ives

This Week in Number Ones: ‘Lose Yourself’ – Eminem (#1 on the Billboard Hot 100, November 30th, 2002)

Eminem was a menace to society. It seems quaint, even illogical, to have that stance today, but in the late 1990s, no artist was as controversial and dangerous as Marshall Mathers was.

It’s not hard to see why either: Eminem rapped openly about violence, drug use, obsession, murderous thoughts, serial killers, misogyny, media perception, and other taboo subjects. That had been the norm in hip hop for years, but once Midwestern parents saw a white boy doing it, all of a sudden there was need to panic and protect children.

By 2002, Eminem was making the full leap from notorious boogieman to mainstream star. 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP did wonders to elevate the rapper to critical acclaim, and a new acting turn in a biographical movie based on his life, 8 Mile, was sure to solidify his legitimacy. It didn’t hurt that Eminem had a song explicitly about rising above adversity and gaining respect at the heart of the film: ‘Lose Yourself’.

Should we talk about “mom’s spaghetti?” I don’t really want to talk about “mom’s spaghetti”. OK, a quick aside about “mom’s spaghetti”: so many artists have no idea how to handle memes. They either try to ignore them and get annoyed by them, or they lean too heavily into them, thinking that they’re in on the joke. Eminem made a restaurant out of his meme. That’s genius. That’s also all I want to say about “mom’s spaghetti”.

‘Lose Yourself’ serves many purposes. It’s the perfect summation of 8 Mile for anyone who is too lazy to see it. It’s a great real-world summation of Eminem’s early fight to rise above mediocrity in Detroit. It’s the ideal gym song. It’s the go-to pump-up song. It might not be the best song for everything, but ‘Lose Yourself’ does have a remarkable ability to be the perfect accompaniment for just about anything.

If all Eminem was looking to do with ‘Lose Yourself’ was validate himself as a top-tier rapper, then it was mission accomplished. What he actually did was give him a song that could follow him for the rest of his life. ‘My Name Is’ is too infantile and, ‘Stan’ is too dark, and ‘Not Afraid’ is too cheesy. ‘Lose Yourself’ is perfectly pitched to keep legitimizing Eminem again and again.

Billboard Top Ten Singles (Week of November 30th, 2002):

‘Lose Yourself’ – Eminem
‘Dilemma’ – Nelly Featuring Kelly Rowland
‘Work It’ – Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott
‘Hey Ma’ – Cam’Ron Featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey & Toya
‘A Moment Like This’ – Kelly Clarkson
‘Underneath It All’ – No Doubt Featuring Lady Saw
‘Luv U Better’ – LL Cool J
‘Die Another Day’ – Madonna
‘The Game Of Love’ – Santana Featuring Michelle Branch
‘Gangsta Lovin” – Eve Featuring Alicia Keys

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