Christmas Queen, Mariah Carey released her hit, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ back in 1994. That same year, English pop boy band East 17 released their ballad Stay Another Day.
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00:00Now, it seems as though two classic Christmas tunes could also be competing for Christmas
00:06number one this year, and it's not the first time they've battled against each other.
00:11Christmas queen Mariah Carey released her hit, All I Want for Christmas Is You, back
00:15in 1994.
00:16That same year, English pop boy band East 17 released their ballad, Stay Another Day.
00:23The tender tune was reportedly inspired by band member Tony Mortimer's grief after having
00:28sadly lost his brother to suicide.
00:30That year, East 17's tune claimed Christmas number one.
00:34This meant Mariah Carey's song settled at number two.
00:38Since then, All I Want for Christmas Is You did finally make it to number one in 2020.
00:43And so, this year, it seems like the two tunes could be in competition with each other once
00:47again.
00:48Mariah's chances have skyrocketed since the release of the Mariah Meets Ryland interview
00:53on BBC Two, and the release of new vinyl variants for her song.
00:57Similarly, a new vinyl release and East 17's appearance on the BBC I Play documentary,
01:03Stay Another Day, could boost the chances for the boy band.
01:07Talking to official charts, Tony Mortimer said,
01:10To be along those names, four little lads from Walthamstow.
01:13It's just surreal.
01:14Now, if we look back to the history of the Christmas number one, the tradition began
01:19back in 1952.
01:21Al Martino topped the charts with his ballad, Here in My Heart.
01:26This wasn't only the first ever Christmas number one, but in fact, also the first ever
01:30UK number one.
01:32And whilst we might expect Christmas hits to be filled with festive joy now, it's reported
01:37that Christmas number ones in the 1960s weren't actually that festive at all, with there having
01:43not been a supposedly Christmassy tune that topped the charts during that decade.
01:49The full chart for 2024 from Official Charts is set to be available online from 5.45pm
01:56on Friday 20th December.