His last #1 was the 1985 holiday hit "Merry Christmas Everyone," which was the coveted "Christmas number one" that year. If there's one thing Brits love, it's the Christmas number one, which is the #1 song on the UK pop chart for the week in which Christmas Day falls. It's considered a little more prestigious than going to #1 on any other week of the year. Past Christmas number ones include all-time classics like The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1963), Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975 and 1991), Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (1979), "Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (1992), and the inimitable Bob the Builder's "Can We Fix It?" (2000).
As you might imagine, the Christmas number one has also included big holiday hits over the years. Among others, there was the glam Christmas number one race of 1973, when Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" beat out Wizzard's "I Wish It Would Be Christmas Everyday," and in 1984 and 1989, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was the Christmas number one (with Band Aid 20's version matching the feat in 2004).
Produced by Dave Edmunds (who himself had a Christmas number one with "I Hear You Knocking" in 1970), "Merry Christmas Everybody" is a poppy, cheery holiday tune. Stevens looks a little Joel Osteen-ish in the video, Santa appears to be played by David Cross (never mind that he would have only been like 21 at the time), arriving at Santa's workshop, where children and terrifying elf marionettes are making shitty wooden toys. But hey, everyone's happy, and that's all that matters.
With the advent (pun intended, motherfuckers!) of digital music sales and their inclusion in UK pop chart sales calculations beginning in 2007, many older holiday songs get boosted back onto the charts around Christmas, and "Merry Christmas Everyone" is no exception, charting on on the Christmas week UK pop chart every year since 2007, including reaching #6 both of the last two years.
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