In a long and hugely successful chart career, Kylie Minogue has now landed her first ever Christmas No.1 single with XMAS (Rhino), an Amazon exclusive.
It follows the chart-topping result last week for the reissued Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) album. XMAS is also the first festive No.1 single for Warner Music’s catalogue label Rhino (XMAS is a new recording first conceived for the Christmas album a decade earlier).
XMAS moved 16-1 with a consumption increase of 154.8% week-on-week with 55,926 units. With a healthy mixture across physical (14.1%), downloads (18.4%) and streams (67.5%), it finished more than 9,000 units ahead of Wham!’s Last Christmas (46,616).
With Wham! taking the Christmas No.1 for the last two years, the impressive Kylie campaign from Rhino and Amazon Music made for a genuine chart battle this time. It was also undoubtedly helped by Minogue’s YMCA-style dance for XMAS.
Technically, Wham! had more streams based on the raw data, but chart rules require double the volume for catalogue (as well as tracks that have been in decline for a number of weeks). Kylie also had the benefit of strong downloads and physical sales in addition to around 4.5 million weekly streams.
The campaign was boosted in the final week with media appearances including Strictly Come Dancing and the release of a suitably festive video on YouTube. But the song was otherwise only available on Amazon Music – with strong support on festive playlists via Alexa on smart speakers – and Amazon exclusive physical editions of the single and Kylie Christmas Fully Wrapped album.
XMAS has reached No.1 37 years after Minogue made her chart debut with I Should Be So Lucky. The festive hit is Minogue’s eighth No.1 single in total.
In securing the Christmas No.1, Kylie Minogue becomes the first female artist to boast UK No.1 singles across four different decades – the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2020s.
She has surpassed Lady Gaga, Madonna and Mariah Carey, who have all topped the singles chart across three decades. Elvis Presley, Elton John and Queen have also managed four decades, while Cliff Richard has had No.1 singles spanning five decades.
Click here to read our Amazon Music interview on the XMAS campaign.
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