The week before Christmas and it seems as though the festive top slots are all decided. The sales can’t quite compete with last week but then that’s no great surprise. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” holds the top slot with a further 567,000 copies sold to take its 2 week tally to an incredible 1,206,000 as it becomes the year’s fourth million seller and the 4th biggest selling single of the 80s already, selling at the rate it is it could easily become No 1 in the YTD list and the decade chart before the year is out!
Wham! Continue to play bridesmaid and aren’t disgracing themselves either, after registering the biggest sale for a No 2 single ever last week they sold a further 188,000 copies last week to bring their total to 536,000 and the song should overtake “Freedom” to be the duo’s best seller next week, though it may struggle to overtake “Careless Whisper” as Michael’s biggest seller.
Joining in the triple figure sales tallies are Paul McCartney who rises 4-3 (127,000) and Madonna writhes her way 5-4 (111,000)- all impressive figures and for the latter act the cream on the cake after “Like A Virgin” hits the No 1 spot stateside.
Four tracks are new in the top 10 in a hope to provide a shock to Band Aid, first up are punk survivors Toy Dolls who are best known for their more jocular take on the punk scene. They have a version of the Children’s classic “Nelly The Elephant” which was originally issued two years ago but failed to chart (though it became an Indie Chart No 1), but it now fares considerably better jumping 16-6 (78,000). The original dates back to 1956 and was originally produced by George Martin in his pre Beatles days.
Last Christmas saw the revival of the chart fortunes of Slade and this year it seems to be that other big star on the 70s Gary Glitter whose chart fortunes seems to have about faced. “Dance Me Up” was a No 25 hit for him earlier this year to become his highest placed single in 7 years, and now he does even better as “Another Rock N Roll Christmas” soars 22-7 (50,000) to become his biggest hit since he made No 6 in 1975 with “Doing Alright With The Boys”. The tracks come from the pen from Mike Leander who created many of Glitter’s 70s smashes.
Eyebrows were raised when Paul Young’s new single “Everything Must Change” entered at the lowly position of No 39 a few weeks ago but alarm over as the track powers 17-9 (44,000). Unlike previous singles this is the first to be composed in part by Young himself who has had vocal issues this year but whose new album is promised in early 1985.
It had to happen really, Black Lace’s “Do The Conga” completes its journey into the top 10 moving 13-10 (43,000) to become their third top 10 in just over a year. One suspects that with Office parties taking place this week this can only continue to rise for another week at least. Oh dear.
Nik Kershaw holds at No 8 though he gets a sales bump to 49,000 thanks to several TV shows this week but Frankie Goes To Hollywood can’t join in the sales boost as they tumble 3-5 (81,000).
https://forum.popjustice.com/thread...-by-week-1984-1985.38232/page-33#post-3626499