You have to think big if you're going to get the biggest Number 1 of the year. You've got to be smart enough to both beat the competition and win over the great British public.
We look at past Number 1s and trends over the last 69 years of the Official Singles Chart to come up with these handy hints, just in case you fancy having a crack at the top of the tree… The rookie mistake many artists make is to assume all they have to do is release a Christmassy song – preferably with a seasonal title – and they're a shoo-in.
Wrong! Only six Christmas Number 1s have had the word "Christmas" in the title – seven including Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody – and three of those were actually the same song, Do They Know It's Christmas.
Read more on officialcharts.com