82-639: In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs , charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme . Historically, the volume of record sales in the UK has peaked at Christmas. The Christmas number one is considered especially prestigious, more so than any other time of year. Christmas number-one singles have often also been
164-489: A gimmick , a piece of humor , or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs , which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody , especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of
246-535: A "single album" would otherwise be called a "single" or "extended play", depending on the length. As a distinct release type, the single album developed during the CD era in the 1990s. Single albums were marketed as a more affordable alternative to a full-length CD album. The Circle Album Chart tracks sales of all albums released as physical media (described as "offline" media), therefore, single albums compete alongside full-length studio albums (LPs) and mini-albums (EPs) on
328-470: A 46:1 gear ratio, resulting in a rotation speed of 78.3 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium. The three-minute single remained the standard into the 1960s, when the availability of microgroove recording and improved mastering techniques enabled recording artists to increase the duration of their recorded songs. The breakthrough came with Bob Dylan 's " Like
410-415: A Rolling Stone " in 1965: although Columbia Records tried to make the record more "radio-friendly" by cutting the performance into halves and separating them between the two sides of the disc , both Dylan and his fans demanded that the full six-minute take be placed on one side and that radio stations play the song in its entirety. The next milestone, which cemented pop radio's tolerance for longer songs,
492-561: A Tax on All the Beautiful Girls"; and invocations of foreign lands with emphasis on general feel of exoticism rather than geographic or anthropological accuracy, such as " Oh By Jingo! ", " The Sheik of Araby ", and "The Yodeling Chinaman". These songs were perfect for the medium of Vaudeville , and performers such as Eddie Cantor and Sophie Tucker became well known for such songs. Zez Confrey 's 1920s instrumental compositions, which involved gimmicky approaches (such as "Kitten on
574-403: A display such as a television set . The most common form of the vinyl single is the 45 or 7-inch . The names are derived from its play speed, 45 rpm, and the standard diameter, 7 inches (17.8 cm). The 45 rpm speed was chosen to allow a 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 minute playing time from the 7-inch disc. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released March 31, 1949, by RCA Victor as
656-437: A foundation to sustain" and added that "When artists have one big record and go run with that, it doesn't work because they never had a foundation to begin with." The same article cited examples such as Cardi B , Camila Cabello and Jason Derulo releasing four or more singles prior to their album releases. Kanye West released singles weekly in 2010 with his GOOD Fridays series. He did this to support his upcoming release at
738-401: A large-hole record on a player with a quarter-inch spindle by inserting a single "puck" or by using a spindle adapter . Although 7 inches remained the standard size for vinyl singles, 12-inch singles were introduced for use by DJs in discos in the 1970s. The longer playing time of these singles allowed the inclusion of extended dance mixes of tracks. In addition, the larger surface area of
820-460: A major marketing mistake on the part of record companies, as it eliminated an inexpensive recording format for young fans to become accustomed to purchasing music. In its place was the predominance of the album, which alienated customers by the expense of purchasing a longer format for only one or two songs of interest. That in turn encouraged interest in file sharing software on the internet like Napster for single recordings, which began to undercut
902-457: A new audience online; the hit song " The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) " by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis was featured on the kids compilation album So Fresh Pop Party 13 in 2014. Likewise, rapper Big Shaq 's 2017 hit " Man's Not Hot ", which depicts a man who refuses to take off his jacket, received widespread attention and inspired countless memes as a result of its success, with the man behind
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#1732776424271984-528: A number of other knockoffs, including The Nutty Squirrels and Russ Regan 's one-off group Dancer, Prancer and Nervous. In 1960, 16-year-old Brian Hyland had a novelty hit with the song " Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini ", by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss , which topped the Billboard single chart. The Trashmen reached the top 5 with " Surfin' Bird ", a surf rock medley of two novelty songs originally recorded by The Rivingtons . In 1964,
1066-422: A range of playback speeds (from 16 to 78 rpm ) and in several sizes (including 12 inches or 30 centimetres). By about 1910, however, the 10-inch (25 cm), 78-rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format. The inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century. The relatively crude disc-cutting techniques of
1148-518: A remix. "Irony" was later included on their debut studio album The Wonder Years . A single album is distinct from a single even if it includes only one song. The single " Gotta Go " by Chungha was released on a single album titled XII , which was a one-track CD. Even though "Gotta Go" was the only song on XII , the two releases charted separately: XII reached No. 4 on the Gaon Album Chart, and "Gotta Go" reached No. 2 on
1230-634: A smaller, more durable and higher- fidelity replacement for the 78 rpm shellac discs. The first 45 rpm records were monaural , with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s. Columbia Records , which had released the 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm 12-inch vinyl LP in June 1948, also released 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm 7-inch vinyl singles in March 1949, but they were soon eclipsed by
1312-532: A solo act, one with The Shadows and one as part of Band Aid II. The Spice Girls later equalled the then-record of three consecutive Christmas number ones, from 1996 to 1998; Spice Girl Melanie C achieved a fourth Christmas number one as a member of the Justice Collective in 2012, which also gave Robbie Williams his third. In 2022, LadBaby became the first act to achieve five consecutive number ones. " Bohemian Rhapsody " by Queen , which reached
1394-525: A successful Facebook campaign against this trend. This made them the first group to get a Christmas number one with a download -only single, and resulted in the most download sales in a single week in UK chart history. Similar campaigns in 2010 promoting acts such as Biffy Clyro , John Cage and the Trashmen were unsuccessful. In 2011, the Military Wives and Gareth Malone, both involved with
1476-521: A year later with a cover of Lou Bega 's " Mambo No.5 ", and also had another less successful single in 2008 with " Big Fish Little Fish ". Some novelty music draws its appeal from its unintentional novelty; so-called " outsider musicians " with little or no formal musical training often will produce comical results (see for instance, Florence Foster Jenkins , Mrs. Miller , the Portsmouth Sinfonia , The Shaggs , and William Hung ). After
1558-674: A year), with novelty act LadBaby reaching Number One five times in a row, with all five songs being parodies of other popular songs reworked to incorporate a running gag that revolves around sausage rolls . More often than not, the UK Christmas novelty records were recorded for charity, with LadBaby's Christmas chart rivals in 2020 also including The Dancing Binmen (Jack Johnson, Henry Wright and Adrian Breakwell) with their song "Boogie Round The Bins At Christmas Time", and "Merry Christmas, Baked Potato" from comedian Matt Lucas, with fellow chart contender "Raise The Woof!" being promoted as
1640-431: Is not known, perhaps a copyright or other legal problem. The lightweight and inexpensive 45 rpm discs introduced by RCA were quickly popular and in the early 1950s all major US labels had begun manufacturing seven-inch singles. In the decades that followed, the seven-inch single was the format that many major artists made their recording debut on and some recordings were exclusively released as vinyl 45s only. According to
1722-500: Is released specifically on physical media. A "single album" refers to a physical release (such as a CD, LP, or other media) that typically contains one to three unique tracks, while a "single" is only a song itself, typically a digital stream or download. Although the terms "single albums" and "singles" are similar and sometimes may overlap, they are generally considered two distinct release types in South Korea. In Western contexts,
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#17327764242711804-779: Is revealed on Christmas Day whenever it falls on a Friday, such as in 2015 and 2020; the former year's chart was the first in a decade to not feature the X Factor winner's single in the top two. Amazon Music has released a number of exclusive festive tracks since 2018, recorded with acts such as Justin Bieber , Jess Glynne , and Ellie Goulding , none of which have topped the Christmas chart, though Goulding's track later reached number one. More recently, non-traditional acts have been successful with novelty songs released for charity; most notably, YouTuber LadBaby achieved number one every year between 2018 and 2022, each time raising money for
1886-497: Is run over by Santa Claus' entourage, and found trampled at the scene the next morning. It has become a staple of Christmas music playlists on American radio since its original release. An underground novelty music scene began to emerge in the 1960s, beginning with the homosexually themed songs of Camp Records and the racist humor of Johnny Rebel , then in the 1970s and 1980s with X-rated albums by David Allan Coe and Clarence "Blowfly" Reid . Novelty songs have been popular in
1968-639: Is the only novelty song (#346) included in the Songs of the Century . "Lucky Ladybug" by Billy and Lillie was popular in December 1958. Lonnie Donegan 's 1959 cover of the 1924 novelty song " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?) " was a transatlantic hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard charts two years after its release; it was one of the earliest top-5 hits to come from
2050-533: Is unique and includes an additional term, the single album ( Korean : 싱글 음반 ; RR : singgeul eumban ). In contemporary usage in English, the term "album" refers to an LP-length recording regardless of the medium. In contrast, under the country's copyright law, the Korean usage of "album" ( Korean : 음반 ; RR : eumban ) denotes a musical recording of any length that
2132-494: The New Musical Express . The positions of all songs are based on weekly sales (from Sunday to Saturday until 2015, then from Friday to Thursday). Before 1987, they were released on a Tuesday due to the need for manual calculation. The emergence of a serious contest for the Christmas number-one spot began in 1973, when the glam rock bands Slade and Wizzard deliberately released festive songs in an effort to reach
2214-543: The New York Times , the popularity of the seven-inch single reached a peak in 1974 when 200 million were sold. In the 1980s its popularity began to decline as jukeboxes became fewer, consumers tended to prefer to buy albums and formats such as cassettes and CDs was overtaking vinyl 45s. Despite its major decline, vinyl seven-inch singles has continued to released in the 2000s by indie labels such as Sub Pop and Third Man Records . In some regions (e.g. US),
2296-512: The Bandcamp storefront. Nowadays physically-released music is mainly bought in the form of full-length albums instead of singles. The most common physical formats of singles had been the 7" (45) vinyl records and the CD single , but singles have also been released on other formats such as 12" vinyl records , 10" shellac records, cassette single , and mini CD . The origins of the single are in
2378-488: The Billboard best-sellers chart for six weeks and the country music chart for 16 weeks in 1947 and 1948. Hank Williams Sr. 's " Move It On Over ", his first hit song, has some humor and novelty elements (about a man having to share the doghouse when his lover kicks him out of the house), but contemporaries (among them Jerry Rivers ) disputed this and noted that many men had been faced with eviction under similar circumstances. The 1953 #1 single " (How Much Is) That Doggie in
2460-548: The Grammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded to Roger Miller . Miller was known to sing novelty songs. In 1965, " A Windmill in Old Amsterdam ", a song written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge , became a UK hit for Ronnie Hilton . The song spent a total of 13 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at No. 23 in the chart of 17 February 1965. The song's composers were granted an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for
2542-541: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced digital single certification due to significant sales of digital formats, with Gwen Stefani 's " Hollaback Girl " becoming RIAA's first platinum digital single. In 2013, RIAA incorporated on-demand streams into the digital single certification. Single sales in the United Kingdom reached a low in January 2005, as the popularity of
List of UK singles chart Christmas number ones - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-555: The Teletubbies who reached number one the previous week failed to gain it with their single " Say Eh-oh! ". They came second in the charts to The Spice Girls second of three consecutive Christmas number ones, with " Too Much ". Later on at the turn of the millennium , Bob the Builder was successful in achieving a Christmas number one in 2000, with " Can We Fix It? ". However, Bob the Builder did have another number one single
2706-426: The best-selling song of the year , though in recent years they have been released by reality television contestants and charity efforts. Due to the common practice of dating a chart by the date on which the week ends, the Christmas chart is dated the end of the week containing 25 December. The most recent Christmas number one single is " Last Christmas " by Wham! . The UK Singles Chart began in 1952 – appearing in
2788-505: The top 40 . Freeform and album-oriented rock stations made use of novelty songs; some of the best-known work from progressive rocker Frank Zappa , for instance, is his extensive body of mostly adult-oriented novelty music. Zappa's " Bobby Brown (Goes Down) " was a smash hit in Europe despite its sexually explicit storyline, and " Valley Girl " was a Top 40 hit in the US, while his " Don't Eat
2870-469: The 12-inch discs allowed for wider grooves (larger amplitude) and greater separation between grooves, the latter of which results in less cross-talk. Consequently, they are less susceptible to wear and scratches. The 12-inch single is still considered a standard format for dance music , though its popularity has declined in recent years. Before the 7-inch single was introduced, 78 rpm 10-inch shellac records with around three minutes of music on them were
2952-488: The 1966 novelty song " They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! ", by Napoleon XIV , has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum , a tambourine , and the bare sides of the musicians' legs. A book on achieving an attention-grabbing novelty single is The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) , written by The KLF . It is based on their achievement of a UK number-one single with " Doctorin'
3034-540: The 2007 holiday season. The format included three songs by an artist, plus a ringtone accessible from the user's computer. Sony announced plans to release 50 singles in October and November, and Universal Music Group expected to release somewhere between 10 and 20 titles. In a reversal of this trend, a single has been released based on a ringtone itself: the Crazy Frog ringtone, which was a cult hit in Europe in 2004,
3116-572: The 45 player in March 1949. There was plenty of information leaked to the public about the new 45 rpm system through front-page articles in Billboard magazine on December 4, 1948, and again on January 8, 1949. RCA was trying to blunt the lead Columbia had established upon releasing their 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 LP system in June 1948. To compete with Columbia, RCA released albums as boxes of 45 rpm seven-inch singles that could be played continuously like an LP on their record changer. RCA
3198-622: The Circle Digital Chart. Even when a single album and single share the same name, they still chart separately, as was the case with the Wonder Girls single album and single " Why So Lonely ": the single album peaked at No. 3 on the Gaon Album Chart, while the single peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart. Novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as
3280-585: The Keys") or maniacally rapid tempos ("Dizzy Fingers"), were popular enough to start a fad of novelty piano pieces that lasted through the decade. The fad was brought about by the increasing availability of audio recordings by way of the player piano and the phonograph; whereas much of Tin Pan Alley's repertoire was sold in the form of sheet music and thus had to be simple enough for an amateur pianist to play, novelty piano brought virtuoso -level performance to
3362-699: The RCA Victor 45. The first regular production 45 rpm record pressed was "PeeWee the Piccolo": RCA Victor 47-0146 pressed December 7, 1948 at the Sherman Avenue plant in Indianapolis ; R.O. Price, plant manager. The claim made that 48-0001 by Eddy Arnold was the first 45 is evidently incorrect (even though 48-0000 has not turned up, 50-0000-Crudup, 51-0000-Meisel, and 52-0000 Goodman are out there) since all 45s were released simultaneously with
List of UK singles chart Christmas number ones - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-559: The Tardis ", a 1988 dance remix mashup of the Doctor Who theme music released under the name of 'The Timelords'. It argued that (at the time) achieving a number one single could be achieved less by musical talent than through market research , sampling and gimmicks matched to an underlying danceable groove. Novelty songs were a major staple of Tin Pan Alley from its start in the late 19th century. They continued to proliferate in
3526-531: The Trussell Trust , before voluntarily ending their streak by not releasing a Christmas single in 2023. LadBaby is the act with the most Christmas number ones with five, surpassing the Beatles ' previous record in 2022. On two occasions, in 1963 and 1967, the Beatles had both the Christmas number one and the number two, the first act to have achieved this. As part of two acts, George Michael repeated
3608-563: The U.S. in four consecutive decades (1950s through the 1980s for Richard, 1980s to 2010s for Yankovic). Randy Brooks wrote a Christmas novelty song and it was originally recorded by the duo Elmo Shropshire and his then-wife Patsy in 1979, called " Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ". It tells the tragic-comic story of a family grandmother (loosely based on Brooks's uncle Foster Brooks ) who meets her end on Christmas Eve. After having drunk too much eggnog and forgetting to take her medicine, she staggers out of her family's house late Christmas Eve,
3690-526: The UK as well. In 1991, " The Stonk " novelty song raised over £100,000 for the Comic Relief charity. In 1993, " Mr Blobby " became the second novelty song to reach the coveted Christmas number one slot in the UK, following Benny Hill 's 1971 chart-topper " Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) ". Many popular children's TV characters would try to claim the Christmas number one spot after this. In 1997,
3772-635: The United Kingdom in the rock era, preceding the British Invasion . Three songs using a sped-up recording technique became #1 hits in the United States in 1958–59: David Seville 's " Witch Doctor " and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Sheb Wooley 's " The Purple People Eater ", and David Seville's " The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) ", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate three chipmunks' voices. The technique (which Dickie Goodman had also used on "The Flying Saucer") would inspire
3854-405: The United States as albums, which on compact disc had virtually identical production and distribution costs but could be sold at a higher price, became most retailers' primary method of selling music. Singles continued to be produced in the UK and Australia and survived the transition from compact disc to digital download. The decline of the physical single in the US during this time has been cited as
3936-467: The Wind 1997 " by Elton John ), while "Bohemian Rhapsody" is third. Single (music) In music , a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album or LP record , typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standalone tracks or connected to an artist's album, and in
4018-492: The Window? " became notable both for its extensive airplay and the backlash from listeners who found it increasingly annoying. Satirists such as Stan Freberg , Allan Sherman , and Tom Lehrer used novelty songs to poke fun at contemporary pop culture in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1951, Frank Sinatra was paired in a CBS television special with TV personality Dagmar . Mitch Miller at Columbia Records became intrigued with
4100-666: The Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition . Chuck Berry 's " My Ding-a-Ling " reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and Ray Stevens , known for such novelty hits as " Ahab the Arab ", " Gitarzan ", and " Mississippi Squirrel Revival ", had a #1 hit with " The Streak " in 1974. Comedy act Cheech & Chong recorded a number of musical bits that can be classified as novelty songs, including " Basketball Jones "(1973) and " Earache My Eye " (1974). Warren Zevon 's lone chart hit
4182-468: The Yellow Snow " and " Dancin' Fool " also reached the top 100 in his native United States. Beginning in 1970, Dr. Demento 's nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s, when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its terrestrial cancellation in June 2010. In the 21st century, novelty songs found
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#17327764242714264-478: The chart, even if they only contain one song. The Circle Digital Chart , which tracks downloads and streams of sole tracks, is regarded as the official "singles" chart. To give an example of the differences between full-length albums, single albums, and singles, the K-pop girl group Wonder Girls released the single album The Wonder Begins , which consists of the single "Irony" alongside two other unique tracks and
4346-553: The compact disc was overtaken by the then-unofficial medium of the music download. Recognizing this, on 17 April 2005, Official UK Singles Chart added the download format to the existing format of physical CD singles. Gnarls Barkley was the first act to reach No.1 on this chart through downloads alone in April 2006, for their debut single " Crazy ", which was released physically the following week. On 1 January 2007, digital downloads (including unbundled album tracks ) became eligible from
4428-430: The default hole size fitted the original RCA 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) hub which, due to a format war , was incompatible with the 0.25-inch (6.4 mm) spindle of a Columbia-system 33 1/3 RPM 12-inch LP player. In other regions (e.g. UK, Australia), the default was a small hole compatible with a multi-speed 0.25-inch spindle player, but with a "knock out" that could be removed for usage on a larger hub player. One could play
4510-438: The early years of the 20th century, some rising to be among the biggest hits of the era. Varieties included songs with an unusual gimmick, such as the stuttering in " K-K-K-Katy " or the playful boop-boop-a-doops of " I Wanna Be Loved By You ", which made a star out of Helen Kane and inspired the creation of Betty Boop ; silly lyrics like " Yes! We Have No Bananas "; playful songs with a bit of double entendre, such as "Don't Put
4592-409: The feat with Band Aid and Wham! in 1984, and Ed Sheeran did so in 2017 with duets with Beyoncé and Eminem , and again in 2021 with duets with LadBaby and Elton John . Paul McCartney has been top eight times with various acts (four as The Beatles , and one each as Wings , Band Aid , Band Aid 20 , and The Justice Collective ). Cliff Richard has spent four Christmases at number one; two as
4674-405: The fictitious composer P.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the " Best Comedy Album " Grammy from 1990 to 1993, the category was changed to "Best Spoken Comedy Album". When "Best Comedy Album" was reinstated in 2004, "Weird Al" Yankovic won for Poodle Hat . Novelty songs were popular on U.S. radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into
4756-469: The home and to those who would not normally attend classical concerts. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball " (set to the tune of British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts 's popular World War I–era " Colonel Bogey March ") was sung by British troops. A 1940s novelty song was Spike Jones' 1942 " Der Fuehrer's Face ", which included raspberries in its chorus. Tex Williams 's " Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) " topped
4838-457: The introduction of Apple's iTunes Store originally known as iTunes in January 2001, along with the emergence of portable music devices like the iPod . In September 1997, with the release of Duran Duran 's " Electric Barbarella " for paid downloads, Capitol Records became the first major label to sell a digital single from a well-known artist. Previously, Geffen Records also released Aerosmith 's " Head First " digitally for free. In 2004,
4920-546: The late 19th century, when music was distributed on phonograph cylinders that held two to four minutes' worth of audio. They were superseded by disc phonograph records , which initially also had a short duration of playing time per side. In the first two to three decades of the 20th century, almost all commercial music releases were, in effect, singles (the exceptions were usually for classical music pieces, where multiple physical storage media items were bundled together and sold as an album). Phonograph records were manufactured with
5002-431: The latter case would often have at least one single release before the album itself, called lead singles . The single was defined in the mid-20th century with the 45 (named after its speed in revolutions per minute ), a type of 7-inch sized vinyl record containing an A-side and a B-side , i.e. one song on each side. The single format was highly influential in pop music and the early days of rock and roll , and it
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#17327764242715084-495: The list. To be eligible for inclusion in charts, the single must meet the requirement set by the charting company that governs the playing time of the single. In popular music , the commercial and artistic importance of the single (as compared to the EP or album) has varied over time, technological development, and according to the audience of particular artists and genres. Singles have generally been more important to artists who sell to
5166-439: The major divisions of popular music ; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music . Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance or TV program. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. For example,
5248-426: The music recording market. Dance music , however, has followed a different commercial pattern and the single, especially the 12-inch vinyl single, remains a major method by which dance music is distributed. Another development of the 2000s was the popularity of mobile phone ringtones based on pop singles. In September 2007, Sony BMG announced that it would introduce a new type of CD single, called "ringles", for
5330-489: The next two decades including his gold record RIAA certified hit " Mr. Jaws " in 1975, which charted #1 in Cash Box and Record World and was based on the movie Jaws . Among the more far out songs of this genre were the two released in 1956 by Nervous Norvus , "Transfusion" and "Ape Call". The Coasters had novelty songs such as "Charlie Brown" and " Yakety Yak ". "Yakety Yak" became a #1 single on July 21, 1958 , and
5412-462: The number-one spot at Christmas 1975 and 1991, is the only record to have reached the top twice. " Mary's Boy Child " is the only song to be Christmas number one for two artists — Harry Belafonte in 1957 and Boney M. in 1978 — although " Do They Know It's Christmas? " has been Christmas number one for three generations of Band Aid . The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is the second-bestselling single in UK history (behind " Candle in
5494-419: The pairing and compelled songwriter Dick Manning to compose a song for the two of them. The result was " Mama Will Bark ", a novelty song performed by Sinatra with interspersed spoken statements by Dagmar, saying things like "mama will bark", "mama will spank", and "papa will spank". The recording even includes the sound of a dog yowling. It is regarded by both music scholars and Sinatra enthusiasts to be perhaps
5576-430: The point of release, without the need for an accompanying physical. Sales gradually improved in the following years, reaching a record high in 2008 that still proceeded to be overtaken in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the late 2010s, artists began a trend of releasing multiple singles before eventually releasing a studio album. An unnamed A&R representative confirmed to Rolling Stone in 2018 that "an artist has to build
5658-538: The reality television show The Choir , outsold X Factor winners Little Mix and a host of social network campaigns for various novelty acts. In 2012, a supergroup cover of " He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother ", supporting charities associated with the Hillsborough disaster , reached the number one ahead of The X Factor ' s James Arthur . Following the UK Charts' move to Fridays, the Christmas number one
5740-418: The song being British comedian Michael Dapaah . The children's novelty song " Baby Shark " received widespread attention when Korean education brand Pinkfong 's cover version from an online viral video reached the top 40 in the U.S. and several other countries. In the United Kingdom, the novelty hit has mainly become a feature of the " Christmas chart battle " (apart from a few viral hits found earlier in
5822-462: The standard format. Later, 10-inch vinyl singles have commonly been released as limited edition collectors items, which sometimes includes rare tracks or special artwork. With the rise of digital downloading and audio streaming, individual tracks within an album became accessible separately. Despite this shift, the notion of a "single" from an album remains, pinpointing the more promoted or favored songs. The surge in music downloads escalated following
5904-411: The time and the thickness of the needles used on record players limited the number of grooves per inch that could be inscribed on the disc surface and a high rotation speed was necessary to achieve acceptable recording and playback fidelity. 78 rpm was chosen as the standard because of the introduction of the electrically powered synchronous turntable motor in 1925, which ran at 3,600 rpm with
5986-514: The time, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , and ended up releasing 15 tracks in the program. CD singles and 7-inch records are now obscure and uncommon for new releases: as of the 2020s singles are predominantly digital, and physical releases are mainly full-length albums instead, on CD and 12-inch LPs. The sales of singles are recorded in record charts in most countries in a Top 40 format. The charts are often published in magazines and numerous television shows and radio programs count down
6068-488: The top of the charts at Christmas, with Slade's " Merry Xmas Everybody " beating Wizzard's " I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday ". The Christmas number-one single was not revealed on Christmas Day itself until 1994. From 2002 until 2014, the competition for the Christmas number one was dominated by reality television contests, with the winners often heading straight to number one in the week before Christmas. This trend began when Popstars: The Rivals contestants released
6150-529: The top three singles on the Christmas chart. Between 2005 and 2014, the winners of The X Factor took the number-one spot on seven occasions. In 2007, the X Factor single was such a strong favourite for number one that bookmakers began taking bets on which song would be the " Christmas Number Two " instead. Rage Against the Machine 's 1992 single " Killing in the Name " outsold Joe McElderry in 2009 following
6232-405: The worst song he ever recorded. Sinatra would record few others before he left Columbia and joined Capitol Records in 1952. Dickie Goodman faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song " The Flying Saucer ", which sampled snippets of contemporary hits without permission and arranged them to resemble interviews with an alien landing on Earth. Goodman released more hit singles in the same vein for
6314-445: The youngest purchasers of music (younger teenagers and pre-teens ), who tend to have more limited financial resources. Starting in the mid-1960s, albums became a greater focus and became more important as artists created albums of uniformly high-quality and coherent themes, a trend that reached its apex in the development of the concept album . Over the 1990s and the early 2000s, the single generally received less and less attention in
6396-466: Was also releasing 7-inch singles pressed in different colors for different genres, making it easy for customers to find their preferred music. The novelty of multicolored singles wore off soon: by 1952, all RCA singles were pressed in black vinyl. The lowest recording numbers found (so far) for each genre of RCA 45s are: 47-0146 yellow, 47-2715 black, 48-0001 green, 49-0100 deep red, 50-0000 cerise, 51-0000 light blue. 52-0000 deep blue. What became of 48-0000
6478-463: Was released as a mashup with " Axel F " in June 2005 amid a massive publicity campaign and subsequently hit No. 1 on the UK chart. The term single is sometimes regarded as a misnomer since one record usually contains two songs: the A-side and B-side . In 1982, CBS marketed one-sided singles at a lower price than two-sided singles. In South Korean music , the terminology for "albums" and "singles"
6560-770: Was the Beatles Hey Jude ; released August 1968 it clocked in at over seven minutes, pushing the limits of the 45 rpm single. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch (18 cm), 10-inch and 12-inch discs, usually playing at 45 rpm; 10-inch shellac discs, playing at 78 rpm; maxi singles ; 7-inch plastic flexi discs ; cassettes ; 8 or 12 cm (3.1 or 4.7 in) CD singles, and less commonly on Digital Compact Cassette and many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc (5 in or 13 cm, 8 in or 20 cm, etc.). Singles were also released on DVD and Laserdisc video formats, which would additionally contain music videos to be watched on
6642-592: Was the format used for jukeboxes and preferred by younger populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Singles in digital form became very popular in the 2000s. Distinctions for what makes a "single" have become more tenuous since: the biggest digital music distributor, the iTunes Store , only accepts as singles releases with three tracks or fewer that are less than ten minutes each (with longer releases being classified as " EPs " or "albums"). However, releases which do not fit these criteria have been promoted as singles by artists and labels elsewhere, such as on Spotify and
6724-502: Was the novelty number " Werewolves of London ". Other novelty songs in the '70s are Jimmy Castor Bunch "King Kong"(1975), Rick Dees ' " Disco Duck " (1976) and The Fools ' "Psycho Chicken" (1978). "Weird Al" Yankovic would emerge as one of the most prolific parody acts of all time in the 1980s, with a career that would span four decades; he would join Cliff Richard in being one of the few acts to have at least one top-40 hit in
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