UK Christmas Singles Chart - 12/27/2008

1. Hallelujah - Alexandra Burke

Merry Christmas! For the fourth year in a row, the UK's Christmas #1 is the winner of the annual X Factor reality TV singing competition. This year the honor goes to the 20-year old, London-born Alexandra Burke, who clenched her victory the other week over boyband JLS. In keeping with tradition (broken only by Shayne Ward), Alexandra's first single is a remake--this year the somewhat holiday themed "Hallelujah." The song is a great choice, for although known, has never been a major hit until now. Canadian Leonard Cohen originally penned and recorded the song in 1984, but until now it was perhaps best known for the 1994 cover by Jeff Buckley, which has seen a resurgence in popularity due to Alexandra's version (more on that in a minute).

Alexandra's position at #1 is quite firm, with over 576,000 copies sold. That puts her in second place among the X Factor Christmas #1s. Shayne Ward's "That's My Goal" moved the most units, bowing with nearly 750,000 copies sold its first week, followed by Leona Lewis's "A Moment Like This" with a little over 570,000 and then Leon Jackson's "When You Believe" with just over 275,000 copies last year, a rather paltry total for a Christmas #1.

2. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

Whether its because the song was chosen as the X Factor victory single or in spite of it, a great many people have also decided to buy Jeff Buckley's version, making the 14-year song a top 40 hit for the very first time. Way down at #36, the original Leonard Cohen version also manages to become a top 40 for the first time too. Any campaigning to try to tip this as Chritmas #1 instead of Alexandra was clearly in vain, as it sold about 80,000 copies--a very distant second.

3. Run - Leona Lewis

Snow Patrol released a new single this week, but the only appearance they made in the top 40 was as the original writers of the song at #3, Leona Lewis's gorgeous cover of "Run," which falls this week from #1 to #3. Meanwhile Snow Patrol's new single "Crack the Shutters" arrives just outside the top 40 at #43. Sorry guys.

5. Once Upon a Christmas Song - Geraldine

Peter Kay's transgender reality TV show parody act Geraldine lands a second top 10 hit, this time with the recording of an original Christmas tune. It's not as great as "The Winner's Song" was, but good enough to land in the top 5 at Christmas.

6. Broken Strings - James Morrison Featuring Nelly Furtado

Here's a surprise. After debuting last week at #18, James Morrison's "Broken Strings" soars 12 spots to #6, becoming his fourth top 10 hit and second highest charting single after his first, "You Give Me Something," hit #5 in 2006. It's also the 8th top 10 hit for Canadian singer Nelly Furtado.

8. Listen - Beyonce

It's not enough that influence of the X Factor is responsible for this weeks top 2 singles, but also manages to propel a nearly 2 year-old Beyonce single, "Listen," back onto the chart and into the top 10 for the first time. "Listen" was the single released from Beyonce's 2006 critically acclaimed musical, Dreamgirls, and hit #16 when it was released in early 2007. The American singer appeared on the X Factor, singing this with winner Alexandra Burke, creating a renewed interest in the song. Beyonce has two other hits in the top 20 this week--"If I Were a Boy" rebounds up five spots to #4, and "Single Ladies" is up four spots to #20.

12. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl
13. Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - Bandaged
17. All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
22. Warm This Winter - Gabriella Cilmi
27. Last Christmas - Wham
33. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard

The Pogues miss out on the top 10 this year (although there still is next week, with most of the week falling before Christmas). In fact none of the slate of new or resurgent holidays tunes managed to crack the top 10 this week.

32. I Miss You - Basshunter
35. Jingle Bells (Bass) - Basshunter

Swedish dance act Basshunter scores double debuts this week, landing at #32 with his latest dance single "I Miss You" and #35 with his remake of popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" (with the subtitle "bass" added, just in case we forget what kind of "Jingle Bells" would come from a guy like Basshunter). While having two new singles debut in the top 40 is pretty cool, by now he's probably wishing he could get just a little bit closer to where he was 11 months ago--sitting at #1 with "Now You're Gone."