Mariah Carey vs East 17: The Battle for Christmas Number 1, 30 years on

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Christmas Queen, Mariah Carey released her hit, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ back in 1994. That same year, English pop boy band East 17 released their ballad Stay Another Day.

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00:00Now, it seems as though two classic Christmas tunes could also be competing for Christmas

00:06number one this year, and it's not the first time they've battled against each other.

00:11Christmas queen Mariah Carey released her hit, All I Want for Christmas Is You, back

00:15in 1994.

00:16That same year, English pop boy band East 17 released their ballad, Stay Another Day.

00:23The tender tune was reportedly inspired by band member Tony Mortimer's grief after having

00:28sadly lost his brother to suicide.

00:30That year, East 17's tune claimed Christmas number one.

00:34This meant Mariah Carey's song settled at number two.

00:38Since then, All I Want for Christmas Is You did finally make it to number one in 2020.

00:43And so, this year, it seems like the two tunes could be in competition with each other once

00:47again.

00:48Mariah's chances have skyrocketed since the release of the Mariah Meets Ryland interview

00:53on BBC Two, and the release of new vinyl variants for her song.

00:57Similarly, a new vinyl release and East 17's appearance on the BBC I Play documentary,

01:03Stay Another Day, could boost the chances for the boy band.

01:07Talking to official charts, Tony Mortimer said,

01:10To be along those names, four little lads from Walthamstow.

01:13It's just surreal.

01:14Now, if we look back to the history of the Christmas number one, the tradition began

01:19back in 1952.

01:21Al Martino topped the charts with his ballad, Here in My Heart.

01:26This wasn't only the first ever Christmas number one, but in fact, also the first ever

01:30UK number one.

01:32And whilst we might expect Christmas hits to be filled with festive joy now, it's reported

01:37that Christmas number ones in the 1960s weren't actually that festive at all, with there having

01:43not been a supposedly Christmassy tune that topped the charts during that decade.

01:49The full chart for 2024 from Official Charts is set to be available online from 5.45pm

01:56on Friday 20th December.

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