Canadian Christmas #1?

The Christmas Number One Single is a single that reaches number one on the national pop music charts in the week in which Christmas Day falls. It is primarily a pop culture phenomenon in the United Kingdom. 

Over the past couple of years the Christmas number One Single has drawn a lot of attention, some of which may have been kick started by a story line in the movie Love Actually where an old rocker tried secure the number one spot at Christmas. 

In recent years, the Christmas Number One Single has also drawn a lot of attention to itself due to massive online campaigns to try and help a specific track reach number one. These efforts were successful when Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name Of" secured the number one spot, 17 years after it's initial release. 

This past year's Christmas Number One Single was from UK X-Factor winner Ben Haenow. How do I know this? A wide variety of music journalist, bloggers, critics and fans posted a wide variety of articles, posts, on the race to see who would be number one and finally who secured the coveted spot. 

The Christmas Number One Single is derived from the UK music charts and reflects what is happening musically in the UK. What I find interesting is even when reporting on the UK #1 single at Christmas, you see no mention of what is currently number one during that same week in Canada (or the US...if the article was written by an american). Doesn't anyone care?

So if you've been wondering "What was the Canadian Number On Single this past Christmas" according to Billboard's Canadian Hot 100 and Mediabase's Canada - Top 40, the number one single in Canada the week of Christmas was...

Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" (okay...maybe that's why no one reported it...)

Don't like playing shows where less than 20 people show up?

Don't like playing shows where less than 20 people show up? It can be frustrating, but all bands have done it at one point or another. Even The Beatles. Here's a picture of them playing a show where only 18 people showed up. (You can see more pictures and read the story here.)

Most Played in 2014

Every year on New Years Day I hit 'reset' on the play count for my iTunes library, but before I do I always take the time to see which songs I listened to most during the year and then share the Top 10 online. For the first time in a long time, I was kind of surprised with what came in at #1, the song I listened to most in 2014. Here's the list...

Top 10 Played Songs in 2014 

10. Jim Croce "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"

9. A Day To Remember "Right Back At It Again"

8. Crobot "Nowhere To Hide"

7. Dallas Smith "Tippin Point" 

6. Baby Metal "Gimmie Chocolate"

5. Sixx A.M. "Gotta Be Right"

4. Nothing More "Mr. MTV"

3. Brantley Gilbert "Girls, Girls, Girls"

2. Eve 6 "Lost & Found"

1. Pearl Jam "Even Flow"

2014 Top 10 Lists - Those 70's Songs!

In case you didn't check out my previous post...

Every year on New Years Day I hit ‘reset’ on the play count on my iTunes, but before I do I always take a look at which songs I listened to the most during the year. Leading up to the end of this year, I thought I’d include a couple additional Top 10 lists based on my playlist, just to give everyone a slightly more rounded view of what I listen to and maybe introduce some new music to some people. Besides...it's not like there isn't enough Top 10 lists at the end of the year as it is...

Today's Top 10 List...Those 70's Songs! 

Earlier this summer I was channel surfing and came across a Time/Warner infomercial promoting a series of CD showcasing the music from the 70's. I ended up stopping on the channel and watching/listening to the whole infomercial, making note of some of the cooler tracks and then heading offer to iTunes to make some downloads. Much to my surprise, a lot of these songs ended up in my regular playlists and in someways dominated my listening for the rest of the year and thus the inspiration for this Top 10 list. Keep in mind the majority of the tracks on this list where showcased in that infomercial...you may think there's some stuff from the 70s that would normally be in my Top 10 list of 70's music...but this year was dominated by stuff that wasn't the usual. Here's the list...

10 - "Fat Bottom Girls" Queen

9 - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" Leo Sayer (his appearance on the Muppets may have helped him get on this list...)

8 - "Magic" Pilot

7 - "Black And White" Three Dog Night

6 - "Lookin' Out For No. 1" Bachman Turner Overdrive

5 - "The Weight" The Band

4 - "Last Song" Edward Bear

3 - "A Horse With No Name" America

2 - "Crazy Horse" The Osmonds (YES...The Osmonds!)

1 - "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" Jim Croce (in all fairness, technically the Top 5 were all Jim Croce songs...just didn't seem fair dedicating half the Top 10 to him)

2014 Top 10 Lists - Discovered in 2014

Every year on New Years Day I hit ‘reset’ on the play count on my iTunes, but before I do I always take a look at which songs I listened to the most during the year. Leading up to the end of this year, I thought I’d include a couple additional Top 10 lists based on my playlist, just to give everyone a slightly more rounded view of what I listen to and maybe introduce some new music to some people. Besides...it's not like there isn't enough Top 10 lists at the end of the year as it is...

Top 10 Artists Discovered in 2014 

The following list is comprised of artists I discovered in 2014. That doesn’t mean their release came out in 2014 (I’ll do that list in the next day or two), just simply that I first discovered them this past year. How these artists are ranked is based on the combination of songs I played off their albums, not just one track.

10 - The Virginmarys

9 - Pistol Day Parade

8 - 3 Years Hollow

7 - Baby Metal

6 - X-Drive

5 - The Raven Age

4 - We Came As Romans

3 - Wovenwar

2 - Crobot

1 - Nothing More

Christmas Playlist

At the end of every year I look at the play count on my iPhone to see which songs I listened to most through out the year. This year I decided to do the same thing with the Christmas music mixed in with my music. Starting Dec 1st I created a Christmas playlist, set all the tracks on the list to 0 plays and added it to my phone. Tonight's Christmas eve...here's the Top 10 Christmas songs I've been listening to for the past month.

10 - Andy Williams "Happy Holidays"
9 - Vince Guaraldi Trio "Christmas Time Is Here"
8 - Bryan Adams "Christmas Time"
7 - Coke A Cola "Holidays Are Coming" (yes...the song from the classic commercial)
6 - Bing Crosby "Jingle Bells"
5 - Straight No Chaser "12 Days Of Christmas"
4 - Elisabeth Von Trapp "Dona Nobis Pacem"
3 - Vince Guaraldi Trio "Skating"
2 - Frank Sinatra "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (every time this one came up on the stereo in my vehicle my son would say "Thanks Dad")
1 - Michael Buble "Jingle Bells"

As a side note, the song that got 'skipped' the most on my Christmas play list was Extreme's "Christmas Time Again"

Feel free to respond with your own 10 list or the song you skipped the most over the holiday season.

Happy Holidays!

And now...some ugly/weird Christmas album covers...

The Music Of The Commercial Season

I’m a big fan of music, but I’m also a big fan of advertising, so naturally when the two are effectively combined I tend to get a little excited. This happens a lot at Christmas. Christmas commercials that use that perfect Christmas song are memorable, can pull at the heart strings and bring a tear to your eye or can simply be nostalgic and remind us of great Christmas memories. In some cases, the song used in the commercial has gotten more attention from being in the ad, than the product being promoted. There have even been a handful of commercials that have given some forgotten Christmas classics a second life. Here’s a list of some of the commercials I think have had an impact on rejuvenating the popularity of a Christmas carol. 

Telus's I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Telus had a whole series of commercials pairing cute animals with nostalgic (mainly from the 80s) songs with a white background. The one commercial from this campaign that has always stood out for me featured a Hippopotamus and Gayla Peevey’s version of John Rox’s “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” Since airing, the song has found its way back into regular rotation on many Christmas playlists and is a song many have admitted looking forward to hearing during the holiday season.

The Gap's Sleigh Bells


The Gap had a similar campaign to Telus’s animal series of commercials, only theirs paired young hip dancers, wearing their clothes, dancing to a classic hit. When Christmas rolled around, a version of this premise could be seen on almost every TV featuring “The Gap Dancers” and an instrumental version of the classic “Sleigh Bells”. This song has been sung by everyone from Bing Crosby and Andy Williams to Hilary Duff and more recently the band fun, but thanks I believe in part to the popularity of The Gap commercial, the instrumental version regained a lot of popularity, being one of the only instrumental Christmas songs you will hear on commercial radio playlists during the holiday season. According to ASCAP “Sleigh Bells” was the most popular piece of Christmas music consecutively for 2009 through 2012, with composer Leroy Anderson’s version being the most popular instrumental version. As a side note the song “Sleigh Bells” is believed to be more of a Thanksgiving song rather than a Christmas song, due to no mention of Christmas in the song, but the mention of pumkin pie in the last verse.

Hallmark's O Holy Night


Hallmark is known for releasing ‘tear jerker’ commercials every Christmas season. In 1990 they released one that was particularly memorable. It featured a young boy missing his brother, who he traditionally sings with on Christmas Eve, who is surprised by his brother coming home and joining him in song mid-song. Re-watching this commercial now I am surprised it was impactful as it was. The kid’s version of O Holy Night is what you would expect from a child singing the song. The brother’s version is obviously sung by someone with a classically trained voice. The two versions together don’t blend well. But the commercial wasn’t about the song or the two brother’s performance. It was about the Christmas reunion. For me, even though the rendition of O Holy Night wasn’t the greatest, this commercial did have an impact on this classic song. For me, this was a song that was traditional performed at Church and I rarely heard it on the radio, either because it was too slow or possibly a little too religious. But after this commercial aired in 1990 I saw a wave of versions of O Holy Night being released. Looking at the history of the song on Wikipedia, the track really started to see some momentum and a popularity surge, leading to some Billboard charting success in the mid-90’s.

Coke A Cola Christmas Commercials


Similar to Hallmark, Coke A Cola is known for releasing some of its best commercials during the holiday season, which is understandable considering Coke’s history with Christmas. Coke has played an integral part informing out modern view, beliefs and imagery of the holiday season. They are credited for creating the modern version of Santa Claus and if it wasn’t for Coke being a major sponsor, A Charlie Brown Christmas may have never been aired. It’s a lot of pressure ensuring your product continually plays a role as part of the Christmas season. This year’s commercial is playing a role in turning the non-Christmas song “Make Someone Happy” into a Christmas song (See my blog about that here) and everyone remembers the popular series of Polar Bear commercials throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s, but for me the Coke commercial which will always stand out is the classic “Holidays Are Coming” commercial. The company stopped using the commercial in 2001, but then brought it back in 2007 due to popular demand from consumers who shared that the campaign/commercial played a big role in helping them kick off the season. Coke continues to use aspects of the original commercial in today’s advertising, including the light up Coke delivery trucks, which also tour various areas of the US during the holiday season. The song from the commercial was re-recorded and released by singer Melanie Thornton in 2001 and then charted in Germany in 2005, peaking at No. 9.

Did I miss any? Let me know what Christmas commercials have effectively used Christmas music.