TWO FESTIVE CLASSICS, FRANKIE GET ANTHEMIC, AN ICONIC SOUNDTRACK HIT AND ONE OF MACCA’S MOST DIVISIVE SINGLES BATTLE IT OUT FOR CHART SUPREMACY

WEEK ENDING 05 JAN 1985

STEVE HARNELL

1 (1) Do They Know It’s Christmas? BAND AID (PHONOGRAM) 4TH WEEK ON CHART

2 (2) Last Christmas / Everything She Wants WHAM! (EPIC) 4TH WEEK ON CHART

3 (3) We All Stand Together PAUL MCCARTNEY & THE FROG CHORUS (PARLOPHONE) 7TH WEEK ON CHART

4 (5) Like A Virgin MADONNA (SIRE) 8TH WEEK ON CHART

5 (4) Nellie The Elephant TOY DOLLS (VOLUME) 7TH WEEK ON CHART

6 (7) Ghostbusters RAY PARKER JR (ARISTA) 20TH WEEK ON CHART

7 (6) The Power Of Love FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (ZTT) 6TH WEEK ON CHART

8 (10) Shout TEARS FOR FEARS (MERCURY) 6TH WEEK ON CHART

9 (9) Everything Must Change PAUL YOUNG (CBS) 5TH WEEK ON CHART

10 (11) I Want To Know What Love Is FOREIGNER (ATLANTIC) 5TH WEEK ON CHART

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

BAND AID (MERCURY)

The stats for this historic moment in pop make for impressive reading. Do They Know It’s Christmas? sold one million copies in its first week and, by the end of 1984, had shifted three million. Until Elton John’s remake of Candle In The Wind as a tribute to Princess Diana, this was the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, overtaking Mull Of Kintyre by Wings. Reaching No.1 in 13 countries outside the UK, co-writer Bob Geldof’s initial hope was that the single would raise £70,000 for famine relief in Ethiopia. In actual fact, within a year of its release it had raised £8 million. With new personnel, the song has gone on to be re-recorded three times (1989, 2004 and 2014), each time topping the charts afresh. The pop art sleeve is by Peter Blake, of course – best known for the Sgt Pepper cover.