The No.1 Christmas Album was a compilation album released by Polygram TV, a division of Polygram Record Operations Ltd. specifically for releasing commercial compilation albums in the UK.
As the name suggests, these albums are mostly promoted during television commercial breaks.
Currently Polygram TV is best known for its Kiss albums, based around the selection of dance music played on the Kiss FM Radio Station.
Style
The tracks on The No.1 Christmas Album are as the title suggests Christmas related songs that were No1 hits in the British Top 20 Charts at some point in time. This rationalization would actually lead you to the wrong conclusion. Although the songs on this album appeared in the British Charts in December of numerous years, some did not reach the converted No.1 spot in the UK charts.
This is very apparent in the case of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl singing A Fairytale of New York. "Although the song finished 1987 as the 48th best seller of the year despite only a single month's sales, it was denied the Christmas Number 1 spot by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind". MacGowan is said to have commented on this in his typically forthright manner, "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine".[19] MacColl later said that she did not feel they were really in competition with the Pet Shop Boys as they were doing a completely different kind of music."