The 40th anniversary version of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? has failed to enter this week’s Top 40, reaching No 45.
The new version of the song was made up of performances spliced together from three previous versions, in an arrangement by producer Trevor Horn. But despite featuring the unusual A-list juxtaposition of George Michael, Sinead O’Connor, Chris Martin, One Direction and more, the new version has not yet matched the success of its predecessors, which each went straight to No 1 in 1984, 2004 and 2014.
The 40th anniversary Ultimate Mix has struggled even though streams and sales of the original 1984 version also count towards its chart performance. But as it was released on Monday rather than Friday, the new version did not benefit from a full week of chart sales data, and could yet continue up the charts as the Christmas season progresses.
The single – which features new cover art by Sir Peter Blake – continues the charity work of Band Aid, which was founded to raise funds for those affected by famine in Ethiopia, and continues to support a range of humanitarian projects there and across Africa.
The song’s new version also features the original 1984 news reporting by Michael Buerk on the famine, which helped to bring the country’s plight to wider attention in the UK, and inspired the original Band Aid song as well as the Live Aid concerts the following year.
The 40th anniversary version has been criticised in some quarters, as have previous versions. Ed Sheeran, whose 2014 vocals appear on the new version, said ahead of its release: “Had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals”. He cited criticism by British-Ghanaian musician Fuse ODG, who wrote in his own statement that charity initiatives such as Band Aid “perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity”.
Bob Geldof, who founded Band Aid and co-wrote Do They Know It’s Christmas? with Midge Ure, defended the song in light of Fuse ODG’s criticism. He told CNN that he, along with Kofi Annan and others, had previously travelled Africa “lobbying exactly for what Fuse is saying” regarding the ability for African countries to be self-sustaining: “You inject the oil of cash into an economy and people fly.”
But, he added, for African people “to be able to get Africa going and on its feet, they must be alive, and over the course of 40 years, hundreds of thousands of people, probably millions, are alive because of a little pop song. That is a ridiculous way to run the world and it should stop, but while it doesn’t, we will continue … doing this little song.”
Earlier this month, responding to an article that argued the song perpetuated “colonial tropes”, he wrote: “‘Colonial tropes’ my arse … There IS endemic hunger due to the unforgiving soil conditions. Water IS scarce save for a scattering of unreliable wells. Rain IS increasingly unreliable … These are not ‘colonial tropes’ they are empirical facts.”
The new version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? was outperformed by a number of other Christmas classics, with Wham’s Last Christmas at No 8 and Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You at No 10 before December has even begun.
Eight other Christmas songs are in the Top 40, with Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree at No 20, followed by Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me (27), Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock (30), Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s Merry Christmas (31), Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath the Tree (32), the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York (34), Andy Williams’ It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (39) and Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone (40).
In the album chart, Kendrick Lamar goes to No 1 with GNX in its first week of release, his second No 1 album following 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly.
Three of the album’s songs (the maximum allowed under chart rules) reached the Top 10 of the singles chart. At No 4, Squabble Up becomes Lamar’s highest-charting solo single, while Luther is at No 5 and TV Off reaches No 6.
