Cher Sets U.K. Chart Records With ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song’
The pop legend is the oldest solo female performer to secure a top 40 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
Cher at Balmain Ready To Wear Spring 2024 held at Palais de Chaillot on September 27, 2023 in Paris, France.
Cher enters the U.K. history books — twice — as “DJ Play a Christmas Song” (via Warner Records) blasts to No. 20 on the national singles tally.
The pop legend’s holiday number vaults 41-20 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Dec. 22, meaning Cher becomes the first solo artist to land top 40 hits with new material in seven consecutive decades, and she becomes the oldest female to snag a top tier hit.
At 77 years, 7 months old, Cher is the oldest solo female performer to secure a top 40 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, beating the previous mark set by Shirley Bassey, who was 70 years and 4 months old when “The Living Tree” peaked at No. 37 in 2007.
No other solo artist has achieved a top 40 U.K. hit across seven consecutive decades, the Official Charts Company reports. Cher got the ball rolling with her debut solo single “All I Really Want To Do” from 1965, and has cracked the top 40 every decade since.
“Cher cements her position as a living legend this week, notching up two incredible landmarks,” comments Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts, “becoming the oldest living female to secure a Top 40 single and the only female solo artist to claim an Official Top 40 single in seven consecutive decades.”
The late Captain Sir Tom Moore holds the record for the oldest artist to score a U.K. No. 1 single, doing so at age 99 years and 11 months old when his charity-fundraising collaboration with Michael Ball, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” summited in 2020.
“DJ Play a Christmas Song“ is Cher’s highest-charting single in the U.K. in over two decades, since “The Music’s No Good Without You” reached No. 8 in 2001. It’s the lead single from her 27th studio LP Christmas, which vaults 15-5 on the latest albums tally, for a new peak position and 11th career top 10 effort.
“DJ Play a Christmas Song” has been a record-setter on both sides of the Atlantic. When the single jingled to the top of the Dec. 2-dated Dance/Electronic Song Sales survey, she became the first solo artist to earn a new No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart; the only other act to have at least one new No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart in each of the seven decades from the 1960s through the 2020s is the Rolling Stones.
