Ed Sheeran & Elton John – Merry Christmas

Nobody Had Ever Just Called It That

Released on December third, 2021, through Asylum and Atlantic Records, Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Sheeran’s twelfth chart-topper and John’s ninth. The song spent two weeks at number one, knocking Adele’s seven-week reign with “Easy on Me” off the top. It also topped charts in Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium’s Flanders region. Despite charting in multiple countries, the song never officially charted in the United States. What sounds like the most obvious Christmas song title in history had somehow never been used before. Sheeran checked Spotify and found dozens of variations—”Merry Christmas Everyone,” “Merry Christmas Baby,” even “Text Me Merry Christmas”—but nobody had simply called their song “Merry Christmas.” He wrote the chorus the same day John called asking for a duet, and when they got together later, they cranked out three Christmas songs total.

The single entered at number one in the UK on December tenth with over one hundred thirty-six thousand chart sales in its first week. It knocked Adele’s “Easy on Me” from the top after that ballad had dominated for seven consecutive weeks. The track held the summit for two weeks before a parody version replaced it on Christmas Eve. In a bizarre turn of events, YouTubers LadBaby released “Sausage Rolls for Everyone,” a comedy remake of the song featuring Sheeran and John themselves, which became the official Christmas number one. This made 2021 the first year the Christmas number one and two were two versions of the same song by the same artists. When the parody dropped to twenty-nine the following week, “Merry Christmas” returned to number one for a third week on December thirty-first. The original then became the first song with standard streaming status to drop completely out of the top hundred from number one, disappearing entirely by January seventh, 2022.

John rang Sheeran on Christmas Day 2020 to suggest collaborating on a holiday song. Sheeran was initially resistant, telling Jimmy Fallon later that he’d always been against doing Christmas music because you need to go all in with sleigh bells and the whole works. John convinced him by pointing out that “Step into Christmas,” his 1973 holiday track, had just hit number six on the charts again and showed no signs of slowing down. Sheeran wrote the chorus that same day and told John maybe they could release something in 2022. But John pushed for 2021. When Sheeran went to stay with John a few months later, the pair ended up writing three complete Christmas songs together, eventually selecting this one to release. The other two remain unreleased. Sheeran joked that he thought he’d found a glitch in the system when he realized nobody had ever used the simplest, most obvious Christmas title.

The track was recorded at Rokstone Studios in London with Steve Mac producing. Mac had collaborated with Sheeran on his number one singles “Shape of You” and “Shivers,” making him the obvious choice to capture Sheeran’s pop sensibility. John played piano on the track while Sheeran handled guitar duties alongside session guitarist John Parricelli. Mac played keyboards and bass, with Chris Laws on drums. The backing vocals came from Subrina McCalla, Layla Ley, Zalika Henry, Nic Minns, Kevin Myers, and Michael Harrison, creating a choir-like effect. True to Sheeran’s promise, they threw in everything: sleigh bells, ding-dongs, caroling singers, and enough Christmas production to make Phil Spector jealous. The lyrics acknowledged the pain of 2020’s pandemic year while celebrating being together with loved ones for the holidays. The production aimed for timeless rather than trendy, hoping it would become a perennial favorite.

The song appeared on Christmas editions of both Sheeran’s fifth studio album = and John’s collaborative album The Lockdown Sessions. Sheeran’s album had debuted at number one in late October 2021 on both sides of the Atlantic, spawning massive hits “Bad Habits” and “Shivers” that dominated charts throughout the year. John’s album also hit number one in the UK, with his Dua Lipa collaboration “Cold Heart” becoming a global smash. Both artists were riding unprecedented waves of success when they teamed up for their Christmas offering. The pair announced that all UK proceeds from the Christmas period would benefit the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Though this was their first recorded duet, John had championed Sheeran for years, having him signed to his Rocket Music management company and appearing with him at the Grammy Awards back in 2013.

Jason Koenig directed the video, which premiered on Sheeran’s YouTube channel alongside the single’s release. The clip pays homage to classic British Christmas song videos including Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” the Snowman’s “Walking in the Air,” Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone,” and East 17’s “Stay Another Day.” The video opens with Sheeran recreating the famous Love Actually scene where Andrew Lincoln holds up cue cards, announcing the collaboration. Throughout the video, Sheeran and John dress in various Christmas costumes, ride a flying snowman, and perform with an army of elves. Cameos include Jonathan Ross, Michael McIntyre, Big Narstie, Mr. Blobby, and the Darkness. The video accumulated millions of views within days and became part of the song’s marketing push toward Christmas number one. When LadBaby’s parody topped the Christmas chart, that video showed Ed and Elton avoiding paparazzi by dressing in sausage roll costumes.

As a Christmas standard, “Merry Christmas” occupies an interesting space in both artists’ catalogs. For Sheeran, it marked his second Christmas number one after “Perfect” in 2017, though that song wasn’t explicitly festive. For John, it represented his first true Christmas number one despite “Step into Christmas” becoming a perennial favorite. When Sheeran told Jimmy Fallon he needed to chuck the kitchen sink at a Christmas song to make it work, he understood that the genre demands commitment to sentimentality and tradition. The bizarre journey from number one to number two to number one again made it one of the strangest chart stories of the decade. What began as John marveling at the enduring success of a song he recorded forty-eight years earlier ended with two generations of British pop royalty proving that the right Christmas song, with the right title, can still capture hearts even in the streaming era.