Festive Fifty
Year Artist Song Nation
1976 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven England
1977 The Motors Dancing the Night Away England
1978 Sex Pistols Anarchy in the U.K England
1979 Sex Pistols Anarchy in the U.K England
1980 Sex Pistols Anarchy in the U.K England
1981 Joy Division Atmosphere England
1982 Sex Pistols Anarchy in the U.K England
1982 New Order Temptation England
1983 New Order Blue Monday England
1984 The Smiths How Soon is Now ? England
1985 The Jesus and Mary Chain Never Understand Scotland
1986 The Smiths There Is a Light That Never Goes Out England
1987 The Sugarcubes Birthday Iceland
1988 The House of Love Destroy the Heart England
1989 The Sundays Ca n't Be Sure England
1990 The Fall Bill is Dead England
1991 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit United States
1992 Bang Bang Machine Geek Love England
1993 Chumbawamba and Credit to the Nation Enough is Enough England
1994 Inspiral Carpets and Mark E. Smith I Want You England
Festive 50 number ones
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually dominated by indie and rock songs which did not fully represent the diversity of music played by Peel but rather the majority opinion among his listeners. After Peel's death the tradition of the Festive Fifty was continued, first by other Radio 1 DJs and then (when Radio 1 decided to discontinue it) by the Internet radio station Dandelion Radio.