18 November 2016
Gawd. The knuckle-gnawingly naff title and chorus alone were enough to put me off ‘Rockabye’ at the time. Yet this was a genuine heavyweight smash: eight weeks at the top of the charts in Ireland, nine weeks in the UK, and in both countries the 2016 Christmas number one. Not being a parent, perhaps I’m missing the impact of a sentimental song about being a working single mother. Personally I think its the uncles and aunties who are the real heroes, but I’ll put that aside for the moment.
If you remember the charts from back in the day, or have been following them here, you’ll know that the sound of 2016 was tropical house: dancehall rhythm, EDM beats, trance vibe, a squiggly electro instrumental hook. ‘Rockabye’ is not about to step off that bandwagon. Having also featured on Sia’s squillion-selling ‘Cheap Thrills’ earlier that year, Sean Paul returns here for what the cynical among me would consider to be bought-in dancehall authenticity. Clean Bandit’s strings ramp up the totes emosh. Anne-Marie is a likeable act who’s able to rumple a few bits of feeling out of what’s essentially bland, trite material. I don’t recall ‘Rockabye’ working a baby Jesus angle to secure the Christmas number one spot, but as there are probably other things I’ve forgotten from 2016 too I’ll have to leave that on the table.
So, that’s our final number one of 2016, the year of trop-house and, if we include the carry-over from 2015 into January of Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’, of only a dozen songs that managed to top the charts: at that stage the fewest ever. Interestingly too, 2016 was the first time in 32 years—since 1984—that no Irish acts had a number one in Ireland during a calendar year. However, 2017 will have even fewer tracks at number one in Ireland – and if you’re hoping for a change in the dominant sound or a bit more Irish content then be careful what you wish for, especially if you’re from Galway.
