Big Sing: The UK's Top 10 Carols Songs of Praise

You voted in your thousands, and today

we can reveal the United Kingdom's top 10 Christmas carols.

5,000 voices will be joined by stars of stage and screen, including

Susan Boyle, Jonathan and Charlotte, Hayley Westenra and Michael Ball.

So look out for your favourite carol

and why not sing along on the Songs Of Praise Big Sing spectacular?

APPLAUSE

Thank you very much indeed. Hello.

Happy Christmas and welcome to a very festive Royal Albert Hall.

Are you ready to sing some classic Christmas carols?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Thank goodness you said yes!

Christmas just wouldn't be the same without carols, would it,

-don't you think?

-AUDIENCE: No!

-And I personally love singing.

And tonight, we're going to hear the 10 most popular,

thanks to your votes. I can't wait to find out which is number one.

Before that, please welcome the stars of our show,

our Big Sing orchestra, conducted by Paul Leddington Wright.

APPLAUSE

And our fabulous choirs, ladies and gentlemen,

the Adventist Vocal Ensemble, Saint Michael's Singers,

Brighton Festival Chorus and the Guildford Choral Society.

APPLAUSE

Incidentally, your look very festive. Well done.

So, shall we get going and try something we've never

attempted on The Big Sing before, singing two carols in one?

At number 10 and nine in our charts,

they've been blended together for this special occasion,

the sublime O Come, O Come Emmanuel and the uplifting Joy To The World.

# Rejoice! Rejoice!

# Emmanuel

APPLAUSE

Wow, you guys are good! Two carols in one. What a great way to start!

Well, our next festive favourite, number eight in the top 10,

was written in 1848 by Cecil Frances Alexander.

For more than 90 years,

it's been the carol that a solo chorister sings in

King's College, Cambridge, to begin

the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.

It is, of course, Once In Royal David's City.

Well, to sing it for us tonight,

a class act who shot to fame on Britain's Got Talent.

They've been together

since they sang in church for their teacher's wedding ceremony.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

please welcome Jonathan and Charlotte.

APPLAUSE

# Once in royal David's city

# Stood a lowly cattle shed

# Where a mother laid her baby

# In a manger for His bed

# Mary was that mother mild

# Jesus Christ, her little child

# For He is our childhood's pattern

# Day by day, like us He grew

# He was little, weak and helpless

# Tears and smiles like us He knew

# And He feeleth for our sadness

# And He shareth in our gladness

APPLAUSE

Ah, wasn't that wonderful? Jonathan and Charlotte, ladies and gentlemen.

Well done, both of you.

Now then, at number seven, our next Christmas carol for all of us to

sing is a powerful anthem for peace written by Edmund Sears in 1849.

Sears wanted humanity to hush the noise

and to live in peace with one another.

What a great message, not just for Christmas,

but for all the year round.

APPLAUSE

That was magnificent! Just beautiful.

Now then, on Christmas Eve, nearly 150 years ago,

Phillips Brooks stood in a field in Bethlehem,

surveying the scene close to the spot where Jesus was born.

He was so inspired that he wrote our next

carol for the children of his Sunday school to sing.

Performing a carol that just had to be in the top 10,

it's our number six.

Please welcome our star guest, the lovely Hayley Westenra.

APPLAUSE

# O little town of Bethlehem

# How still we see thee lie!

# Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

# The silent stars go by

# Yet in thy dark streets shineth

# The everlasting light

# The hopes and fears of all the years

# Are met in thee tonight

# How silently, how silently

# The wondrous Gift is giv'n

# So God imparts to human hearts

# The blessings of His Heav'n

# No ear may hear His coming

# But in this world of sin

# Where meek souls will receive Him still

# The dear Christ enters in

# Our Lord, Emmanuel! #

APPLAUSE

Ladies and gentlemen, Hayley Westenra.

APPLAUSE

Well, can you believe we're almost halfway

through our countdown of the UK's top 10 carols?

You enjoying yourselves?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Hope you are at home, too.

You might be surprised this next one isn't the most popular of all.

It's so widely sung at carol services,

especially on Christmas Day.

It's certainly a favourite for many of us,

so do sing along, especially in the chorus.

It is O Come, All Ye Faithful.

APPLAUSE

Wow, magnificent singing! Well done.

I'm delighted to introduce our next choir.

When they're not at school or singing at parish church services,

they're travelling the world

and delighting audiences with their unique sound.

To sing their beautiful interpretation of Silent Night,

my favourite boy band.

Please welcome Libera.

APPLAUSE

# Silent night

# Holy night

# All is calm

# All is bright

# Round yon Virgin

# Mother and child

# Holy infant

# So tender and mild

# Sleep in heavenly peace

# Sleep in heavenly peace

# Silent night

# Holy night

# Shepherds quake at the sight

# Glories stream from Heaven afar

# Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

# Christ the Saviour is born

# Christ the Saviour is born

# Silent night

# Holy night

# Son of God

# Love's pure light

# Radiant beams from Thy holy face

# With the dawn of redeeming grace

# Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

# Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth. #

APPLAUSE

Libera, ladies and gentlemen. What a sound!

APPLAUSE

Well, we've reached the top three carols. How exciting!

And number three is a carol that combines the talents of two giants

when it comes to wonderful words and marvellous music.

In the last century,

verses penned by prolific hymn writer Charles Wesley

and music composed by Felix Mendelssohn were brought

together to produce a timeless classic.

Let's sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

APPLAUSE

Well, I can feel the excitement

building as we are down to the final two carols, ladies and gentlemen.

At number two, a carol written by Christina Rossetti.

Her beautiful words are linked with music by Gustav Holst and Harold Darke.

Singing the Holst version of In The Bleak Midwinter,

please welcome to the Big Sing stage the amazing Susan Boyle.

APPLAUSE

# In the bleak midwinter

# Frosty wind made moan

# Earth stood hard as iron

# Water like a stone

# Snow had fallen, snow on snow

# Snow on snow

# In the bleak midwinter

# Long, long ago

# Our God, heaven cannot hold him

# Nor earth sustain

# Heaven and earth shall flee away

# When he comes to reign

# In the bleak midwinter

# A stable place sufficed

# The Lord God Almighty

# Jesus Christ

# Enough for Him, whom cherubim

# Worship night and day

# A breast full of milk

# And a manger full of hay

# Enough for Him, whom angels

# Fall down before

# The ox and ass and camel

# Which adore

# What can I give Him

# Poor as I am?

# If I were a shepherd

# I would bring a lamb

# If I were a Wise Man

# I would do my part

# Yet what I can I give Him?

# Give my heart. #

APPLAUSE

-How did you feel singing it in this building?

-It felt very exciting.

Very exhilarated. It's my first time here.

It's your first performance at the Royal Albert Hall?

My very first time.

What does Christmas mean to you?

Christmas means being with my family, being with friends

and celebrating in a holy and harmonious fashion.

The church has always played a massive part in your life,

-hasn't it?

-It's been a very central part of my life.

-In what way?

-It's a special place of worship

and you are communicating with God.

Do you feel that when you are on stage,

that you are communicating with God in a way as well?

Very much so. I feel him very much right here, right now.

Well, we all know about your journey.

It's been incredible, it really has.

Apart from being here for the first time,

what have been some of the highlights for you?

Travelling the world, making my albums, completing the very first

concert tour, which I intend to do more of next year.

And having a ball.

Ladies and gentlemen, give her a round of applause. Susan Boyle.

APPLAUSE

Right, this is it, the time has come.

We are ready to reveal which carol most people

voted for as their favourite.

As it happens, it's not sung often in church services by a congregation.

We often hear it sung by a soloist or choir.

And have we got a very special soloist to sing it!

Star of many a stage musical,

he presents his own show on Radio 2 and he's lovely, too.

Please put your hands together for Michael Ball!

APPLAUSE

Lovely, lovely. Thank you.

-Happy Christmas.

-And you.

It's a silly question, but how much do you love Christmas?

It's a fantastic time of year.

It's a time that we look back on our lives as well.

It's a time to reflect and think about people that we miss

and haven't seen for a while and think about all the wonderful

experiences we've had at this time of year. I love it.

-I absolutely love it.

-Is it always a time of warbling for you?

Or are you with your feet up in front of the fire?

Every day is a time of warbling for me.

I try not to work actually too much over Christmas and get away with the family.

I try to spend time doing that. In this business, sometimes you have to.

Sometimes you have to work over Christmas.

You've sung all over the world, all kinds of music,

from musical theatre to pop, you name it. You've done the lot.

What does it feel like that you're singing the nation's favourite carol?

It's the biggest thrill.

Also to sing it here, in probably my favourite place to sing.

-And it is also my favourite carol.

-Oh, it is?

-Absolutely.

It's the one I voted for. I love it.

-Do you think we should let them know what it is?

-Absolutely.

-What is the number one carol, Michael?

-It's O Holy Night. Yeah.

Beautiful.

Why do you think it is so special?

-You must have sung it millions of times.

-I have sung it a lot.

I think it's because it's not particularly traditional.

There's a drama to it, there's a thrill to the lyric.

It's about expectation, about feeling tiny because something

so enormous is going on.

It's beautiful and it's got a wonderful melody.

You look very smart and you are here. So will you sing it for us?

-You bet. Try and stop me.

-Good.

-Michael Ball, ladies and gentlemen.

-Cheers, Aled.

As Michael gets ready to sing it, thank you for joining us.

I hope you've enjoyed singing along to the UK's top ten carols.

You can check out the full list on the Songs Of Praise website,

if you fancy.

From myself and all of us here, have a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

# O holy night

# The stars are brightly shining

# It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth

# Long lay the world in sin and error pining

# Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

# The thrill of hope

# The weary soul rejoices

# For yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn

# Fall on your knees

# O hear the angel voices

# O night divine!

# O night, when Christ was born

# O night

# O holy night

# O night divine!

# O night, when Christ was born

# O hear the angel voices

# O night divine

# O night, when Christ was born

# O night

# O holy night

# O night divine

# O night

# When Christ was born. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE