British prog rockers Big Big Train have achieved the remarkable feat of crashing in at No. 2 on the Physical Singles Chart with their current seasonal single, Merry Christmas.
It is an immense effort for a band who choose to handle their career themselves, a shot in the arm for both the genre and its preferred ethos of doing things outside of the once orthodox approach of the mainstream music industry. The Physical Singles Chart relates to actual physical copies sold, rather than downloads or streams, which the Official Chart Company combines with the Physical Singles Chart to create an overall Top 40.
The band were pipped to the top spot by former Smiths man Morrissey, prompting Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton to drily note “Heaven knows I’m miserable now” when he broke the news on Facebook. Regardless, 2017 has been a remarkable year for the band, who released two albums, Grimspound and The Second Brightest Star, and performed a series of sell-out shows at London’s Cadogan Hall. Next year the Big Big Train will appear at Germany’s Night Of The Prog festival.
Merry Christmas is available to purchase from The Merch Desk and Burning Shed.
