Charity record

A charity record (also known as a charity single) is a release of a song for a specific charitable cause. Band Aid's Do They Know it's Christmas? began the revolution of the charity record, which would be popularised throughout the 1980s. In the United States, charity records reached their peak with We are the World in 1985, but then essentially died out afterwards. In the United Kingdom, however, charity singles (especially Comic Relief), have become yearly #1 hits.

Notable UK charity singles

1980s

Release Date	Title	Artists	Charity/Cause	Highest Chart Position
December 1984	Do They Know It's Christmas?	Band Aid	famine in Ethiopia	1
April 1985	We Are the World	USA for Africa	famine in Ethiopia	1
November 1985	That's What Friends Are For	Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John	American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR)	16
April 1986	Living Doll	Cliff Richard and the cast of The Young Ones	Comic Relief	1
May 1986	Everybody Wants to Run the World	Tears For Fears	Sport Aid	5
March 1987	Let it Be	Ferry Aid	Herald of Free Enterprise disaster at Zeebrugge	1
December 1987	Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree	Mel & Kim (Mel Smith and Kim Wilde)	Comic Relief	4
May 1988	With a Little Help from My Friends	Wet Wet Wet	Childline	1
August 1988	Running All Over The World	Status Quo	Sport Aid	17
April 1989	Ferry 'Cross the Mersey	The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden, Stock Aitken Waterman	Hillsborough disaster	1
February 1989	Help!	Bananarama & La Na Nee Nee Noo Noo (French and Saunders with Kathy Burke)	Comic Relief	4
December 1989	Do They Know it's Christmas?	Band Aid 2	famine in Ethiopia	1

1990s

Release Date	Title	Artists	Charity/Cause	Highest Chart Position
April 1990	Use it Up and Wear it Out	Pat and Mick	Help a London Child	22
June 1990	You've Got A Friend	Big Fun, Sonia, featuring Gary Barnacle on saxophone	Childline	14
March 1991	The Stonk	Hale and Pace (backing band includes David Gilmour)	Comic Relief	1
April 1992	(I want to be) Elected	Smear Campaign (Bruce Dickinson, Rowan Atkinson, Angus Deayton)	Comic Relief	9
September 1992	Suicide is Painless	Manic Street Preachers	The Spastics Society (now SCOPE)	7
February 1993	Stick It Out	Right Said Fred and friends	Comic Relief	4
May 1994	Absolutely Fabulous	Pet Shop Boys, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley	Comic Relief	6
March 1995	Love Can Build A Bridge	Cher, Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton	Comic Relief	1
March 1997	Mama / Who Do You Think You Are	The Spice Girls	Comic Relief	1
September 1997	Candle in the Wind	Elton John	Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund	1
November 1997	Perfect Day	see specific article for full list	Children in Need	1
March 1999	When The Going Gets Tough	Boyzone	Comic Relief	1

2000s

Release Date	Title	Artists	Charity/Cause	Highest Chart Position
March 2001	Uptown Girl	Westlife	Comic Relief	1
March 2003	Spirit in the Sky	Gareth Gates and the Kumars	Comic Relief	1
November 2003	I'm Your Man	Shane Richie	Children in Need	2
November 2004	Do They Know it's Christmas?	Band Aid 20	famine in Ethiopia	1
March 2005	All About You/You've Got A Friend	McFly	Comic Relief	1
March 2005	Is This the Way to Amarillo?	Tony Christie & Peter Kay	Comic Relief	1