As if Hozier's year couldn't have ended any better – namely alongside Tom Jones and Paul Weller on the New Year's Eve institution of Jools Holland's Hootenanny – data from the Official Charts Company in the UK places Take Me To Church as the third-biggest song of 2015 over there. This, despite it never making number one, and being released in 2014.
Streamed or sold 1.25 million times, it’s the definition of a slow-burner, but the info suggests he’s fully infiltrated popular culture – if it wasn’t obvious by the endless radio plays, then just look at the number of his fellow musicians who’ve come up with homage-paying cover versions.
To date, it’s been appropriated by Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding (who gave it her special avian touch), as well as her ex-not-ex Ed Sheeran, who artfully replaced the song’s darkness with light.
Defunct London girl group Neon Jungle had a vague stab at it too, inasmuch as they maimed it, but hats off for being the first to pay tribute back in June 2014. Even Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin gave his interpretive dance version, as directed by David LaChapelle. The most inspiring cover is arguably Kiesza’s stripped-down version – available on YouTube for a lesson in how to reinterpret originals.
Joining Hozier on the Official Chart Company's 2015 list was Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn remix) by OMI (1.52m combined sales), late contender Hello by Adele (1.12m), and Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding (1.19m).
The chart was topped by Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (1.76m), which also had the cover treatment, not only by X Factor's human spoiler alert Fleur East, but also by Fallout Boy, The Vamps and even 1980s legend Rick Astley. Hot damn. Shilpa Ganatra
