It sold a million copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997".

In the US, it fell short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay, but sold an estimated 2.5 million copies by 1985.

[3] The report featured the nurse Claire Bertschinger, who had to choose which children would receive the limited amount of food at the feeding station and who were too sick to be saved.

[5][6] The Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and his partner, the television presenter Paula Yates, watched the broadcast on 23 October and were deeply affected by it.

[9] While Ure was creating the backing track, Geldof contacted various artists, hoping to have the biggest names in British and Irish music appear.

[7] Members of the US group Kool & the Gang appeared because they were signed to the same record label as the Boomtown Rats, and happened to be visiting Phonogram's London offices on the day that Geldof proposed the single.

[9] Geldof called Boy George, at the time one of the biggest music stars in the world, repeatedly in New York the day before the recording to insist that he attend.

[12] The singer Marilyn, who had achieved hit singles in 1983 but whose career had declined in 1984, arrived at the recording session uninvited, sensing an opportunity for publicity.

He spent several days in his home studio with his engineer, Rik Walton, creating the backing track, programming the keyboards and drum machines.

[12] The actor Nigel Planer, who had reached number two earlier in the year with a cover version of "Hole in My Shoe" in the guise of his character Neil from the comedy series The Young Ones, also arrived uninvited.

Horn produced a B-side, "Feed the World", using the instrumental track and featuring messages from artists who had been at the recording who had been unable to attend, including David Bowie, Paul McCartney, the members of Big Country and Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

[20][24] It sold a million copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997".

[28] It sold 1.9 million copies in its first eleven days on release[26] but did not reach number one, due to the more complex chart system, which counted airplay as well as sales.

It was remixed by Horn and included an updated B-side, "One Year On (Feed the World)", beginning and ending with a recording of a telephone message from Geldof and in between featuring Ure reciting a list of what had been bought with the money raised during the previous 12 months.

Geldof contacted the BBC1 controller, Michael Grade, and persuaded him to have every programme preceding that week's episode start five minutes early to make space for the video before the show.

[39] Sounds said, "It's far from brilliant (if not quite the Bland Aid some have predicted) but you can have fun playing Spot the Star on the vocals, and it deserves to sell by the truckload".

[40] Melody Maker wrote: "Inevitably, after such massive publicity, the record itself is something of an anti-climax, even though Geldof's sense of universal melodrama is perfectly suited to this kind of epic musical manifesto.

Midge Ure's large-screen production and the emotional vocal deliveries of the various celebrities matches the demonstrative sweep of Geldof's lyric, which veers occasionally toward an uncomfortably generalised sentimentality which threatens to turn righteous pleading into pompous indignation.

[56][57][58] Ethiopia is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world,[59] and one likely slightly older than the United Kingdom, yet the lyrics and title imply that Africans would be unaware of Christmas at all.

While pity historically played a role in charity-based philanthropy, the marketability of feeling of compassion is a recent trend in contemporary neoliberal capitalism.

was recorded under the name of Band Aid II in 1989, overseen by the most successful British production team of the late 1980s, Stock Aitken Waterman.

Geldof did the publicity and educated the younger artists on the issues (some of whom had not been born, or were very young, when the original was recorded) while Ure filmed the event for the corresponding documentary.

"[141] He enlisted musicians including Paul McCartney (on bass), the Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey, and Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead.

Vocal contributions came from artists including Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Paloma Faith, Ellie Goulding, Seal, Sam Smith, Sinéad O'Connor, Rita Ora, Emeli Sandé, Bastille and Olly Murs.

It was produced by Vincent Sorg and Tobias Kuhn and features vocals from artists including 2raumwohnung, Andreas Bourani, Die Toten Hosen, Jan Delay, Joy Denalane, Max Raabe, Milky Chance, Peter Maffay, Silbermond, Thees Uhlmann, and Wolfgang Niedecken.

He shared a post by the British-Ghanaian vocalist Fuse ODG, saying the song "perpetuated damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity".

Retitled "Do They Know It's Christmas (Feed the World)" with lyrics referring to places on Merseyside, the project was given the go-ahead by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, with Band Aid Liverpool releasing their cover version on 10 December 2020.

[214] In December 2020, comedian Leigh Francis recorded a version of the song in honour of late TV presenter Caroline Flack, with proceeds raising money for the Trussell Trust, Crisis, UNICEF, Shelter and Samaritans.

[215] On 12 December 2022, British blogger Mark Hoyle, aka LadBaby, announced that he had been given permission from Ure, Geldof, and the Band Aid Trust to rewrite the lyrics to "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Retitled "Food Aid", the single was released on 16 December 2022, and featured Hoyle's wife Roxanne and the financial journalist Martin Lewis.