Together for Palestine: How LULLABY Became a Cultural Record, Not Just a Chart Moment

Together For Palestine’s ‘Lullaby’ Enters Official UK Christmas Chart at No.5

There are moments when music stops functioning as entertainment and starts behaving like evidence. Evidence of feeling. Evidence of conscience. Evidence that, despite the noise, people are still capable of collective moral clarity.

LULLABY, released under the Together for Palestine banner, has become one of those moments.

This week, the song reached No. 5 on the Official UK Music Charts, becoming the highest-peaking Arabic song in UK chart history. It topped the iTunes download chart in 14 countries, accumulated over 4.8 million views on its official music video, and — crucially — raised more than £70,000 for Palestinian humanitarian organisations working directly on the ground in Gaza.

But the numbers alone don’t explain what happened here. They document it. They confirm it. They place it on record. What LULLABY represents sits deeper than chart statistics or seasonal chart races. It represents a rupture — in silence, in fear, in the idea that public compassion has limits.

This wasn’t a viral fluke. It wasn’t accidental visibility. It was a deliberate, collective act.

When Music Crosses the Line Into Witness

At its core, LULLABY is not a protest song in the traditional sense. It does not shout. It does not posture. It mourns. It remembers. It holds space. In doing so, it aligns itself with a long lineage of music that functions less as performance and more as witness.

Witnessing is uncomfortable. It requires presence rather than consumption. It asks the listener not just to feel, but to acknowledge.

In a cultural climate increasingly shaped by distraction and desensitisation, LULLABY arrived quietly — and stayed. Its power lies in restraint. In the refusal to aestheticise suffering or simplify grief into slogans. Instead, it offers something rarer: dignity.

That dignity is what people responded to.

The Facts: What LULLABY Achieved

The impact of LULLABY is not speculative. It is measurable, documented, and verifiable.

As of its peak week:

• No. 5 on the Official UK Music Charts

• Highest-peaking Arabic song in UK chart history

• #1 on the iTunes download chart in 14 countries, including the UK

• 4.8M+ views of the official music video across platforms

• Over £70,000 raised, with every penny committed to humanitarian relief

The funds raised are being distributed to Taawon, The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society — organisations with established on-the-ground operations in Gaza, providing medical care, emergency relief, and long-term humanitarian support.

This is not symbolic charity. It is material aid.

The Christmas Number 1 Race as a Cultural Snapshot

Every December, the UK Christmas Number 1 race becomes a mirror — not of taste, but of temperament. It reflects what people choose to rally behind when visibility is at its peak.

This year, that mirror reflected something different.

While LULLABY did not claim the top position, its presence in the upper reaches of the chart was itself a statement. The Christmas Number 1 race offered a snapshot of who we are as a country at this moment in time. And in 2025, it revealed a public unwilling to look away.

The significance lies not in winning, but in participation. Tens of thousands of people actively chose this record. They purchased it. They shared it. They amplified it. In doing so, they made a decision — not just about music, but about alignment.

This wasn’t passive listening. It was intentional support.

Why This Moment Matters Historically

To understand why LULLABY matters, it helps to zoom out.

Arabic-language music has long existed at the margins of Western chart systems, despite its global reach and cultural depth. When Arabic songs do cross over, they are often filtered, diluted, or treated as novelty.

LULLABY was none of those things.

It did not compromise its language. It did not soften its context. It did not seek palatability.

Instead, it trusted listeners to meet it where it stood.

That trust was reciprocated.

By becoming the highest-peaking Arabic song in UK chart history, LULLABY didn’t just set a record — it disrupted an assumption. The assumption that audiences are unwilling to engage with music that exists outside their immediate cultural framework. The assumption that solidarity has limits.

This moment challenged both.

The Role of Together for Palestine

Together for Palestine was not positioned as a brand or a campaign vehicle. It functioned as a collective — an infrastructure that allowed artists, organisers, and audiences to move in alignment rather than isolation.

The strength of the initiative lay in its clarity. There was no ambiguity about purpose. No dilution of intent. The message was simple: use art to generate tangible support, and return the proceeds to those in need.

That clarity fostered trust. And trust fuels action.

Wembley: A Public Record of Collective Presence

In keeping with the ethos behind the campaign, the Together for Palestine Wembley event has now been released in full, free to watch.

No paywall. No monetisation barrier. No selective access.

The full event is available here:

What the Wembley event captures is not spectacle, but presence. Artists, speakers, and audiences gathered not for exposure, but for alignment. The atmosphere is reflective rather than performative. It functions less as a concert film and more as a time capsule — documenting a moment where collective attention refused to fracture.

In years to come, this footage will matter. Not because of production value, but because of what it records: people choosing to stand together in public.

Beyond the Algorithm: Why This Wasn’t “Just” a Viral Moment

It is tempting — particularly in media discourse — to attribute moments like this to virality. But virality implies speed without depth. LULLABY moved differently.

Its growth was steady, deliberate, and sustained by word of mouth rather than trend cycles. It spread through communities rather than feeds. Through intention rather than impulse.

That distinction matters.

This wasn’t outrage-clicking or performative sharing. It was purchase. Commitment. Follow-through.

In a landscape where attention is often mistaken for action, LULLABY became proof that the two are not interchangeable.

Art, Responsibility, and the Question of Impact

A familiar question surfaces whenever art intersects with humanitarian causes: Does this actually help?

In this case, the answer is unambiguous.

Yes. It helped.

It helped financially, by raising over £70,000 for organisations delivering aid on the ground. It helped culturally, by creating space for Arabic-language music at the centre rather than the margins. And it helped psychologically, by offering people a way to act — not just feel.

Art does not replace policy. Music does not end conflict. But it can do something else: it can refuse numbness. It can mobilise empathy. It can create moments of shared attention in a fragmented world.

That is not nothing.

Nai Barghouti and the Meaning of “Number One”

In reflecting on the song’s journey, Nai Barghouti described LULLABY as always being number one — not in charts, but in beauty, unity, love, and hope.

That framing feels appropriate.

Charts measure reach. But meaning is measured differently. Meaning is measured in resonance. In memory. In what lingers once the week closes and the rankings move on.

LULLABY will linger.

A Moment That Will Be Cited, Not Forgotten

What makes this moment particularly significant is its permanence. The chart data is archived. The fundraising figures are logged. The Wembley event footage is publicly accessible. The coverage is documented.

This is not a fleeting trend. It is a record.

Years from now, when people ask where culture stood during this period, LULLABY will be part of the answer.

Not because it claimed the top spot — but because it refused to be silent.

Closing Reflection: What This Reveals About Us

Ultimately, LULLABY tells us something about ourselves.

It tells us that people are willing to engage deeply when offered honesty rather than spectacle. That solidarity, when given a clear channel, still moves people to act. That music, at its most powerful, does not distract from reality — it draws us closer to it.

This wasn’t about saving face. It wasn’t about trends. It wasn’t about optics.

It was about people choosing presence over passivity.

And that choice, collectively made, mattered.

For Further Reading & Viewing

• Full Together for Palestine Wembley event (free)

  
  

• TJPL Media Network coverage archive on Palestine

  
  

• Independent Music Weekly editorial features on LULLABY