The 1-0 win gave Charlton hope that they can escape the drop and although this was far from a vintage performance from the home side, the result was all important after such a dreadful run of 18 league games without a win - the worst in the club's history.
It will also have brought welcome relief to manager Phil Parkinson who has seen his side win in the league after 11 games in charge after taking over from Alan Pardew.
In all honesty, Charlton's local opponents offered very little in a poor game with very few clear-cut chances and Palace slumped to their third successive defeat and never recovered from the goal which came after just 13 minutes.
Lloyd Sam's left-wing cross was poorly headed out by Matt Lawrence and fell perfectly for Matthew Spring to fire home his first goal for Charlton following his recent move from Luton Town.
Charlton's fragile confidence was always going to be a factor and they didn't create their second chance of the game until 76 minutes when Deon Burton's low shot was well saved by Julian Speroni.
Palace, who produced very little in the first half, upped their game after the break and substitute Victor Moses had two good chances for the visitors, heading straight at goalkeeper Rob Elliot and then seeing the Charlton shot-stopper make a good save.
This could well have been the most important victory of the season for Charlton but they still have a lot to do to claw their way out of trouble whilst Palace seemed to have hit a bit of a rut.