The race for Christmas No 1 is hotting up as over half of the songs in this week’s Top 40 are Christmas-themed.
After only reaching No 45 in its first week of release, Band Aid’s 40th anniversary version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? has performed much better in its second week, reaching No 8. The improvement is due in part to the release of vinyl and CD editions (under chart rules, each physical sale counts for at least 100 streams).
Five other Christmas songs are in this week’s Top 10, with Wham!’s Last Christmas the highest at No 2. The duo’s song never made it past that position when it first came out in 1984, but it finally topped the chart in 2021, reaching No 1 again in 2022 and 2023.
Bookies have it as the favourite for this year’s Christmas No 1 but it will need to depose pop singer Gracie Abrams, whose single That’s So True has notched up its fifth week at the top.
Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You is at No 5 this week, while Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree is at No 6, Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s Merry Christmas is at No 9, and Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock is at No 10. There are 21 Christmas songs overall in the Top 40.
While they may not achieve the huge streaming numbers of Christmas classics, other charity singles are expected to perform strongly as people rally behind them with purchases, earning them that powerful chart sales data.
Released on Friday is All I Am by Aaron Paley – AKA Yorkshire Pudding Boy, a 13-year-old boy from Southend who went viral for a Halloween outfit his pub landlord father James made for him, made from about 350 yorkshire puddings. The song is being released to benefit National Autism Society and NSPCC.
Sheffield indie band Reverend and the Makers have recorded a song for Samaritans, entitled Late Night Phone Call. The group are best known for their Top 10 hit Heavyweight Champion of the World, but have cultivated a devoted fanbase and their most recent album, 2023’s Heatwave in the Cold North, reached No 6.
Meanwhile the popularity of the film version of Wicked is sending songs from its soundtrack up the charts. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s Defying Gravity is at No 7, while What Is This Feeling? is at No 16.
V, the K-pop singer and member of boyband BTS, has two prospective festive hits: Winter Ahead, a duet with Park Hyo Shin, and a new duet version of White Christmas with Bing Crosby, approved by the late singer’s estate.
