This year’s race for the Christmas number one is one of the most open chart battles of recent years, featuring a varied mix of classic festive favourites and new releases. Wham!’s 1984 hit “Last Christmas” is currently leading the charge, while Sam Ryder’s exclusive Amazon single “You’re Christmas To Me” is vying for the top spot as the top new release. The candidates also include Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” and Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John’s “Merry Christmas.”
According to Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, this year’s Christmas chart battle “feels much more exciting than it has done for a few years.” Talbot also believes that this year’s race is more open with fresh, new releases added to classic festive tracks. He cites the dominance of YouTubers LadBaby for the past five years as the reason why people were looking for something new in the contest.
The final count of sales and streams was held on Thursday before the Christmas chart is revealed on Friday. The ranking is compiled from the accumulated number of sales and streams of songs and albums in the week before midnight on Thursday night.
The Christmas chart is influenced by a song’s placement on streaming services’ Christmas playlists. This suggests that while Ryder’s single isn’t on services such as Spotify and Apple Music, it is likely to pop up for Amazon users who ask Alexa for festive tunes. Talbot added that getting on these playlists can play a significant part in terms of the chart.
The chart is highly unpredictable as physical sales and streaming carry different weightages in the chart’s formula. While physical sales contribute more to the rankings, streams of newer songs hold greater weight. The classic songs released years ago that remain popular this time of year must compete with the new releases and fresh tracks that are generating buzz
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