Last Christmas by WHAM! is taking an early lead for the UK’s official Christmas 2024 number 1, but the figures indicate we could find ourselves in an intense battle.
After 48 hours of racing, it’s a close race at the top between George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s festive favorite, Last Christmas, and Tom Grennan’s brand new Amazon Original, It Can’t Be Christmas, with All I Want For Christmas from Mariah Carey snapping at their heels. .
The Christmas Number 1 campaign from WHAM! is off to a strong start with the release of three limited edition 40th anniversary vinyl singles, including a collectible zoetrope vinyl. While Last Christmas leads the biggest chart race of the year with fewer than 3,000 units, these formats are currently proving to be the difference makers in the Official Chart: First Look.
Last Christmas missed the top spot from Christmas in 1984, then peaked at number 2 behind Do They Know It’s Christmas? from Band Aid, but finally earned its long-awaited Christmas number 1 in 2023 after 39 years. Frontman George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016.
At number 2 in the official First Look festive chart is Tom Grennan with an Amazon exclusive, It Can’t Be Christmas.
With unabashed ambition, Tom is going all out in this week’s chart race and has even got himself a tattoo of the Christmas number 1, with a blank space to insert the winner’s name, to mark that he’s in dawn of official chart history.
In a new social media video, Tom said: “Today I’m at the tattoo parlor and I thought I’d make this interesting. I’m going to get “Christmas #1 2024 is…” and I’m going to let you decide what happens on my leg. It’s yours. Stream it, buy the vinyl, we’ll see what happens. Don’t let this fail.
It Can’t Be Christmas climbed to number 6 last Friday and moved up four more places in today’s preview. Does the Bedford singer have what it takes to steal the crown from WHAM! ? With the stakes now high, expect a graphic battle.
She may be the Queen of Christmas, but Mariah Carey has yet to secure the throne of the UK’s Christmas number one; it would not be wise to rule him out this week. All I Want for Christmas is You is just a whisker away from number 3 after the first two days of the week.
The year 2024 in pop has been all about the girls, and two of this year’s biggest starlets are holding up incredibly well amid the festive noise. Former chart star Gracie Abrams is at No. 4 with That’s So True, and ROSÉ with her Bruno Mars collaboration, APT, is at No. 5. Don’t count either one out as a Christmas No. 1 upset .
A second new Amazon Original for 2024 is Laufey’s The Magic of Christmas. The Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter’s first Top 20 hit looks to climb 13 spots to #7.
Holiday favorites residing in the midweek Top 10 are Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee (6), Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms (8) and Fairytale of New York by The Pogues & Kirsty Maccoll (9) .
Rising star Lola Young rounds out the First Look Top 10. His breakthrough track, Messy, is now on track to become his first Top 10 hit (10). Vying for first place after Christmas, we’re not ruling out Lola spoiling the party early.
José Feliciano’s 1970 recording, Feliz Navidad, is a new British party classic 50 years in the making. Debuting in 2016 and making the Top 40 in each of the last five years (peaking at number 21), the Puerto Rican track could this week secure its first-ever Top 20 spot, rising from eight to number 19.
The biggest selling single of the week so far is Beardman’s charity release Beard On My Face (20). Beardman is the name of a collective of independent artists, performers, dancers and aspiring performing arts students. All profits go to Teenage Cancer Trust.
Rapper, singer and social media personality KSI looks to score his historic 20th Top 40 single this week; his new single Dirty lands at number 37 midweek.
Another campaign that is gaining momentum is that of DJ Gok Wan and the House Gospel Choir. Deeper Love, an ode to Gok’s best friend Allison Gordon-Parry, who died in May 2024 after living for several years with stage 4 cancer, is currently at number 44. All proceeds from the song benefit Macmillan Cancer Support .
The highest climber of the week so far comes from East 17’s 1994 Christmas number one, Stay Another Day, which was released on vinyl in partnership with music charity Nordoff and Robbins to mark its 30th anniversary (47 ).
Christmas No. 1 week is no stranger to politically charged songs, and the 2024 race is no different. Freezing This Christmas by a group known as Sir Starmer & Granny Harmers is at number 67. The song attacks Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Labor government’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for some UK pensioners.
Whoever you’re supporting in this year’s race, you have until Thursday, December 19 at 11:59 p.m. to get your sales and streams counted. The Top 40 countdown will take place on Friday December 20 on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart with Jack Saunders from 4pm, with the full Top 100 singles and albums released on OfficialCharts.com.
