It’s not quite the Christmas number one. This year, Christmas Day falls on a Friday, and so the chart will be announced on the day itself. The last minute novelty and charity releases aren’t out yet; the Christmas songs have already flooded the chart, and there’s no room for them to climb any further.

1 Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas is You”

That’s two weeks at number one. It’s entirely possible that she could hold on for Christmas Day. Wham!’s “Last Christmas” remains steady at number 2. But to stop us being completely becalmed, here’s a surprise release.

3. Taylor Swift – “Willow”
15. Taylor Swift – “Champagne Problems”
19. Taylor Swift featuring Haim – “No Body No Crime”

Say what you want about Covid-19, but it’s done wonders for the quality of Taylor Swift songs. Her surprise second lockdown album “Evermore” enters the album chart as her sixth consecutive number one, and predictably registers the maximum three tracks on the single chart. “Willow” is the official single, in the sense that it has a proper video (not to mention a whole batch of remixes on her YouTube channel). The video calls back to the video for “Cardigan”, continuing the log cabin folk direction.

“Champagne Problems” is a rather pretty ballad. And “No Body No Crime” gets guest stars Haim back into the singles chart for the first time since 2015 – in fact, this is their second-highest chart position, beaten only by their biggest hit “The Wire” (number 16 in 2013).

There are surprisingly few climbers this week, since the Christmas tracks are logjammed. Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” climbs 8-7, matching its peak from last year. “This Christmas” by Jess Glynne climbs 13-9 – remember, this is a new release and so it isn’t labouring under the permanent downweighting of older tracks’ streams. Glynne hasn’t had a top ten hit for two years, so this will be welcome. Boldly ignoring the season, “Whoopty” by CJ climbs 12-10.

“Driving Home for Christmas” by Chris Rea climbs 17-13, and “I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard climbs 19-16. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade climbs 26-25.

37. Kid Cudi featuring Skepta & Pop Smoke – “Show Out”

Another spillover from the album chart – this is a track from Cudi’s album “Man on the Moon III – The Chosen”, which charts at number 26 this week. It’s his seventh album, but only the second time that he’s made the album top 40 – the last time was in 2013, when “Indicud” reached 32. He did have a hit single earlier this year, “The Scotts”, as part of his collaboration with Travis Scott.

40. The Ronettes – “Sleigh Ride”

The only back catalogue Christmas record to enter the chart this week. “Sleigh Ride” only made the top 40 for the first time last year, when it got to number 34. Their biggest hit was “Be My Baby”, which got to number 4 in 1963.

The album chart is predictably quiet. We’ve already mentioned Taylor Swift at number 1, and Kid Cudi at 26.

31. James – “Live in Extraordinary Times”

A collection of live tracks from their tour last year in support of the album “Living in Extraordinary Times”. It’s also available as a concert video (which seems like the more natural format to buy something like this in), and the sales in that format wouldn’t count towards the chart.

36. Katherine Jenkins – “Christmas Spectacular – OST”

Well, it’s the songs performed on a TV special on Amazon Prime. Number 36 is actually very low for a Katherine Jenkins album – they usually make the top 10, and even her last Christmas collection in 2012 made number 26 – but this is a rather unusual release and not exactly a proper studio album.

39. The Avalanches – “We Will Always Love You”

The Avalanches are the poster children for failing to follow up the big hit. Their debut album made the top 10 in 2001, and produced two top 20 hits, “Since I Left You” and “Frontier Psychiatrist”. And then they didn’t release a follow up for 15 years. That album did make the top 10, but four years later, this third studio album only just scrapes the chart