By convention, the Christmas Number One is whatever happens to be number one on Christmas Day, which in practice means whatever was the most popular track in the seven days ending on the Thursday before Christmas. That’s the chart that people try and launch campaigns for. But this week’s chart is the one that covers Christmas itself, running from December 23 to 29. That means half a week of the heaviest Christmas listening, followed by… well, a few days of Not That, but it turns out that the Christmas side absolutely predominates. And so…

1. Wham! – “Last Christmas”

The Christmas number 2 of 1984 returns to number 1 after a week of being interrupted by LadBaby’s charity single. We’ll come back to him. For now, let’s just note that “Last Christmas” has now spent a total of three weeks at number 1 – two this year, one in 2020.

The disappearance of the novelty singles means there are gaps at the bottom end of the chart, and so we do have some tracks entering the top 40 – all of them back Christmas records, naturally.

33. Frank Sinatra – “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

We now have two versions of this song in the top 40, with the Dean Martin version climbing to a new all time peak of 20 this week. The Sinatra version made number 39 last year but this is its peak. It was released in 1950 (five years before the Dean Martin version) but didn’t chart until the modern era.

34. Kelly Clarkson & Ariana Grade – “Santa Can’t You Hear Me”

Because you listened to: “Underneath the Tree” and “Santa Tell Me”. You might like: this track from last year’s NBC Christmas special. It reached number 37 last year, but this is a peak.

35. Nat King Cole – “The Christmas Song”

That’s “Chestnuts roasting by an open fire”, if you don’t know. Cole recorded the original of this song in 1946, though the version most commonly played today is a re-recording from 1961. Astonishingly, despite the recurring seasonal deluge, this has never previously made the top 40 and qualifies as a new entry; a version by Olivia Dean did reach number 19 last year.

Of course, Cole has had hits before. During the 1950s and 60s, he had 15 top 10 hits, three of which got to number 2. One of those is “When I Fall In Love”, probably his best known non-seasonal song in the UK.

36. Coldplay – “Christmas Lights”

Originally a number 13 hit in 2010, this still gets some airplay at Christmas, and sporadically makes the top 40. Last year it only got to number 53, and seemed to be on the way out, but apparently not.

39. Bing Crosby – “White Christmas”

First recorded by Crosby back in the 1940s, but it first became a hit at Christmas 1977 (a few weeks after he died) when it reached number 5. Its modern peak was number 22 in 2017, and it missed the top 40 entirely in the last two years.

40. Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five – “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”

Recorded for the Jackson 5’s Christmas album in 1970, this was released as a single in 1972 but missed the top 40. Its only previous appearance was in 2018 when it reached number 30. The song dates back to 1934, and the highest charting version in the UK is actually Bruce Springsteen’s, which reached number 5 in 1985 (a decade after it was recorded).

The top 10 tracks with no Christmas element are:

• 1 (3) Stormzy – “Firebabe” (no 5)
• 2 (1) Raye featuring 070 Shake – “Escapism” (no 13)
• 3 (2) Central Cee – “Let Go” (no 31)
• 4 (5) SZA – “Kill Bill” (no 32)
• 5 (8) Rema – “Calm Down” (no 37)
• 6 (7) Bugzy Malone & Teedee – “Out of Nowhere” (no 38)
• 7 (9) Metro Boomin featuring the Weeknd & 21 Savage – “Creepin'” (no 45)
• 8 (4) Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero” (no 53)
• 9 (-) Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy” (no 59)
• 10 (10) Lewis Capaldi – “Pointless” (no 60)

This week’s climbers are almost all Christmas singles because there isn’t anything else…

• “Merry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran & Elton John peaks at 3 after two weeks at 4 and 5.
• “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee climbs 8-4, beating its previous peak by one place.
• “Firebabe” by Stormzy climbs 10-5 and is obviously going to be the post-Christmas number one.
• “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé climbs 11-6, also beating its (repeated) number 7 peak by one place.
• “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms climbs 14-7, the first time he’s been in the top 10 with anything.
• “Someday at Christmas” by Lizzo climbs 15-8, her third top ten single.
• “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams climbs 21-10. That’s one place below last year.
• “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid climbs 17-11 – again, a place below last year.
• “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson climbs 18-12, which is a new peak; its previous best was 15 two years ago.
• “Driving Home for Christmas” by Chris Rea climbs 22-16. Last year it was 10.
• “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney climbs 25-17, matching last year.
• “Step into Christmas” by Elton John climbs 24-18. That’s down from 11 last year, which was down from 8 in the two years before that. See, it’s not the same very year!
• “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard climbs 26-19. Last year was 15, the year before was 12, the year before that was 10.
• “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin climbs 28-20. That’s an all time peak for the track.
• “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano climbs 29-21. Again, that’s an all time peak for the track.
• “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes climbs 30-22, one place above last year.
• “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé climbs 31-23. Again, that’s the track’s peak position.
• “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band climbs 34-24, two places below last year (which in turn was three places below the year before).
• “One More Sleep” by Leona Lewis climbs 32-25, still five places below last year; its peaks have been declining every year since 2018.
• “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade climbs 36-26. Its peaks have fallen for the last two years, before which it used to land somewhere in the low teens.
• “Snowman” by Sia climbs 35-28, which is a new peak.
• “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love climbs 39-29, three places above last year (but still below its number 22 position in 2018).
• “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber climbs 38-30, the same as two years ago and one place higher than last year.

There are six new Christmas records this week. Making room for them are…

• “Creepin'” by Metro Boomin featuring the Weeknd and 21 Savage, which will almost certainly be back in the top 40 next week.
• “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift, a former number 1, but hit by the downweighting rule this week.
• “Pointless” by Lewis Capaldi, which reached number 20 – again, I expect this to be back in the top 40 next week.
• “Made You Look” by Meghan Trainor, which got to 2. This has been hit by the downweighting too.
• “Food Aid” by LadBaby, dropping straight from 1 to 85. Of course, it’s a novelty charity record – if you’re going to buy it, you buy it in the first week, and if you’re going to stream it… well, you’re not going to stream it, are you? This is his biggest second week drop, but in fairness, he always drops straight out of the top 20, and he’s dropped straight out of the top 40 twice before. Anyway, let’s hope he quits while he’s ahead.
• “Fuck the Tories” by the Kunts drops from number 7 straight out of the top 100. See, they’re spiritual cousins.

On the album chart, “Christmas” by Michael Bublé climbs to number 1 for its first (and doubtless last) week this year, and its fifth in total. There are no new records on the album chart this week, though for what it’s worth, Nat King Cole’s Christmas record enters at number 58.