It’s mid-December, but we won’t have as much Christmas music this week as you might think, simply because the charts are so rammed with Christmas material already. So…

1. Wham! – “Last Christmas”

Two weeks. Perhaps more surprising is that there are still some non-Christmas records hanging in at the top of the chart. That’s mainly because the downweighting rule doesn’t apply to them, admittedly, but Mariah Carey drops back to number 3 this week, allowing Noah Kahan back to number 2. Unexpectedly, our highest new entry this week is…

29. Jack Harlow & Dave – “Stop Giving Me Advice”

This is a track from the upcoming Lyrical Lemonade album “All is Yellow”. The Chart Company is listing Lyrical Lemonade as a co-artist, but it’s more of a company than an artist, and the video itself only credits Dave and Harlow as the artists, so I’ll go with that. This is the sort of unlikely collaboration between two high profile artists that can make some sort of impact even in the madness of the Christmas charts.

30. Fred again.. & Baby Keem – “leavemealone” 

This just seems to be an oddball release in mid December. One of Fred again..’s more interesting tracks, I think. It’s the first UK hit for rapper Baby Keem.

And, um, that’s it. This week’s climbers:

• “Merry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran & Elton John climbs 7-6.
• “You’re Christmas to Me” by Sam Ryder climbs 12-10, to become his second top 10 hit. Despite being an Amazon exclusive, it does now have a freely available music video. Which is terrible. I mean, if the vibe you’re going for is Forced Jollity, home run, I guess.
• “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams climbs 15-14.
• “Step into Christmas” by Elton John climbs 24-16. That’s better than it managed last year.
• “Stay Another Day” by Jorja Smith climbs 26-20. The other Amazon Christmas exclusive also has an animated video now. It’s a better record than the Sam Ryder track, although it’s still a curious release – “Stay Another Day”‘s reputation in the UK as a Christmas song is to do with the arrangement, video and timing of the East 17 original, not the actual song, which is a losing-a-loved-one ballad.
• “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney climbs 28-25.
• “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes climbs 29-26.
• “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade climbs 39-33.
• “One More Sleep” by Leona Lewis climbs 35-34.
• “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber climbs 38-36.

Surprisingly, there are also re-entries for Tate McRae’s “Exes” at 39 and Billy Gillies’ “DNA” at 40. So there are four tracks leaving the top 40 this week:

• “Prada” by cässo x Raye x D-Block Europe, which spent 18 weeks on the top 40, had five weeks at number 2, and even made it to number 1 on the midweeks one time, but never managed to make that final push.
• “You’re Losing Me” by Taylor Swift, after a single week at 20.
• “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift, which peaked at 7 in its current run.
• “Baddadan” by Chase & Status featuring Bou and Flowdan, after 19 weeks, and peaking at number 5.

If we screened out the Christmas records, the top 10 would look like this:

1 (2) Noah Kahan – “Stick Season” (number 2)
2 (1) Jack Harlow – “Lovin On Me” (number 4)
3 (3) Tate McRae – “Greedy” (number 9)
4 (4) Tyla – “Water” (number 19)
5 (NEW) Dave & Jack Harlow – “Stop Giving Me Advice” (number 29)
6 (NEW) Fred again.. & Baby Keem – “leavemealone” (number 30)
7 (7) Dua Lipa – “Houdini” (number 31)
8 (8) Taylor Swift – “Is It Over Now” (number 35)
9 (10) Olivia Rodrigo – “Can’t Catch Me Now” (number 37)
10 (RE) Mitski – “My Love Mine All Mine” (number 38)

With “Baddadan” gone, the title of longest running track on the top 40 is now held jointly by Tate McRae’s “Greedy” and Tyla’s “Water”, both of which have been here for 13 weeks.

On the album charts, we have a few unlikely late present options for your granny who still likes CDs.

1. The Killers – “Rebel Diamonds”

This is a greatest hits album, but it does contain two new tracks, including the one above, which… well, I was surprised to see that New Order don’t have a songwriting credit on it. Yet.

3. Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday 2”

That’s her highest position on the album chart since the “Roman Reloaded” version of the first “Pink Friday” album was released in 2012, but come on, it’s hardly a normal week. It includes the single “Super Freaky Girl” which was a top 5 hit last year.

5. Tate McRae – “Think Later”

This has multiple singles on the chart right now. It’s her second album; 2022’s “I Used to Think I Could Fly” reached number 7.

36. Porcupine Tree – “Closure / Continuation – Live Amsterdam”

And finally, a live version of last year’s studio album from Porcupine Tree. Festive!