Last week, there were 37 Christmas singles on the chart. This week, every single one of them is gone. There are almost no new releases to take their place.

Brace for chaos.

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”

We start with something fairly predictable. Originally released in autumn 2022, this entered the top 40 in October, partly on the back of an Olivia Rodrigo cover. It’s one of the three non-Christmas songs that clung in like limpets during the festive deluge – it even stayed in the top 10 throughout – and so it’s been the obvious number 1 in waiting. It finally becomes his first number 1 in its 13th week on the chart, having previously spent two weeks at number 2. His other single “Northern Attitude” re-enters at number 28, after a previous two-week run in November where it peaked at 16.

And now for something less obvious.

8. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – “Murder on the Dancefloor”

Originally a number 2 hit at Christmas 2001, this is one of three re-entries from the soundtrack of Saltburn. That film came out at the end of November, but it was added to Amazon Prime just before Christmas. Evidently that’s had a real impact. Sophie Ellis-Bextor is still active, but long since transitioned into being an album artist – she hasn’t had a hit single since 2014.

14. Teddy Swims – “Lose Control”

Debut hit. This came out six months ago, and it was a minor hit for him in the USA, but it’s been doing well in mainland Europe. “It topped the chart,” says the Wikipedia entry, “in the Flanders region of Belgium.” True, but it only got to number 6 in Wallonia. “Lose Control” has been hovering in the lower reaches throughout Christmas, and was obviously going to chart in the new year.

21. The Weeknd, Jennie & Lily-Rose Depp – “One of the Girls”

From the soundtrack of the much-maligned The Idol, this has been commercially available since early December, but it’s had a surge of interest on TikTok. It’s the first hit single for Lily-Rose Depp, although she’s released several soundtrack singles before. Jennie (from K-pop group Blackpink) gets a second top 40 solo credit to follow “You and Me”, which reached number 39 in October. She’s also in the cast of the show, although her acting credit lists her as Jennie Ruby Jane.

24. Sabrina Carpenter – “Feather”

This came out in November, before the Christmas deluge, and still didn’t make the top 80. It’s been hanging around long enough to take advantage of a quiet week, and give Sabrina Carpenter her third minor UK hit, following “Skin” (number 28 in 2021) and “Nonsense” (number 32 last January).

26. Nicki Minaj featuring Lil Uzi Vert – “Everybody”
30. Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday Girls”

Two tracks from an album that came out a fortnight ago. You see what I mean.

“Everybody” is pretty much a remix of “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior (number 3 in 2003), though it previously surfaced as an instrumental some months ago, credited to producer DJ Smallz 732. And “Pink Friday Girls” is basically “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper (number 2 in 1984). I assume they re-created the sample, since Lauper doesn’t get a credit on it.

31. The Killers – “Mr Brightside”

Ah, the Single That Will Not Die. “Mr Brightside” reached number 10 on release in 2004, but has now spent an insane 391 weeks in the top 100. Since January 2021, it’s basically always in the top 100, except over the Christmas period. In all that time, though, it’s only spent a total of 7 weeks in the top 40 – three weeks on its release, another three post-Christmas 2013, and now this one. It’s been pushed over the edge by the combination of a quiet week and being on the Saltburn soundtrack.

35. JID featuring 21 Savage & Baby Tate – “Surround Sound”

This came out in early 2022, but – you know the drill by now – it’s gone viral on TikTok. Baby Tate gets his first hit, but JID did appear on Imagine Dragons’ “Enemy” back in 2021. 21 Savage has had a string of previous hits, mostly collaborating with Drake, but we didn’t see him on the top 40 at all during 2023. The sample is from “One Step Ahead” by Aretha Franklin.

36. Central Cee – “Entrapreneur”

Looks like releasing this in Christmas week was a mistake. This was one of the top 10 non-Christmas records last week – which is to say, it was number 71 – but that seemed to leave it well placed to be a big hit when the chart cleared out. Not so, it seems.

38. Eliza Rose & Calvin Harris – “Body Moving”

Strike Eliza Rose off the one-hit-wonders list, then. Her only previous hit was “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)”, a two-week number 1 with Interplanetary Criminal back in summer 2022 – several follow up singles all missed the top 100. This came out at the end of November but it’s been slowly gaining some momentum in the background over Christmas (not an easy time to do so), so it might yet go further.

40. Mason & Princess Superstar – “Perfect (Exceeder)”

The third contribution from the Saltburn soundtrack is an unexpected return to the top 40 for this track, which reached number 3 in 2007. It’s a great record, even if the video is, um, very much of its time, in terms of UK labels licensing a European track and then making their own video with some lip-synching glamour models. As the name might suggest, “Perfect (Exceeder)” is actually a mash-up of Mason’s instrumental original, and a Princess Superstar track in a completely different style. Mason is a Dutch DJ who had no other UK hits; Princess Superstar had a number 11 hit in 2002 with the semi-novelty track “Bad Babysitter”.

There’s no point in listing all the tracks that left the chart this week – it’s literally everything other than “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, “Lovin on Me” by Jack Harlow, and “Greedy” by Tate McRae. That last track remains our longest-running hit – it just avoided being shouldered out of the top 40 last week, preserving a 16 week run in the top 40. It entered in the top 10, it stayed there until the Christmas songs hit, it goes right back there now that they’re gone. It’s a big hit.

Other tracks reaching a new peak this week:

• “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuring Hannah Boleyn is at number 9, having previously peaked at 12 in November.
• “Rich Baby Daddy” by Drake featuring Sexyy Red & SZA is now at 10. It previously peaked at 15 in November.
• “Leavemealone” by Fred again.. & Baby Keem, which entered at 30 just before Christmas, is now at 11.
• “On My Love” by Zara Larsson & David Guetta is at 15. It peaked at 21 in November.
• “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves is at 16; it got to 19 in November.
• “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell had a single week at 36 in late November, and now reappears at 20.
• “Runaway” by Kanye West featuring Pusha T managed a couple of weeks in the mid 30s just before Christmas. It’s now 23.

The album chart remains quiet. Number 1 is “Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent” by Lewis Capaldi, because a special edition came out – there are some new tracks on it, but none of them have made any headway on the singles chart, which is a little surprising. And there are no new entries.