Christmas Number 1: X Factor’s Ben Haenow increases lead on Mark Ronson

The most important chart battle of the year is well underway. 2014 X Factor winner Ben Haenow has increased his lead by a further 10,000 copies, helped by the release of the physical version of Something I Need.

Something I Need has racked up sales of over 107,000 at this midweek stage, with all proceeds being donated to the Together For Short Lives charity. The song is just over 33,000 copies ahead of Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk.

Ben’s chart success also puts the original version of the OneRepublic song on track to enter the UK Top 100 for the first time this weekend.

However, Ben doesn’t have the coveted Christmas Number 1 all wrapped up just yet, as this year, for the first time, audio streams from services such as Spotify, Deezer and O2 Tracks will count towards the final tally.

Uptown Funk is already the most streamed track of the week so far; current streaming trends tend to favour songs that have been available for several weeks as awareness for songs grows and they are added to playlists, meaning the addition of streaming data could favour Mark Ronson as the week progresses.

Click here to see all the Christmas Number 1 contenders

Sliding one place to Number 3 today is Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, followed by new entry, Olly Murs’ Up FT Demi Lovato (4), and Take That’s These Days (5).

There are four further new entries in today’s Official Singles Chart Update Top 40. Dance duo Gorgon City are on track to score their fourth Top 20 single on Sunday with Go All Night FT Jennifer Hudson (8).

After performances on The X Factor final last weekend, Ed Sheeran’s Photograph makes its Top 40 debut at 32, while Imagine Dragons’ Demons (performed by Ben Haenow) re-enters at 33.

Iron Maiden’s The Number Of The Beast re-enters the Top 40 at Number 36 midweek, thanks to a Facebook Christmas Number 1 campaign.

The Official Singles Chart Update Top 40 is as follows. The Official Singles Chart Top 100 will be posted in full, here, on Sunday at 7pm.

1	SOMETHING I NEED	BEN HAENOW
2	UPTOWN FUNK	MARK RONSON FT BRUNO MARS
3	THINKING OUT LOUD	ED SHEERAN
4	UP	OLLY MURS FT DEMI LOVATO
5	THESE DAYS	TAKE THAT
6	BLANK SPACE	TAYLOR SWIFT
7	NIGHT CHANGES	ONE DIRECTION
8	GO ALL NIGHT	GORGON CITY FT JENNIFER HUDSON
9	ALL ABOUT THAT BASS	MEGHAN TRAINOR
10	OUTSIDE	CALVIN HARRIS/ELLIE GOULDING
11	DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS	BAND AID 30
12	STEAL MY GIRL	ONE DIRECTION
13	FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK	POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL
14	WRAPPED UP	OLLY MURS FT TRAVIE MCCOY
15	LIKE I CAN	SAM SMITH
16	STAY WITH ME	SAM SMITH
17	REAL LOVE	CLEAN BANDIT FT JESS GLYNNE
18	JEALOUS	LABRINTH
19	LAST ALL NIGHT (KOALA)	OLIVER HELDENS FT KSTEWART
20	TAKE ME TO CHURCH	HOZIER
21	ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU	MARIAH CAREY
22	YOURS	ELLA HENDERSON
23	GHOST	ELLA HENDERSON
24	DANGEROUS	DAVID GUETTA FT SAM MARTIN
25	BUDAPEST	GEORGE EZRA
26	LET IT GO	IDINA MENZEL
27	CHANDELIER	SIA
28	I LOVED YOU	BLONDE FT MELISSA STEEL
29	I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE	SAM SMITH
30	SHAKE IT OFF	TAYLOR SWIFT
31	BANG BANG	JESSIE J/GRANDE/MINAJ
32	PHOTOGRAPH	ED SHEERAN
33	DEMONS	IMAGINE DRAGONS
34	DON'T	ED SHEERAN
35	BLAME IT ON ME	GEORGE EZRA
36	THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST	IRON MAIDEN
37	GOT NO FANS	WEALDSTONE RAIDER
38	SING	ED SHEERAN
39	CHANGING	SIGMA FT PALOMA FAITH
40	BLAME	CALVIN HARRIS FT JOHN NEWMAN