Christmas Number 1: X Factor winner Ben Haenow takes early lead in incredibly close race

Based on early Official Charts Company data up to midnight last night (Monday December 15), 75,000 copies of Ben’s track have been downloaded in the UK so far. The physical copy of the single will go on sale in record shops and supermarkets tomorrow.

Reigning Number 1 single Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars is currently just 23,000 copies behind Ben. However, the song will benefit from the addition of streaming into the chart for the first time this Christmas. Uptown Funk has a strong head start on the streaming front and is already the second most streamed track of the week on audio streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer, O2 Tracks and more, just behind Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud.

The current streaming trend tends 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 considerably in this week’s race. Uptown Funk was streamed 1.35 million times last week, and with 100 streams equating to one purchase on the Official Chart, this contributed 13,500 additional sales. Streams of Uptown Funk this week are tracking higher still, and likely to make an even greater contribution to this Sunday’s final tally.

Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot said: “The week of the Christmas Number 1 race is always among the most exciting in the Official Singles Chart calendar – and early data indicates that we have a genuine battle on our hands in 2014. By Sunday, we will know who has won out – but, for the moment, the race is on!”

Meanwhile, The Pogues are on track to enter the Top 10 for the first time in seven years this week with Fairytale of New York, also thanks in part to streaming. The track – which logs its 50th week in the Top 40 - is currently placed at Number 10 on the chart.

Could streaming boost festive classics into Christmas Number 1 race?

Further down the chart, Band Aid 30 are at Number 13 with Do They Know It’s Christmas? – the best-selling physical single of the week so far, and Mariah Carey festive classic All I Want For Christmas Is You is at 24.

This week’s highest climber so far is Imagine Dragons’ track Demons, which was performed by Ben during The X Factor live final and vaults from 124 to 28. Also benefitting from last weekend’s X Factor are One Direction, who enter at 39 with Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

Official Christmas Number 1 contenders Iron Maiden make an early midweek entry into the Top 40 with Number Of The Beast thanks to an anti-X Factor Facebook drive in the spirit of Rage Against The Machine’s infamous 2009 Killing in The Name campaign, which ended with them beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry to the top spot. The track – currently at Number 34 – originally charted at 18 on the Official Singles Chart in 1982, later re-entering and peaking at 3 in 2005.

Iron Maiden talk Christmas Number 1 race: "It's a cracking British tradition"

Finally, The Peace Collective’s All Together Now currently sits just outside the Top 40. The track, which was recorded by an all-star cast including Clean Bandit, Gorgon City and Engelbert Humperdinck, in aid of the British Red Cross and The Shorncliffe Trust, marks the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Day Truce during World War One, the events of which inspired the song.

The Peace Collective on Christmas Number 1 race: "We're the underdogs"

It is important to note that today’s sales flash is based on preliminary numbers and does not yet reflect all sales and streams. A fuller picture will be provided in tomorrow’s Official Chart Update and through the week, so the race is far from over yet!

The Official Christmas Singles Chart Top 40 will be counted down on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart show with Scott Mills and Jameela Jamil between 4 and 7pm this Sunday December 21, with the full Top 100 posted on OfficialCharts.com at 7pm.