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Ed Sheeran and Elton John heading for second week at Number 1 on Official Singles Chart with Merry Christmas
Wham! and Mariah Carey are also in a closely-fought battle for Number 2 this week.
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Ed Sheeran and Elton John are heading for a second week at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart with their new collaboration Merry Christmas. The track is zooming ahead of its competition in our First Look Chart Update.
Merry Christmas is also one of the front-runners for the coveted Christmas Number 1 this year, next week Ed and Elton will team up with LadBaby for a remix of the track, Sausage Rolls For Everyone, where LadBaby will be challenging to break an Official Charts record as the first act to ever gain four consecutive Christmas Number 1s.
Meanwhile, there’s a hotly-contested battle for Number 2 between two festive classics. As it stands, less than 2,00 chart sales are separating Wham!’s Last Christmas and Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You in the runner-up slot. Currently, Wham! are expected to rise one place to Number 2, while Mariah is at Number 3.
More Christmas songs should be in for a rise in the Top 10 this week too. The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl could rise one spot to Number 6 with Fairytale of New York, while George Ezra’s Amazon Original exclusive track Come On Home For Christmas could crack the Top 10 for the first time, rising 18 places to Number 8. It would be the singer-songwriter’s sixth UK Top 10 hit.
Outside the Top 10, Kelly Clarkson could reach a new peak this week with her modern Christmas classic Underneath The Tree. The track is looking to rise three places to Number 14. It previously peaked at Number 15. Other tracks currently on the rise in the Top 20 include Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me (16) and Andy Williams’ It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (17).
And finally, Official Charts newcomer Olivia Dean could well gain her first ever UK Top 20 single this Friday. Her Nat King Cole cover The Christmas Song - another Amazon Music exclusive - is seeking to vault 21 places to Number 18.
The Official Singles Chart Top 100 is revealed on OfficialCharts.com every Friday at 5.45pm. Follow the Top 40 countdown live on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart show with Scott Mills.
Official Chart: First Look Top 20 - December 12, 2021
| LW | CURRENT | TITLE | ARTIST |
| 1 | 1 | MERRY CHRISTMAS | ED SHEERAN & ELTON JOHN |
| 3 | 2 | LAST CHRISTMAS | WHAM |
| 4 | 3 | ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU | MARIAH CAREY |
| 2 | 4 | EASY ON ME | ADELE |
| 5 | 5 | ABCDEFU | GAYLE |
| 7 | 6 | FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK | POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL |
| 6 | 7 | MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE | SHAKIN' STEVENS |
| 26 | 8 | COME ON HOME FOR CHRISTMAS | GEORGE EZRA |
| 10 | 9 | ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE | BRENDA LEE |
| 9 | 10 | IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE | MICHAEL BUBLE |
| 14 | 11 | DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS | BAND AID |
| 15 | 12 | SEVENTEEN GOING UNDER | SAM FENDER |
| 16 | 13 | STEP INTO CHRISTMAS | ELTON JOHN |
| 17 | 14 | UNDERNEATH THE TREE | KELLY CLARKSON |
| 8 | 15 | FLOWERS (SAY MY NAME) | ARRDEE |
| 19 | 16 | SANTA TELL ME | ARIANA GRANDE |
| 20 | 17 | IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR | ANDY WILLIAMS |
| 39 | 18 | THE CHRISTMAS SONG | OLIVIA DEAN |
| 27 | 19 | DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS | CHRIS REA |
| 13 | 20 | OVERPASS GRAFFITI | ED SHEERAN |
©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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thierry henon
Now that we have had WHAM and MARIAH at number 1 last year, i would love to see either THE POGUES or BRENDA LEE at number 1!! But as i really like our MERRY XMAS by Elton and ED, i wouldn't mind if they stuck around for a few more weeks at the top of the single chart!
Lawrence Colwell
Little Things by Abba, should have been up there, its a shame it was not streamed much, in physical chart places it was straight in at number 2, beaten to the top by Ed and Elt, 💩 I would like to see Wham at number one Or The Pouges with Kirsty just for the sake of it. However it is raising money for good causes so that's the positive thing!
BP
If anyone wants to get at no.1, release a stupid Christmas song.
Streaming is enough, the times of real physical sales are over.
These fake charts are totally irrelevant.
Zimowski
Well, if sales are over, doesn't it mean that charts with streaming are actually relevant?
You are mad at charts for the fact that people don't buy physicals. Strange
T
TimisD
Charts are even more accurate now and charts are not fake at all. Indeed, physical sales are almost over. And in my opinion physical sales will keep on declining as the years go by. And keep in mind that we're living in a new era of consuming music. It's called digital era.
Piran
‘Rockin Around The Christmas Tree’ has really taken over in the UK over the past few years!
Glad to see it doing so well nowadays. :)
Piran
‘Seventeen Going Under’ would be #3 without Christmas songs! :O
Piran
Come on, Wham! 😍
⁉️
Not a fan personally, but the replacement isn’t much better so I would be fine with it. 😩
Zimowski
OCC should ban old songs, like billboard does after 20-something week.
It's ridiculous how one track can come back every year and block new material. Really sick of this song...
Piran
No, they shouldn’t!
If a song is getting lots of sales & streams, then it deserves to be high in the charts, because that’s what they’re there for, to tell us what songs are currently the most popular.
Besides, the Billboard chart rule that you’re referring to only applies to songs that would otherwise below the Top 50, but as you can see from the current Hot 100 chart, this rule clearly hadn’t stopped Christmas songs from returning at all! :P
Zimowski
well, they have that 3 song per artist rule, and that ratio after several weeks, so the charts aren't accurate already (because people were complaining how many Ed Sheeran songs were in top100).
it wouldn't hurt to have another rule then. It would also deprive us of the "pleasure" of having the same top10 every year and to give other artists their chance to get a christmas hit
Piran
The issue is that the more OCC add these different rules to the charts, the less they reflect what people are actually buying & streaming the most. :/
Zimowski
yes, but they aren't working. We have 4 Ed Sheeran songs in top100 now: Merry christmas, sausage roll, shivers and graffiti. Bad Habits is out due to the three-song rule. Or do duets count as 0.5 of a song?
We already have many rules, let's then cancel them. I'm totally for it, never had a problem with Drake's or Ed's hits
Piran
I think they only go by lead artist credits, so featured appearances are exempt from the three songs rule! :P