Official Christmas Number 1 contenders: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity

As the UK's biggest chart race – the Official Christmas Number 1 – inches ever closer, Official Charts is shining a big string of festive fairy lights on this year's key players.

This past month when the long-touted live-action adaption of the musical Wicked hit the theatre screens it was an immediate sensation, generating massive box office success, turning stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande into real-time Oscar contenders and a deep, deep obsession with its soundtrack that helped it break chart records upon its debut.

You could even say...something has changed within me...something is not the same...

Defying Gravity is the tentpole song, the beating heart and emotional centre of both the musical and its live-action adaptation. Although it brings the first act of the musical to a close, Defying Gravity serves as the climax for Wicked (it being the first of two parts, its sequel set for release next year). 

Sung as a duet between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) as Elphaba realises how corrupt the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldbum) is, and how he's been trying to manipulate her own magical abilities for his own political agenda. 

Defying Gravity is (rightly) seen as one of the defining Broadway standards of the modern era. It was originally sung by the show's first leads, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, and has been covered several times, most notably in the jukebox comedy-drama Glee. 

Upon Wicked's theatrical release, Defying Gravity debuted straight inside the UK Top 10, becoming a new entry at Number 7, a position it held for two consecutive weeks. It became the landmark 23rd Top 10 hit in the UK for Grande - her third of 2024, following yes, and? and we can't be friends (wait for your love) - and the first-ever Top 10 single for Cynthia Erivo.

Holding steady for its second week in the Top 10, Defying Gravity is that rare musical theatre number that the British public has well and truly embraced, and is definitely marked as a non-Christmas song to keep an eye on this festive period, given the film's domination at the box office, one of the year's truly exemplary cinematic events. 

Could it go all the way to Number 1 this Christmas? Stranger things have happened. And as Elphaba herself says; nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring her down.

..And how are we to argue with that?

When will the 2024 Christmas Number 1 be revealed?

This year's Official Christmas Number 1 race 2024 kicks off Friday December 13 with sales and streams counting up until midnight (11.59pm) on Thursday, December 19.   

Tune in to The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1 on Friday December 20 from 4pm to hear the Christmas Top 40 countdown and the exclusive reveal of the Official Christmas Number 1 2024. 

The full Top 100 Official Christmas Singles Chart and Albums Chart will be published on OfficialCharts.com from 5.45pm. 

Join the conversation now using the hashtag #XmasNo1. Follow @OfficialCharts on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. For all the latest race updates join the Official Charts mailing list for Breaking News on this year’s race and beyond.