Wham's Last Christmas tops the singles chart once again. Taylor Swift retains the number one album spot.

Wham return to the top of the singles chart again. Taylor Swift is still at the top of the

It’s just like Last Christmas as Wham climb to number one. Last Christmas has now sp[ent at least one week at number one in four of the last five years, having missed out on the top spot to Band Aid when it was first released forty years ago. There has only been one number one by a British artist since Wham last topped the chart Last Christmas.

After five weeks at number one, Gracie Abrams succumbs to the Wham onslaught and slips to number two.

Mariah Carey is at number three with All I Want For Christmas Is You. The second non-Christmas song in the top five is Rose and Bruno Mars’ Apt at number four. Brenda Lee celebrated her 80th birthday this week. Her 1962 hit Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree is at number five.

Sabrina Carpenter released A Nonsense Christmas two years ago. It reached the dizzy heights of number 78. The following year its chart run was identical, one week at number 78. After a highly successful 2024, she is now rather better known and the song enters the top forty for the first time at number 25.

This week’s festive re-entries include two with a sesquipedalian credit. Wizzard featuring Vocal backing By The Suedettes Plus The Stockland Green Bilateral School Choir With Additional Noises By Miss snob And Class 3C get their annual mention as I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is at number 33. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir is at number 38.

Haven member raliverpool compared the main Spotify festive playlist with Wednesday’s chart update. Every one of the top six songs in the playlist was in the top ten of the singles chart. That is surely clear evidence of the influence one streaming provider has on the chart every December. The two songs mentioned above are among the few that comfortably outperform their place on that playlist, suggesting that listeners are making a deliberate choice to play them rather than simply not bothering to skip them when they come up on a playlist.

Continuing with the festive favourites (and playlist-inflicted songs), Chris Rea’s Driving Home For Christmas is back at number 34 and l;eona Lewis’s One More Sleep slips in at 38. Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Chriustmastime is at number 28.

Laufey’s two entries suffer contrasting fates. Her version of Winter Wonderland crashes sixteen places to number 40. However, her original song Christmas Magic climbs nineteen places to number twenty.

Sia’s Snowman climbs eleven places to number eighteen, comfortable beating its previous peak. There is also a new peak position for Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree (number ten). The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl make the top ten for the eighth consecutive year, at number eight. The most successful new Christmas song of the year, for now at least, is Tom Grennan’s It Can’t Be Christmas at number six.

Away from Christmas, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga return at number 37 with Die With A Smile while Lola Young’s Messy soars 24 places to number eleven.

After returning to the top of the albums chart last week courtesy of an Anthology edition Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department stays there this week, bringing its total up to ten weeks at the summit. It is the first album by a non-British solo artist to sp[end ten weeks at number one since Shania Twain’s Come On Over in 1999. Swift’s massive Eras tour came to an end in Canada this week.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet continues to make the number two spot its own. After releasing A Nonsense Christmas in 2022, she released a whole EP of Christmas songs last year. Again, the then little-known Carpenter failed to reach the top forty. This week Fruitcake is at number five.

Michael Buble’s Christmas album is at number three.

Blackpink’s Rose is at number four with Rosie. She is the first female K-pop artist to get a solo album into the top five although she has had two top five albums with her group.

At this time of year, it is customary for Andre Rieu, with or without a credit for his Johann Strauss Orchestra to have a top ten album. The appeal of the luxuriously-coiffed Dutchman seems to be slipping. The Sound Of Heaven is only at number 29.