Wham complete their annual ascension to the top of the singles chart. Kylie Minogue gets her eleventh number one album.

One of the consequences of the singles chart being dominated by streams, specifically songs from playlists, is that the same songs dominate the chart every December. One of those songs is, of course, Wham’s Last Christmas which climbs to number one for the fifth time this week. Its first two runs at the top lasted for just one week but it has spent rather longer there for the last two years. Thus, this is its tenth week at the top in total. For many years, Last Christmas was the UK’s best-selling single not to have reached number one, having been beaten by Do They Know It’s Christmas in 1984. Now it is threatening the granddaddy of all chart records - the total of eighteen weeks at number one accumulated by Frankie Laine’s I Believe way back in 1953. At its current rate it could surpass that total next year or in 2027.

The first old Christmas song to top the chart thanks to streams was Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. Like Last Christmas, it didn’t top the chart first time round. In 1994 it was beaten by East 17’s Stay Another Day. It finally got to the top in 2020, just a few weeks before Last Christmas made it. It returned to number one two years later. This week it climbs to number three.

One of the clearest beneficiaries of the American dominance of streaming playlists is Brenda Lee's Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. It reached number six in 1962. After downloads was included in the chart it spent time in the very lower reaches of the chart as British buyers continued largely to ignore it. It didn’t reach the top forty until 2017 (three years after streams were first included), but has now become a regular visitor to the top ten. It climbs to number four this week, matching its peak reached in 2022 and ‘24. Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to Brenda Lee who was 81 on Thursday (11 December).

Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree, which only reached number 30 when it was released in 2013, climbs to number five, a new peak. The one non-Christmas song in the top five is Raye’s Where Is My Husband at number two.

A combination of the dominance of Christmas songs and the fact that it has gone on to the Accelerated Chart  Ratio (ACR), whereby the value of its streams are halved, sees Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia slump from the top of the chart to number seventeen. It is worth noting that the Christmas songs are also subject to ACR.

There is a new Christmas song amidst all the oldies, albeit just sneaking in at number 40. Gwen Stefani gets her first top forty hit since summer 2007 with Shake The Snow Globe. 

This is the week when I go to a commentary from last year so that I can copy and paste the credits for a particular Christmas song. Yes, Wizzard featuring Vocal backing By The Suedettes Plus The Stockland Green Bilateral School Choir With Additional Noises By Miss Snob And Class 3C with their 1973 offering I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day is a re-entry at number 32.

Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree may be over 60 years old, but at least it is possible to understand people of all ages enjoying listening to it. It is rather harder to believe that significant numbers of people are actively selecting some of the other songs that enter the chart every year. Included in this week’s batch of re-entries are Dean Martin’s Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It  Snow at number 22 and Nat ‘King’ Cole’s version of The Christmas Song at 39.

Kylie Minogue released her seasonal Kylie Christmas album in 2012. It peaked at number twelve. Now, on its tenth anniversary, there is a new version available. Special CD and vinyl versions are not released until today (Friday), but it has been streamed in enough numbers for it to enter at number one. Could this be the album that keeps Michael Buble off the top in the Christmas chart, at least for one year? This week that album is at number five. Kylie Christmas is her eleventh number one album, 27 years after her first.

Sam Fender’s People Watching re-entered the top forty last week, on the day that a new deluxe version was released. That new version helps the album to climb to number three.

Olivia Dean is at number two with The Art Of Loving. Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl is at number four.

There are no fewer than three live albums entering the chart this week, all of them recorded relatively recently. The most recent is also the highest-placed. After a highly successful 2023, Olivia Rodrigo was chosen as one of the headliners for this year’s Glastonbury Festival. She delivered a highly-praised set which is now available as an album. It enters this week at number twelve.

In 1993 Depeche Mode released Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live, a live version of their chart-topping Songs Of Faith And Devotion which had been released earlier that year. Now they have done the same with their Memento Mori album, released in 22023 when it reached number two. Memento Mori - Mexico City is at number 22.

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ live album is also based on a recent studio album. Wild God reached the top five last year. Live God is at number 33.

Rotherham band The Reytons are at number 27 with Roll The Dice. Their last three albums all entered the top five with What’s Rock ‘n’ Roll going to number one in 2023.

Radiohead’s European tour is currently underway. Their classic OK Computer album is back in the chart at number 40. It spent two weeks at number one when it was released in 1997 and spent its first fifteen weeks in the top ten.