Oficial Singles Chart


ANALYSIS The Official UK Singles & Albums Charts are compiled by the Official Charts Company, based on a sample of more than 15,000 physical and digital outlets. They count actual sales and audio streams from last Friday to Thursday, based on sales of downloads, CDs, vinyl and other physical formats and weighted audio streams.


Built to Last Christmas: Wham! hit breaks record with second festive No.1


n BY ALAN JONES T


his Christmas, same as Last Christmas. Spending its second consecutive and ninth week overall at No.1, Last Christmas by Wham! is the Christmas No.1 for 2024, just as it was for 2023. Its ACR consumption climbs 28.66% week-on-week to 59,426 units (2,067 CDs, 4,397 12-inch vinyl, 1,860 digital downloads and 51,101 sales-equivalent streams), while its unadjusted consumption, on the Top 200 Combined Tracks chart, is up 20.44% to 110,528 units.


Now in its 41st year, the venerable warhorse – written by the late George Michael, who died on Christmas Day 2016 – is the only recording to be No.1 for two Christmases, consecutive or not. Including its original physical release, when it was a double A-sided hit alongside Everything She Wants, consumption of Last Christmas is now approaching six million units, with that unadjusted figure in the latest frame propelling its all-time tally to 5,984,618 units.


Holding at No.3 with ACR consumption up 1.82% week-on- week to 43,790, All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey becomes the first track in chart history to spend 100 weeks in the Top 40. It also holds the record for most weeks in the Top 10 (48). All I Want For Christmas Is You will go platinum for the ninth time in the next few days, with to-date consumption currently standing at 5,361,916 units.


Registering an impressive 33.42% jump in consumption week- on-week – its 13th straight week of increases – 23-year-old singer/ songwriter Lola Young’s debut hit Messy enters the Top 10 (11-7, 34,256 sales) for the first time.


The only existing Top 10 hit to reach a new peak this week is Amazon exclusive It Can’t Be Christmas, which climbs 6-4 (39,049 sales) for Tom Grennan, equalling his previous best chart performance, as set by KSI collaboration Not Over Yet in 2022. Meanwhile, KSI has the highest of the week’s four new entries, and his 26th hit, with Dirty (No.31, 17,669 sales). The rest of the Top 10: That’s So True (2-2, 49,574 sales) by Gracie Abrams, Apt (4-5, 38,285 sales) by Rosé & Bruno Mars, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (5-6, 37,317 sales) by Brenda Lee, Jingle Bell Rock (7-8, 31,994 sales) by Bobby Helms, Santa Tell Me (9-9, 30,048 sales) by Ariana Grande and Fairytale Of New York (8-10, 29,859 sales) by The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl. No.1 on the digital downloads chart, selling more copies (14,370) than the rest of the Top 10 added together, protest song Freezing This Christmas, credited to Sir Starmer & The Granny Harmers, fares less well overall, opening its Top 75 account at No.37 (15,860 sales). Pillorying the Prime Minister to the tune of Lonely This Christmas by Mud, it nevertheless makes a much better showing than Lib Dem leader Ed Davey’s uncharted Bath Philharmonia Choir collaboration Love Is Enough (451 sales). Icelandic singer Laufey’s third Top 75 entry is her version of


No.1


This week’s sales: 59,426 | Physical: 6,464 | Downloads: 1,860 | Streams: 51,101 | Total sales to date: 5,984,618 Wham! – Last Christmas (Epic)


the old chestnut, Santa Baby. Jumping 82-57 (12,064 sales), it is the third version of the song to chart, following Eartha Kitt’s 1953 original and Kylie Minogue’s 2000 cover, with Minogue’s peaking at No.31 in 2021, and Kitt’s at No.44 at the start of this year. Laufey’s two other hits continue to prosper, with Christmas Magic (20-19, 22,189 sales) reaching a new peak, and Winter Wonderland holding at No.40 (15,329 sales).


Christmas rush: Wham!’s Last Christmas maintained its grip on No.1 with a 28.7% increase in weekly chart consumption


Seven years after the last of her 14 prior hits charted, Kesha returns to the Top 75 with Spotify exclusive Holiday Road (No.66, 10,197 sales). Not explicitly Christmassy – its title is as close as it gets – it is a cover of a 1983 song by Lindsey Buckingham, then a Fleetwood Mac member, for the film National Lampoon’s Vacation. Sabrina Carpenter lands her sixth Top 20 hit, with A Nonsense Christmas, which climbs to No.16 (24,586 sales). There are also new peaks for: Run Rudolph Run (60-55, 12,257 sales) by Mark Ambor and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (75-62, 10,852 sales) by Frank Sinatra. The latter was recorded twice by Sinatra, first in 1947, then with a lyrical makeover a decade later. It previously peaked at No.67 in 2022.


In total there are seven Christmas/winter songs in the Top 10, 16 in the Top 20, 29 in the Top 40 and 42 in the Top 75 (excluding Holiday Road, Stay Another Day and Stick Season). Last Christmas, there were eight Christmas/winter songs in the Top 10, 16 in the Top 20, 32 in the Top 40 and 45 in the Top 75. Overall singles consumption is down 0.78% week-on-week at 31,000,560 units, 6.99% above same week 2023 consumption of 28,974,432 units. Paid-for sales are up 7.34% week-on-week at 296,841, 10.69% below same week 2023 sales of 332,373.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12