‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the charts, several artists were stirring, to be in the number one spot.
Some festive classics are battling it out with more modern hits in the most competitive Christmas chart in years.
After LadBaby dropped out of the running after five years at the top at Christmas, it is all to play for.
Whoever is number one in the Official Singles Court on Friday will join some British musical icons who have previously secured the festive top spot, including The Beatles and the Spice Girls– as well asmore unlikely chart-toppers such as Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder.
Here, Sky News looks at this year’s contenders.
Wham! – Last Christmas
Image: Wham! in 1984
The 1984 hit was number one in last week’s chart – securing the top spot for the second week in a row.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s melancholy tale of a scorned lover is one of the favourites for the Christmas crown.
If it succeeds, it will be the first time it has been Christmas number one – it was famously kept off the top spot in 1984 by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?.
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Last Christmas has hit the top of the charts several times previously – but not as Christmas number one – in 2021, 2022 and January 2023.
Creator Universe – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
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Creator Universe – a collection of more than 30 TikTok stars – is in the race for Christmas number one with a cover of Wizzard’s 1973 track I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.
The song was only released on 15 December, with profits from the single to be donated to The Trussell Trust, which runs around 1,200 food banks across the UK.
Some of the online influencers who recorded the cover at London’s Abbey Road Studios were Rosie McClelland, The Famileigh and Amy-Jo Simpson.
Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas
Image: Mariah Carey in 2014
The US superstar missed out on Christmas number one to East 17’s Stay Another Day when both songs were released in 1994.
But Careyis in with a shot this year, charting at number three in last week’s chart.
The song broke UK chart records when it hit number one in December 2020 – 26 years after its release.
It has been in the top 40 for the festive season every year since 2007.
MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke said previously the song “should be the Christmas number one, it absolutely should. I’m very much in favour of that”.
She added: “I don’t think [getting to number one] was ever that important to him, because I think that he really appreciated the fact that so many people love it and it means so much to so many people, and being number one isn’t really all about being appreciated.”
MacGowan’s partner on the song, Kirsty MacColl, died in a boating accident in Mexico in December 2000.
Jack Harlow – Lovin On Me
Image: Jack Harlow at the 2023 Grammys
The first non-festive contender is US rapper Jack Harlow’s Lovin On Me.
It is the 25-year-old’s fourth top five single in the UK.
The song was previously in the number one spot for three consecutive weeks in November and December – making it Harlow’s first chart-topping song in the UK.
A snippet of the song went viral on TikTok before its release.
Noah Kahan – Stick Season
Image: Noah Kahan performing in 2019. Pic: AP
The US singer’s breakthrough UK hit climbed to the second place position on last week’s chart after 11 weeks in the chart.
The popularity of the 26-year-old’s song was boosted by a cover performed by pop star Olivia Rodrigo.
Kahan, from Vermont, first hit the charts in October, and has been in the second spot for two non-consecutive weeks.
Merry Christmas – Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John
Image: Sir Elton John and Ed Sheeran in 2021 when they secured the number one spot on the charts
Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John‘s 2021 offering was pipped in the Christmas charts that year by a remix of itself – LadBaby‘s Sausage Rolls For Everyone.
However, it was number one for three non-consecutive weeks that year, and reached a high of number three on last year’s Christmas charts.
An outside contender for 2023, it was in sixth position in last week’s chart.
A woman who was charged with selling Friends star Matthew Parry the dose of the drug that killed him has agreed to plead guilty.
Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen”, is the fifth and final defendant to strike a plea deal with prosecutors, avoiding a trial that was set to take place in September.
The 42-year-old agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the Ketamine that led to Perry’s death, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
She agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the Ketamine that led to Perry’s death, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
Prosecutors had cast Sangha, a dual US and UK national, as a prolific drug dealer known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen”, often using the term in court documents and even including it in the official name of the case.
Image: Actor Matthew Perry in 2015. File pic: Reuters
She agreed to plead guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Sangha will officially change her plea to guilty at an upcoming hearing, where sentencing will be scheduled, prosecutors said.
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Image: Dr. Mark Chavez, a physician from San Diego, who is charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s fatal overdose. Pic: AP
She is facing up to 45 years in prison.
Sangha and a doctor named Salvador Plasencia, who signed his own plea deal in June, had been the primary targets of the investigation.
Three other defendants – Mark Chavez, who it was claimed bought the drug from Sangha, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Flemin – agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Image: Friends became one of the most popular TV shows in the world in the 1990s and 2000s
Prosecutors allege Chavez funnelled ketamine to Plasencia, securing some of the drug from a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription.
In one instance, prosecutors allege that Plasencia “charged Perry $2,000 (£1,500) a vial that cost Dr Chavez approximately $12 (£9)”.
Perry died in his home in October 2023, aged 54, after getting ketamine from his regular doctor for treatment of depression, which is an increasingly common use for the surgical anaesthetic.
The actor was taking ketamine six to eight times a day before he died, according to court documents.
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Sharon Osbourne pays emotional tribute to Ozzy
The BBC reportedthe show would reveal the “extraordinary rollercoaster” of the Osbournes’ lives as Ozzy tries “heroically” to get fit enough to perform again.
It’s said to feature “unique and intimate access” to the family, including Ozzy’s children, Jack and Kelly, who appeared in the reality series that made them household names in the early 2000s.
The Black Sabbath frontman, who had Parkinson’s disease, died last month – just a few weeks after his final all-star gig at Birmingham’s Villa Park.
British actor Terence Stamp – who famously played General Zod in Superman and Superman II – has died at the age of 87.
The Oscar-nominated actor, who was born in London’s East End, also starred in hits such as Theorem, A Season in Hell, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
He formed one of Britain’s most glamorous couples with Julie Christie, with whom he starred in “Far From the Madding Crowd” in 1967.
In a statement, his family said: “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.