Christmas number one: Wham!? The Pogues? Mariah? Chart race heats up as deadline nears

‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the charts, several artists were stirring, to be Top Of The Pops.

Festive classics are battling it out with more modern hits in the most competitive Christmas chart in years – and the final cut-off for sales and streams to count is midnight tonight.

Wham!’s Last Christmas was the early leader, but with a new mid-week vinyl release of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s Fairytale Of New York, following the death of frontman Shane MacGowan, there could be a change ahead of Friday’s big reveal.

There has also been hype building around fellow contenders Sam Ryder and Mariah Carey.

With LadBaby dropping 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 Chart on Friday, they will join some British musical icons who have previously secured the festive top spot, including The Beatles and the Spice Girls – as well as more unlikely chart-toppers such as Mr Blobby and Bob The Builder.

Here, Sky News looks at this year’s contenders.

Wham! – Last Christmas

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?.

Last Christmas has hit the top of the charts several times previously – but not as Christmas number one – in 2021, 2022 and January 2023.

Sam Ryder – You’re Christmas To Me

Sam Ryder is in the running after a late surge with his song You’re Christmas To Me.

His single was released exclusively through Amazon Music (so isn’t on Spotify or Apple) but he is now in a “tight scuffle” with Wham! for the Christmas number one, according to the Official Charts Company.

After finishing in second place in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, could Ryder go one better this time and top the festive charts?

Creator Universe – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

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

The US superstar missed out on Christmas number one to East 17’s Stay Another Day when both songs were released in 1994.

But Carey is 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.

The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale Of New York

After the death of The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan last month, an online campaign has gathered momentum to get their gloomy yet hopeful 1988 Christmas classic to the number one spot for the first time ever.

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

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

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.

Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John – Merry Christmas

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.