As Christmas approaches, so does the anticipated Christmas number one of the year. Will it be “Last Christmas”’s second win in a row? Or will the people’s Christmas princess Mariah Carey finally get that crown that “All I want for Christmas is you” never achieved. There are only two weeks of charts left before this year’s winner is announced, and today’s chart is already very festive! For the first time in more than a month, Gracie Abrams has lost the number one spot which is now instead held by last year’s Christmas hit winner “Last Christmas” by WHAM! And just like previous weeks, Rose and Bruno Mars’s “APT” is holding on tight to the top five, soon followed by Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee’s “Rocking around the Christmas Tree”.
WHAM! “Last Christmas” is on its 103rd week in the top 100, and eight as number one. The song first begun charting in 2007, many years after its first release in December 1984. It took almost forty years for the song to achieve the number one position, despite being one of the most popular Christmas songs ever released. It achieved the number one position in 2021 and 2023, peaking at one around Christmas in 2022 but failing to hold on to the position over Christmas day. Will it take the title again this year?
Right after “Last Christmas”, Gracie Abrams is still holding on to the top five with her hit song “That’s so True” off of the deluxe edition of “The Secret of Us”, her second full length album. This is Abrams’s first song to achieve such a high position, which has granted her a fanbase big enough to play a sold-out show at the London’s O2 Arena next year. Will Abrams hold on to the title long enough, or will it lose spots to give space to other Christmas hits?
At number three, Mariah Carey is getting closer and closer to that number one spot that “All I want for Christmas is You” has never reached over Christmas. In 2021 and 2023, the song reached the top spots of UK charts in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but each time lost the place before the Christmas number one of the year could be announced. Is this Mariah’s year? The song is already playing all over radios all throughout the UK, and it is perhaps seen worldwide as the most iconic of all Christmas songs. It’s only a couple more spots to climb, and the title goes to Carey!
Rosè and Bruno Mars’s “APT” is still charting in the top five, on its eight week in UK’s charts. After peaking at number two, the song has held on the top spots tight despite the growing number of Christmas songs climbing the charts.
Finally, at number five, Brenda Lee’s “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” is climbing up the charts. It’s its 78th week charting, and has, so far, only peaked at number four in 2023. But this is the song’s fourth year in the top five. Does this mean 2024 is Lee’s year? Only time will tell.
The Christmas number one will be announced on the BBC Radio 1 on December 20.
