There’s not nearly so much cachet in having a No.1 album at Christmas as a No.1 single, but it is still an estimable achievement and one which, in days of yore, when album sales went ballistic this time of year, was considerably more profitable.

The battle to land this year’s Christmas album crown was a triangular one.

Leading for much of the week, Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights – which became her ninth No.1 last month – had just ...