After 26 years, Mariah Carey could finally be about to claim No.1 with her festive perennial All I Want For Christmas Is You (Columbia).
In the latest issue of Music Week, we speak to execs and crunch the numbers on Christmas streaming as classic songs make an impact on the charts earlier than usual.
Carey’s single climbed 12 places to No.2, a position it has now reached on seven occasions. Sales of 36,251 were up 94.8% week-on-week. All I Want For Christmas Is You has total sales of 2,816,285.
Despite a strong challenge, Carey lost out to Ariana Grande, whose Positions (Island/Republic) secured a sixth week at the summit. Grande’s sales were off 10.4% at 38,394, so Carey may have the momentum to finally reach the summit next week.
But other festive songs could also come through. Although it’s only the first week of December, festive playlists have helped classics dominate the charts. There are 21 Christmas songs in the Top 40, including two Amazon Originals – Justin Bieber’s version of Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (No.21) and Jess Glynne’s cover of This Christmas (No.28).
The main challenger to Carey is Wham!’s Last Christmas (Sony Music CG), which moved up 17 places to No.3. Sales of 32,351 were up 100.9% week-on-week. Last Christmas, which has post-1994 sales of 1,873,226, matched its No.2 peak in 2017. It famously spent five weeks in second place in 1984-85, losing out to Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (which moved 38-15 in the latest chart).
Fairytale Of New York (Rhino) by The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl is also back in the Top 10. With sales of 25,271 (up 80.2% week-on-week), it charted at No.8 – not far off its No.2 peak in 1987. Post-1994 sales are 2,236,440.
Without the OCC’s ACR restriction, Christmas hits would occupy every one of positions one to seven, with All I Want For Christmas Is You sitting at the top by some distance.
In the albums chart, Michael Ball & Alfie Boe’s Together At Christmas (Decca) increased its sales in its second week – a feat no other No.1 album has managed this year. Although it fell to No.3, sales were up 6.6% week-on-week at 35,050.
Christmas (Warner Records) by Michael Bublé is a Top 10 album for the ninth time in 10 years. It made No.9, with consumption up 80.8% week-on-week (10,609 sales).
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