Illusion! To Mariah Carey: How to win the Christmas number one race.

This year’s Christmas number one singles will be revealed on Friday, featuring a mix of old favourites, new efforts and wild cards.

Last year, Illusion! The classic Last Christmas Topping the Yuletide Singles Chart, Notable for the first time since its release in 1984, when the original Band-Aid release debuted at number one.

As is tradition, the festive number one will be announced on the BBC Radio 1 Chart Show from 16:00 GMT on the Friday before Christmas.

At the time of writing, a collection full of artists – naughty and nice – are hoping to top the list.

Illusion!Key’s hit is leading the way after topping the last chart before Christmas, as people streamed it to get into the festive spirit. It has also been reissued on CD and 12-inch vinyl for its 40th anniversary for the final week of the chart run, giving it a further boost.

Another seasonal dish, Mariah Carey’s I want for Christmas, is not far behind.

are also in this year’s mix Brenda Lee‘Golden Oldie Rockin’ around the Christmas tree and the latest incarnation Band-Aid.

They are joined by a new festive tune. Tom GreenanWhile the songs by Ariana Grande And Kelly Clarkson Christmas classics have established themselves as returning.

Or the chart crown could go to something non-Christmas – like recent hits by Gracie Abrams, rose And Bruno Marsor growing rapidly Lola Young.

There was a long time when the Christmas number one was reserved for the latest X Factor winner – seven times between 2005-14 – or novelty charity fundraising sausage roll enthusiast LadBaby, a five-time winner between 2018-22. was

And just as with buying presents, according to Official Chart Company boss Martin Talbot, the key for any artist involved now is to step into Christmas with confidence and strategy, and to go early.

“The singles market these days, in general terms, is very much dominated by year-round streaming,” he says.

“But the Christmas market is a market where you can sell a lot of physical things. [copies and] Lots of downloads and really makes a big difference. Because people want to buy gifts.

“Illusion right there! [with the 40th anniversary re-release] Will do very well this year.”

In the digital age, physical or download sales count far more than streams in the charts.

“The other thing is if you have a charity record, let’s not be shy about it,” notes Talbot.

It’s an adage that hasn’t been lost on Bob Geldof and the Band Aid team, who are at it again with their 40th anniversary Ultimate Mix, this time making headlines. After Ed Sheeran said He would have preferred for his voice not to be reused because of the song’s depiction of Africa.

“When people engage with a charity record, they’re not doing it because they specifically want to listen to the charity record over and over again, notes Talbot.

“Streaming doesn’t really work.” Instead, he says: “It’s all about voting. And you cast your vote by downloading or buying physical products.”

East 17, Rev. and Makers And Famous people All are supporting various charities this year as well, as they are. South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

Mariah’s slow-burning 1994 anthem finally topped the UK charts for the first time in 2020, A return to the summit in 2022.

Despite this, she is hailed by revelers across the country every December, as the unofficial Queen of Christmas ((His bid to trademark that moniker was rejected by US authorities.) Never topped the UK charts during Christmas week itself.

“It was the first Christmas song I ever wrote and I was just thinking about all the things I really wanted for Christmas,” she said. Raylan recently said in an interview with the BBC.

“I think I’ve changed it, if there’s something you love, it means more than all of that.” oh

His tune, like Wham!’s and Band Aid’s, has benefited from heavy promotion on top Christmas playlists from streaming services such as Spotify, Apple and Amazon.

In recent years, Amazon has put its strength behind new Christmas songs that are exclusive to its service. These include Sam Ryder’s Your Christmas to Me, which lost to Illusion! Last year, and Ellie Goulding’s River, which topped the charts just after Christmas in 2019.

This year, Grennan’s soulful, loving It Can’t Be Christmas is available exclusively through Amazon Music.

Grenin, who actually wrote the track in Los Angeles over the summer, said it was a “no-brainer” for him to team up with the streamer to create his own festival song.

Amazon has also commissioned an Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter. LaufeyThe magic of Christmas.

He said it was “an interesting challenge” to be asked to come up with an original to take action against the usual suspects.

The classically trained star’s jazzy number is in Red One, the holiday-themed action movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans and Lucy Liu – and produced by Amazon.

Chart expert James Masterson says the Christmas number one race began in 1984 as an invention of British bookmakers.

While it used to produce many bona fide pop hits, he believes the concept has been “ruined” in recent years, not least by the well-intentioned LadBaby.

“It became pointless to speculate about what Christmas number one was going to be,” he says of the Lad Baby era.

“That’s why when he didn’t release a song last year, he left a void and it was a void that nobody came to fill.”

Last Christmas “won by default”, he says, because it appeared at the top of all Christmas playlists with “the same old songs, every year, in the same order”.

Because of the crowded Christmas market, Masterson says that many record labels began to feel that it was no longer worth worrying about the year-end charts.

Chart rules dictate that songs released in the past three years are weighted more appropriately than songs already in the Christmas canon.

But even with that factor in their favor, he feels it’s getting harder for artists with genuinely good new weather songs to “get enough momentum” to “get lucky.”

“I think if Last Christmas by Wham! gets the Christmas number by default again, it will be a disaster for the whole concept,” he concluded.

So anyone is starting to bid late – even if they are late fans. Liam PayneLiberal Democrat leader Ed Davey or The Yorkshire Pudding Boy – Perhaps a cracking campaign will be needed.

Fans of – have been troubled in the past Rage against machine killing in the name 2009 put a small but welcome dent in the X Factor’s monopoly.

Talbot believes that if Sheeran really “wanted to really go for it” with Under the Tree, his song from the Richard Curtis movie That Christmas, he could challenge the illusion! And Carrie.

Alternatively, “Wicked tendency can be really powerful”, meaning Cynthia Arroyo And Grande’s gravity-defying set could create a “surprise” as family and friends head out to the cinema.

American pop sensation. Sabrina Carpenter has released a Christmas-focused EP, Fruitcake, which may have topped the festive album charts, but its tracks don’t seem to be in the running for the singles crown.

So it’s starting to look like Vim! Like last Christmas, Christmas will be number one again.