Kylie, RAYE, Olivia Dean, Together For Palestine, Taylor Swift, Kpop Demon Hunters, The Pogues, WHAM!, Mariah Carey, and even Denise Welch - 2025’s Christmas Number 1 race has it all!
The biggest Official Chart race of the year is go!
The Official Christmas Number 1 race 2025 kicks off today, Friday 12 December, with sales and streams counting up until midnight (11.59pm) on Thursday, 18 December.
The winner, as confirmed by Official Charts, will be crowned live on air by Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart on Friday 19 December from 4pm, with the full Top 100 Official Christmas Singles Chart and Albums Chart published exclusively on OfficialCharts.com at 5.45pm.?
Join the conversation now using the hashtag #XmasNo1. Follow @OfficialCharts on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky. For all the latest race updates join the Official Charts mailing list and opt in for ‘Breaking News’ on this year’s race.
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Who’s in the running for this year’s Christmas Number 1 crown?
With WHAM! claiming last year’s coveted title for a second time with Last Christmas, it's a bold warrior who would throw themselves into battle with such proven festive chart giants. But, we have a gaggle of brave pop soldiers stepping up to do just that.
New Releases and Possible Climbers
Kylie Minogue – XMAS (out now)
All together now! “X-M-A-S! X-M-A-S!” Kylie Minogue teams up with Amazon Music UK on somewhat of a…modern-day YMCA. With its camp-as-Christmas, TikTok-ready choreo, Kylie’s Amazon exclusive follows a string of seasonal success stories from the streaming platform, including Tom Grennan’s 2024 Top 5 offering It Can’t Be Christmas and Sam Ryder’s Number 2 smash You’re Christmas To Me, which gave Last Christmas a real run for its money in 2023.
Lifted from a brand-new ‘Fully Wrapped’ repack of her 2015 Kylie Christmas collection, could XMAS see Kylie claim an eighth UK chart-topper, and her first-ever Christmas Number 1?
Given she’s dropping a range of physical versions on the first day of the Christmas Number 1 race, including a gold 7” vinyl, a 12” zoetrope vinyl and signed CD editions, the princess of pop most definitely has her eyes locked on the festive crown.
RAYE – WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! (out now)
She’d famously like a big and shiny diamond, but RAYE would probably settle for one of those cheapo plastic rings from a Christmas cracker if you could guarantee her the 2025 Christmas Number 1. WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! has been bubbling away in the Top 3 for six weeks – could Christmas party season finally push it all the way?
Olivia Dean – So Easy (To Fall In Love) / Man I Need (out now)
With both a Number 1 single and album already under her belt in 2025, can Walthamstow singer Olivia Dean cap off her incredible breakthrough year with the festive chart crown too? With not one, but two of her songs currently holding their own among a very Christmassy midweek Top 10 - So Easy (To Fall In Love) and Man I Need - it’s 100% within reaching distance if her fans rally over the next seven days.
Taylor Swift – The Fate Of Ophelia/Opalite (out now)
You’d be foolish to rule Taylor Swift out of the running after the record-breaking year she’s had. With three key contenders from The Life Of A Showgirl riding high on the Official Singles Chart, Swifties will be keen to see Taylor take one of the very few accolades she’s still yet to achieve – the UK Christmas Number 1.
Denise Welch – Slayyy Bells (out now)
Listen up, huns! Going head-to-head with Kylie, RAYE, Taylor and more is Loose Women’s very own Denise Welch, with her hyperpop festive banger Slayyy Bells. With iconic lyrics like ‘we’re serving looks, not turkey,’ this is what the Christmas Number 1 race is all about. It’s giving…BRAT winter.
#ChartFact: this isn’t actually Denise’s first flirtation with the Official Charts. Back in 1995, she scored a Number 23 hit with her version of Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.
HUNTR/X – Golden/How It’s Done/What It Sounds Like (out now)
In the year that saw K-pop going up, up, up the Official Charts, could a first-ever K-pop Christmas Number 1 be the latest in a line of record-breaking feats for the genre? Netflix phenomenon Kpop Demon Hunters has had the nation in its grip, with animated force HUNTR/X racking up 10 non-consecutive weeks atop the Official Singles Chart with Golden and landing a place in the Official biggest songs of 2025 so far.
A three-pronged attack, HUNTR/X enter the race for 2025’s Christmas Number 1 with Golden, How It’s Done and What It Sounds Like all in their arsenal. What’s more, the latter receives a vinyl pressing shipping on December 12, making it a key contender.
Tom Fletcher – One Of Us (from Paddington The Musical) (out now)
It wouldn’t be a Christmas Number 1 race without a contender of the cuddly variety. Celebrating the launch of Paddington The Musical at London’s Savoy Theatre, Paddington Bear swaps marmalade sandwiches for the mixing desk with One Of Us.
The heartwarming ballad, performed by ‘Mrs Brown’ in the musical, has been recorded by the show’s composer and lyricist, McFly’s Tom Fletcher. Look out for the music video, filmed at a deserted Paddington station, starring Tom and our furry friend from Darkest Peru.
Ian Gillan & UROCK – IN LINE (out December 12)
Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan teams up with self-produced band UROCK, led by American-Italian vocalist Umberto Urock, for this statement of self-governance, resisting ‘mass mediocrity.’ The track’s backed by social media campaigner Jon Morter, whose Facebook push famously took Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name to victory over Joe McElderry’s The Climb back in 2009.
Charity Singles
Together For Palestine – Lullaby (out December 12)
The team behind Together For Palestine, the sold-out September 2025 Wembley gig that raised over £2 million for Gaza, release charity single Lullaby on December 12, the very day the UK's Official Christmas Number 1 race kicks off.
Featuring a host of UK and Palestinian musicians - including Amena, Yasmeen Ayyashi, Bastille's Dan Smith, Leigh-Anne, Neneh Cherry, Mabel and many more. This powerful reimagining of traditional Palestinian folk song Yamma Mweel El Hawa (O song of longing, mother) will see all profit go to Choose Love’s Together For Palestine Fund, supporting three Palestinian-led organisations: Taawon, Palestine Children's Relief Fund and Palestine Medical Relief Service.
SpudBros & Vicky McClure’s Our Dementia Choir - Brighter Than The Night (out December 12)
The UK's most-loved and followed jacket potato connoisseurs have joined forces with Vicky McClure's Our Dementia Choir to release Brighter Than The Night, as well as a limited edition, SpudX® Festive Spud, both raising funds for the charity supporting people living with dementia. The track is written by Antony Llewellyn and performed by SpudBros’ very own redcap Huw Roberts, as well as members of Our Dementia Choir.
The campaign is shedding light on how harnessing the power of music and food can bring comfort and connection to families who need it most.
Home Care’s Got Talent Choir - Angels (out now)
Dan Archer, UK CEO of home care service Visiting Angels, leads the Home Care’s Got Talent Choir and their cover of Robbie Williams’ Angels. Recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, Angels includes vocals from The Voice star Kuill and Bucks Fizz’s Jay Aston, aiming to shine a light on the vital role of care workers. All profits from the single will be donated to The Care Workers Charity.
Festive faves / limited editions
The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York (out now)
A seasonal stalwart returning to the Top 40 every year since 2005, The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl’s Fairytale of New York has so far peaked at Number 2. With its release of a 12-inch zoetrope vinyl on December 12, complete with a previously unheard 1987 live version of MacColl’s first performance with the band, it’ll be hoping to go all the way this time around.
Kelly Clarkson – Underneath The Tree (out now)
This modern Christmas classic, released in 2013, broke the Top 10 for the first time last year and tracking to debut in the Top 5 for the first time ever this week. Can its upward trajectory take it all the way?
Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas (out now)
With a new limited white vinyl pressing out on December 5, Chris Rea’s melancholic seasonal offering is aiming to beat the Number 10 peak it achieved in 2021.
Shakin’ Stevens – Merry Christmas Everyone (out now)
This year marks 40 years since Shaky’s yuletide tune claimed the Christmas Number 1 of 1985. What better way to celebrate than by seeing the staple back at the festive summit?
WHAM! – Last Christmas (out now)
WHAM! made Official Chart history in 2024 when Last Christmas became the first song ever to clinch the Christmas Number 1 crown in two consecutive years. Can Andrew Ridgeley make it a hat-trick in 2025?
Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You (out now)
Somehow, the undisputed Queen of Christmas has never actually secured the Christmas Number 1 title with All I Want For Christmas Is You. It’s got to happen sometime, right?
Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (out now)
“It’s Christmaaaaas!” The glam rock outfit, now working under the name Dave Hill’s Slade, kick off their ‘final’ tour this December, playing cities across the UK throughout the week of the Christmas Number 1 race. Coincidence? We think not.
Whoever you’re backing, you’ve got until 23.59pm on Thursday 18 December to make your sales and streams count. Tune into BBC Radio 1 from 4pm on Friday 19 December to see who is crowned 2025’s Official Christmas Number 1. Follow @OfficialCharts for updates.
