‘Twas the week earlier than Christmas, when all by the charts, a number of artists had been stirring, to be within the primary spot.

Some festive classics are battling it out with extra trendy hits in essentially the most aggressive Christmas chart in years.

After LadBaby dropped out of the running after 5 years on the prime at Christmas, it’s all to play for.

Whoever is primary within the Official Singles Count on Friday will be part of some British musical icons who’ve beforehand secured the festive prime spot, together with The Beatles and the Spice Girls – in addition to extra unlikely chart-toppers equivalent to Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder.

Here, Sky News appears at this 12 months’s contenders.

Wham! – Last Christmas

The 1984 hit was primary in final week’s chart – securing the highest spot for the second week in a row.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s melancholy story of a scorned lover is likely one of the favourites for the Christmas crown.

If it succeeds, it will likely be the primary time it has been Christmas primary – it was famously saved off the highest spot in 1984 by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?.

Last Christmas has hit the highest of the charts a number of occasions beforehand – however not as Christmas primary – in 2021, 2022 and January 2023.

Creator Universe – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

Creator Universe – a group of greater than 30 TikTook stars – is within the race for Christmas primary with a canopy of Wizzard’s 1973 monitor I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

The track was solely launched on 15 December, with income from the only to be donated to The Trussell Trust, which runs round 1,200 meals banks throughout the UK.

Some of the web influencers who recorded the quilt at London’s Abbey Road Studios had been Rosie McClelland, The Famileigh and Amy-Jo Simpson.

Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas

The US celebrity missed out on Christmas primary to East 17’s Stay Another Day when each songs had been launched in 1994.

But Carey is in with a shot this 12 months, charting at quantity three in final week’s chart.

The track broke UK chart data when it hit primary in December 2020 – 26 years after its launch.

It has been within the prime 40 for the festive season yearly since 2007.

The Pogues that includes Kirsty MacColl

After the death of The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan last month, a web-based marketing campaign has gathered momentum to get their gloomy but hopeful Christmas traditional to the primary spot for the primary time ever.

MacGowan’s spouse Victoria Mary Clarke said previously the track “should be the Christmas number one, it absolutely should. I’m very much in favour of that”.

She added: “I don’t think [getting to number one] was ever that important to him, because I think that he really appreciated the fact that so many people love it and it means so much to so many people, and being number one isn’t really all about being appreciated.”

MacGowan’s accomplice on the track, Kirsty MacColl, died in a boating accident in Mexico in December 2000.

Jack Harlow – Lovin On Me

The first non-festive contender is US rapper Jack Harlow’s Lovin On Me.

It is the 25-year-old’s fourth prime 5 single within the UK.

The track was beforehand within the primary spot for 3 consecutive weeks in November and December – making it Harlow’s first chart-topping track within the UK.

A snippet of the track went viral on TikTook earlier than its launch.

Noah Kahan – Stick Season

The US singer’s breakthrough UK hit climbed to the second place place on final week’s chart after 11 weeks within the chart.

The reputation of the 26-year-old’s track was boosted by a canopy carried out by pop star Olivia Rodrigo.

Kahan, from Vermont, first hit the charts in October, and has been within the second spot for 2 non-consecutive weeks.

Merry Christmas – Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John

Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John‘s 2021 providing was pipped within the Christmas charts that 12 months by a remix of itself – LadBaby‘s Sausage Rolls For Everyone.

However, it was primary for 3 non-consecutive weeks that 12 months, and reached a excessive of quantity three on final 12 months’s Christmas charts.

An exterior contender for 2023, it was in sixth place in final week’s chart.