It’s Ava Max vs. LadBaby vs. Ariana Grande for 2018’s Official Christmas Number 1

The battle for 2018's Christmas Number 1 is very close.
ladbaby-ava-max-ariana-grande.jpg

The race for this year’s Official Christmas Number 1 single is in full swing, with three acts locked in a close battle for 2018’s festive crown.

Currently leading the way is Ava Max’s Sweet But Psycho. The US singer-songwriter’s breakout hit has been perched at Number 2 for the last two weeks and leads today’s Official Chart Update by just 978 combined sales and streams.

Close behind is YouTube sensation LadBaby, who has recorded is own version of Starship’s 1985 hit We Built This City, this time dedicated to sausage rolls rather than rock and roll. The popular 'dad blogger' – real name Mark Hoyle – is hoping to get the track to the top spot as a present to his long-suffering wife Roxanne. Proceeds from the single go to foodbank charity The Trussell Trust.

Just 508 combined sales behind LadBaby is last week’s Number 1, thank u, next by Ariana Grande, while her brand-new track imagine is new at Number 4. Closing out the Top 5 at the halfway stage of the chart week is Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You.  

New Entries and high climbers

Two more Christmas classics are currently inside the Top 10: Wham’s Last Christmas is at 8 and The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York is at 9.

Another Christmas chart contender, Light Up by Flakefleet Primary School, currently sits at Number 15. Pupils from the Lancashire school have recorded an original single, Light Up, in aid of The Alzheimers Society.

Elsewhere, several more festive favourites are climbing the Top 40, including Michael Buble’s It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (16), Leona Lewis’ One More Sleep (17), Elton John’s Step Into Christmas (18) and Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone (20).

Finally, a group of singing fire service personnel called The Fire Tones have covered Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas in support of The Fire Fighters Charity and the Band Aid Charity Trust. The track is currently at Number 67.

Related artists

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Alfred Lock

1

Ladbaby will do it as it's comfortably ahead of Ava and Ariana so their major record labels will grudgingly except defeat and not embarrassment for losing to the great British sausage roll.Told you we are a nation of eccentrics and Youtube can beat streaming for a change at Xmas. Have some merry sausage rolls!

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James Quinn

11

LADY BABY WINS!!

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paul tolley

0

sometimes in life you have to eat humble pie. yesterday ava was pulling clear in the race to be number one . however a lot has happened since and ladbaby is selling bigtime and now has an unassailable lead. miracles do happen and sometimes people get followers behind them and create a force thats like a runaway train . so what do i know . obviously nothing and all the streams in the world is not gonna stop ladbaby. so congratulations are in order and whether you like the sausage rolls or not you must say well done to him and i do

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paul tolley

0

with 2 days to go ava max has pulled further clear and like i said in my first reply the holder of the midweek number one is almost impossible to overtake . so im certain ava max will be xmas number one . with the very christmassy title SWEET but PSYCHO . lovely

S

soso

0

Well that won’t happen. It’s lad baby I think

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paul tolley

2

yes mate youre right ladbaby is selling bigtime and the other two arent . you are correct

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paul tolley

1

lots of different opinions here so heres a few facts . years ago it was sales only in 1996 spice girls sold 420 thousand copies in 2008 alexandra burke sold 500 thousand copies . both these were one weeks sales . this years winner will do well to do 40 thousand. ladbaby needs streams and he did 517 thousand over the weekend and ariana is doing 10 million a day and the main streaming channels werent inc in the midweek chart so he needs a miracle. ava max single on itunes is 59p to help sales. finally heres how streams work . streams that are paid for you need 300 to be one sale . streams that are free you need 600 to be one sale .so as you can see 10 million a day is a lot of sales and last week arianasales were 92% streams and just 8% sales . happy xmas

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soso

0

not sure thats all right mate. premium streams have ratio of 100:1 or 200 in case of acr (not applicable for any at the moment).
also 6mio a day? sounds like the global number but not uk?

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son of skywalker

0

Does anything make you roll your eyes more than the phrase "YouTube sensation"?? Also why can't the Christmas number 1 just be awarded to the highest place, oh I don't know, CHRISTMAS song?!?!?!

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soso

2

yea and get rid of the stupid ACR rules - whatever is listened to most should be top or not..

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Fred

4

I really hope ladbaby wins. There great people and deserve it, much more then ariana thats for sure.

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Paul Anthony Searle

-5

IT's AWFUL !!!!

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Naomi

6

It's funny and cute, and it's for charity. I hope it wins the #1 spot!

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Piran

1

It just did! :)

S

soso

2

Interesting. As it’s very close the streaming development might make the difference now? Mariah has the highest daily streams already but obviously needs double as many due to acr. However with the top 4 so close together it also means #1 is closer to reach.. I am hopping for Carey!

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Paul Anthony Searle

-1

NO CHANCE!

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Zoltán Oskovits

3

Stop shouting

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Alfred Lock

0

It's called expression and we as a nation love sausage rolls

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paul tolley

-2

the way the chart works is whoever leads on the midweek usually increases its lead by the end of the week. sadly ariana putting out a new single has harmed her chances of xmas number one because fans are now sreaming the new single and her 13000 lead has become a 1500 deficit so ava will be xmas number one

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Paul Anthony Searle

-1

thank you Paul at last someone who agrees with me and sees sense! Merry Christmas!

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paul tolley

0

thankyou pal i do agree with you but sometimes miracles happen and with ladbaby it just has .its mr blobby all over again

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Tina Cohen-Chang

0

PRAYING ARIANA TAKES IT

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Zoltán Oskovits

2

Do not worry, she will!

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Paul Anthony Searle

1

sorry but she ain't gonna do it!

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Simon Pea Tea

0

Vs Flakefleet of course.. ..under dogs, but contenders none the less

https://www.lightupfornumberone.co.uk

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Paul Anthony Searle

0

No chance !!! if you read the update they are currently at number 15!

MG

Martin Gardner

0

It only just launched Friday and came in as a new entry at 15, the campaign has grown massive over last few days, who know.

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Paul Anthony Searle

-1

I know it's for charidee but i really DO NOT want to see LadBaby make number 1 - it's truly AWFUL in my opinion so AVA MAX all the way please!

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Paul Anthony Searle

0

Where can we see the full Top 100 Update?

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Piran

0

Here:
https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart-update/

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Piran

3

I'm really excited for this year's Christmas #1 race... the Top 3 are only separated by 1,500 combined sales! :)

I'm absolutely delighted that 'Sweet But Psycho' has the early lead though & that parody version of 'We Built This City' is just hilarious, haha.

EDIT: Even with no on-demand streaming, that sales gain & those YouTube numbers could very well put a song about sausage rolls at the top of the charts on Friday... OMG!

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Zoltán Oskovits

0

Which means that Ari will be Number One with Thank U Next

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Piran

1

Its got streaming on its side, although I'm not as sure about it being Christmas #1 as I was a week or two ago.

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Paul Anthony Searle

-1

NO she wont! read the article properly!!!!

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Alfred Lock

3

Can you imagine Ava or Ariana losing to sausage rolls? Not since bob the Builder has a novelty had a chance.We are a nation of eccentrics at Xmas and don't underestimate youtube

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Zoltán Oskovits

-1

Why so angry? :) Ari will be Number One, you’ll see.

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Piran

0

It looks LadBaby are also dominating Apple Music & it's posting nearly similar sales numbers as that Grenfell charity single got based on iTunes numbers. Yeah, they're getting #1 tonight! :O