In a year stacked with chart leaders, Ed Sheeran and Elton John could ring in Christmas with a joint No. 1.
The British pop stars teamed up for to write a handful of holiday-themed songs, the first of which, “Merry Christmas,” dropped last Friday (Dec. 3).
At the earliest phase in the chart cycle, “Merry Christmas” is riding high. According to the OCC, the song has accumulated more than double the chart sales of its closest competitor, Adele’s reigning champ, “Easy On Me.”
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If it keeps its momentum, “Merry Christmas” will give Sheeran his 12th U.K. No. 1, and third this year, and Elton’s ninth leader, and second in 2021.
“Merry Christmas” is one of three holiday songs the pair wrote together, Sheeran told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“I’ve always been quite against it,” Sheeran revealed to the late-night talk-show host. “Not that I don’t like Christmas, I love Christmas, but in terms of doing a Christmas song, you need to chuck the kitchen sink at it.”
Elton talked him around, the pair chucked-in the kitchen sink, and it could net them a No. 1.
The Christmas spirit is positively glowing on the First Look chart, which ranks the most popular U.K. singles after the first 48 hours of the week.
No less than 14 Christmas songs are currently placed inside the Top 20, including George Ezra’s “Come On Home For Christmas,” vaulting 36-5, ahead of The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale Of New York” (16-6), Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone” (17-7), Michael Buble’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (20-8) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” (22-9).
The Official U.K. Singles Chart is published late Friday, local time.
