U.K. CHARTS: ARIANA FOR XMAS #1?

The race is on for the U.K.’s Official Singles Christmas #,1 which could very well be Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” (Island) as it clocks up a sixth week at the top. Over on albums, The Greatest Showman has its highest sales week to date.

The Christmas #1 will be crowned next week, and could be a battle between Ariana, Ava Max with “Sweet but Psycho” (Atlantic), which finishes 9k sales behind at #2, and Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’ “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” (Columbia) rising six places to #4 today.

Halsey stays at #3 with “Without Me” (Virgin EMI) and Mariah Carey breaks into the Top 5 at #5 with her chestnut “All I Want for Christmas is You” (Columbia).

Wham’s “Last Christmas” (RCA) leaps to #7, and Post Malone is back into the Top 10 with “Sunflower” f/Swae Lee (Island) at #9. The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl’s yuletide classic, “Fairytale of New York” (Warner Bros.), flies eight places to #10.

Further down, XXXTentacion is this week’s highest new entry at #37 with “Whoa (Mind In Awe)” (Bad Vibes Forever) from his posthumous album, Skins.

On the Official Albums Chart, The Greatest Showman (Atlantic) has clocked up its best-selling week yet one year since release, with 57k combined sales. Today is its 22nd non-consecutive week at the top of the Official Albums Chart.

George Ezra's Staying at Tamara’s (Columbia) rebounds two places to #2, and the Roy Orbison orchestral album, Unchained Melodies (Sony Music CG), rises two spots to a new high at #4.

Carpenters' reworked greatest hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UMC) is new at #8, Little Mix's LM5 (RCA) returns to the Top 10 at #10, and Coldplay's A Head Full Of Dreams—Live In Buenos Aires (Parlophone) enters at #15.