USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Mariah Carey's carol leads for a 22nd frame
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas Is You” shines atop the Billboard Hot 100’s highest bough for a record-extending 22nd week, leading a record parade of holiday hits from the top of the

chart on down. Seasonal songs claim the top 24 positions on the survey, surging past the prior mark of carols taking Nos. 1-16 a year ago this week (on the chart dated Jan. 4, 2025). Helping the haul of holiday songs, the latest chart’s data tracking period encompassed the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (Dec. 19-25). Three weeks earlier, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returned to No. 1 on the Hot 100 to rule in a record-extending seventh holiday season. It was released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in November 1994 and, as streaming grew and holiday music became more prominent on streaming services’ playlists, it first hit the top 10 in December 2017 and the top five in the 2018 holiday season. It led at last, prior to its four weeks this season, over the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), 2021 (three), 2022 (four), 2023 (two) and 2024 (four). “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” on Columbia Records / Legacy

Recordings drew, 70.6 million streams (up 62% week-over-week) and 38.3 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 37%) and sold 5,000 downloads (up 45%) in the U.S. Dec. 19-25, according to Luminate. The single holds for a record-extending 26th week atop the Streaming Songs chart; pushes 15-6 for a new high on Radio Songs, outperforming its prior No. 7 best; and rises 5-3 on Digital Song Sales, following six weeks on top. Here’s a rundown of the holiday songs holding the Hot 100’s fully festive top 10 spots: No. 1, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey; No. 2, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Brenda Lee; No. 3, “Jingle Bell Rock,” Bobby Helms; No. 4, “Last Christmas,” Wham!; No. 5, “Santa Tell Me,” Ariana Grande; No. 6, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” Nat “King” Cole; No. 7, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” Dean Martin; No. 8, “Underneath the Tree,” Kelly Clarkson; No. 9, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Andy Williams; No. 10, “Sleigh Ride,” The Ronettes. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl captures an 11th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 3, 2026). It earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Dec. 15 (up 35%), according to Luminate. The album got a boost for a second straight week, partially attributed to three new color vinyl variants, exclusively sold via Swift’s webstore. The three editions became available to pre-order on Nov. 24 for 24 hours (or while supplies lasted) and were scheduled to begin shipping to customers on or about Dec. 19. With The Life of a Showgirl reaching an 11th week at No. 1, it matches the 11-week reigns of Swift’s 1989 (2014-15) and Fearless (2008-09). Only The Tortured Poets Department, with 17 weeks at No. 1 in 2024, has more weeks atop the list among Swift’s 15 No. 1 albums, the most leaders among soloists. Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 141,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, album sales comprise 97,000 (up 76% — it holds at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 43,000 (down 11%, equaling 56.23 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks; it falls 6-16 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up less than 1%). A record seven holiday albums populate the top 10 of the Billboard 200, with the parade of festive titles led by Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas rising four spots to a new peak at No. 2, with 110,000 equivalent album units earned (up 68%). Nearly all of that sum (106,000) comprises SEA units, which equals 140.71 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs. That marks the late Crosby’s best streaming week ever for an album, and the biggest streaming week ever for any holiday album. Ultimate Christmas beats its own record, as it previously had the biggest streaming week ever for both a Crosby album, and any holiday title, with 125.77 million on the Jan. 4, 2025-dated chart (the same week it had reached its previous high of No. 3 on the Billboard 200). Michael Bublé's former No.1  Christmas climbs 5-3 on the latest Billboard 200 (104,000 equivalent album units, up 51%), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song rises 5-4 (93,000, up 70%) and the various artists project A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector hits a new best as it jumps 9-5 (81,000, up 70%). The latter surpasses its No. 7 peak achieved on the Jan. 6, 2024, chart. The second of three non-holiday titles in the top 10 is Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping I’m the Problem, which drops 2-6 (75,000 equivalent album units earned, up 3%). Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas is up a spot to No. 7 (74,000 equivalent album units, up 49%), Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas jingles 10-8 (72,000, up 58%) and Frank Sinatra’s Ultimate Christmas hits a new high as it rises 12-9 (65,000, up 65%). The lattermost beats its previous high, as it hit No. 10 on the Jan. 4-dated chart. Rounding out the top 10 is the former No. 1 soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters, which falls 4-10 with 62,000 equivalent album units earned (down 13%).

Record Of The Month
As the first salvo from her new album, Lux, Spanish reggaeton and flamenco artist Rosalíá has uncorked a dazzling opus featuring Björk, Yves Tumor and a full-on symphony orchestra.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
'Last Christmas' returns at no.1 for a 12th week
Monday, December 29, 2025
by Alan Jones, London
 
Rudely interrupted last week, Wham! regain the No.1 spot, with Last Christmas securing its second week at the summit this advent and its 12th week in total. ACR-adjusted consumption climbs 98.60% week-on-week to 92,580 units (76 CDs, three 7-inch vinyl, 109 12-inch vinyl, 719 digital downloads and 91,673

sales-equivalent streams), while unadjusted consumption rises 100.82% to 184,253 units. With Kylie Minogue’s XMAS retreating 1-4 (64,418 sales), Wham!’s biggest challenge came from Mariah Carey and her own seasonal perennial, All I Want For Christmas Is You, which rebounds 3-2 (72,898 sales). It is the eighth time that Wham! and Carey have shared the top two places, and the sixth of those that Carey has been runner-up. In the 21 years of the digital era – since November 2004 – Last Christmas has achieved unadjusted consumption of 5,369,962 units, against the 5,717,963 reached by All I Want For Christmas Is You. However, since George Michael’s death in 2016, the impetus has been with Last Christmas. In the last 100 weeks, for example, Carey’s track has outperformed Last Christmas just three times – most recently seven weeks ago – when Last Christmas was No.96 and All I Want For Christmas Is You was No.82. Despite missing out on a

return to No.1, it is nevertheless a big week for All I Want For Christmas Is You, with unadjusted consumption of 145,138 raising its all-time cume to 6,044,082, qualifying as decuple (10x) platinum. Incidentally, Ordinary is chased out of the Top 40 after 45 consecutive weeks in the list – something bettered in the whole of chart history by only eight songs – by Christmas perennials. It dips 37-63 (16,116 sales), but is easily the biggest hit of 2025, ending the year with cumulative consumption of 2,178,737 units, 51.23% more than runner-up Lola Young’s Messy (1,440,652 units). Ordinary set an all-time record of 42 consecutive weeks in the Top 20, though it should be said that achieving this task – and many others achieved by latter-day hits – is much easier than it was in the pure sales era. Recorded in 1958 when she was 13 years old, becoming a hit in 1962 and previously peaking at No.4 in 2022, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree has spent the last two weeks matching its peak for Brenda Lee. It now reaches a new high, climbing 4-3 (68,654 sales). A Christmas staple – penned by Johnny Marks, who also wrote A Holly Jolly Christmas, which jumps 35-25 (36,295 sales) for Michael Bublé – it thus matches the peak of the 1987 Mel (Smith) & Kim (Wilde) version, as well as Lee’s previous personal peak, set by Speak To Me Pretty in 1962. For the first time in chart history, the entire top three is more than 30 years old. Another Christmas favourite reaching a new peak is Step Into Christmas by Elton John, which climbs 9-7 (56,182 sales). No.24 when first released in 1973, it previously peaked at No.8, this week in 2019. Its digital era consumption – currently standing at 2,591,220 units – surpassed the quadruple platinum level of 2.4m earlier this month. Originally the B-side to an uncharted 1986 single, Hello Friend, Driving Home For Christmas was re-recorded by Chris Rea for the October 1988 compilation, New Light Through Old Windows. The following month, it was the lead track on his EP, Christmas, but failed to progress beyond No.52 on the chart. It eventually started to gain traction in the digital era, returning to the chart in 2007, when it reached No.33. Its support has snowballed ever since, with 2025 marking the 19th year in a row that it has charted. Accelerating 30-13 on the last sales flash before Rea’s untimely death on Monday at the age of 74, it gained further impetus afterwards, climbing to No.10 (51,348 sales) to match the peak it set this week in 2021, and the 1989 peak of his only other Top 10 hit, The Road To Hell (Part 2). Completing the Top 10 are: Fairytale Of New York (6-5, 58,457 sales) by The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, Underneath The Tree (8-6, 56,987 sales) by Kelly Clarkson, Jingle Bell Rock (10-8, 54,820 sales) by Bobby Helms and Merry Christmas Everyone (11-9, 54,565 sales) by Shakin’ Stevens. Consumption for every position in the Top 75 is lower than it was in the corresponding week last year, but overall singles consumption is up 6.60% week-on-week to a record 34,498,059 units, 4.47% above the previous high of 33,020,684 units. Paid-for sales are down 14.66% week-on-week at 273,792, 0.67% below the same week in 2024 sales of 275,634. More than 14 years after it first topped the chart and exactly a year after it last reached the summit, Michael Bublé’s evergreen Christmas takes advantage of a weak market to return to No.1. Its consumption increases 77.72% week-on-week to 20,818 units (402 CDs, 313 vinyl albums, 215 digital downloads, 19,888 sales-equivalent streams), registering its highest tally since it achieved a figure of 27,016 when returning to No.1 in the last week of 2024. Christmas has spent longer at No.1 – eight weeks – than the rest of Bublé’s canon combined. It has career consumption of 3,512,418 units, making it Bublé’s most popular album, ahead of 2009 release Crazy Love (3,200,265 units). Christmas fare has seen her temporarily ousted from the Top 20 of the singles chart, but Olivia Dean’s sublime second album, The Art Of Loving, is No.2 on the albums listing for the third week in a row. It has been in the Top 5 continuously since it debuted at No.1, 12 weeks ago. With consumption easing 12.41% week-on-week to 19,089, its to-date consumption of 278,453 units is considerably more than the 118,083 units achieved by her 2023 debut album, Messy. Also despatched from the singles Top 20 but similarly set for a new year rebound, Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid returns to the Top 10 and reaches a new peak with his debut album, Rebel. Moving 13-8 (7,027 sales), the album – which previously peaked at No.9 – is on the rise for the third week in a row, and increases its consumption since it was released in June to 76,521 units. At its highest position for nearly 13 years when it climbed 10-7 last week, Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic Rumours – a chart-topper in 1978 – further improves its standing, climbing to No.5 (7,181 sales). That’s a 672-week high, with vinyl (3,405 sales) again proving its main driving force. It ranks No.2 on the vinyl chart, behind Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving (5,112 sales). The rest of the Top 10: The Life Of A Showgirl (3-3, 10,821 sales) by Taylor Swift, Man’s Best Friend (5-4, 9,075 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, 50 Years – Don’t Stop (9-6, 7,155 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, The Highlights (8-7, 7,140 sales) by The Weeknd, People Watching (6-9, 6,560 sales) by Sam Fender and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (10-10, 6,323 sales) by Oasis. With the exception of Michael Bublé’s Christmas album, week-on-week consumption is down for the entire Top 10. The Life Of A Showgirl achieved the smallest consumption of its 12-week chart tenure, yet emerges as the No.1 album of the year, with to-date consumption of 642,467 units. Overall album sales are down 1.99% week-on-week at 2,903,515 units, 7.18% above same week 2024 sales of 2,708,985. Physical product accounts for 575,606 sales, 19.82% of the total. Album consumption for 2025, at 132,831,412 units, is up 4.91% year-on-year to a new high. Vinyl sales increase 12.31% year-on-year to 7,532,628 units while CD sales dip 11.09% to 9,333,052 units – a 21st-century high and low, respectively – while cassettes climb 53.03% to 163,996 units, their highest level since 2003.