Sam Ryder’s hit on course for top spot after missing out on Christmas number one

Sam Ryder is on track to reach the top spot in the UK singles chart after narrowly missing out on the Christmas number one title to Wham!

The singer, who placed second at the 2022 Eurovision competition, landed in the second spot on Friday with his new song You’re Christmas To Me, joining his Eurovision entry Space Man, which also peaked at number two in the charts.

Ryder’s festive track has now taken the lead from the Wham! classic Last Christmas, that was first released in December 1984 by the late George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, according to the Official Chart Company’s first look.

When the pop duo’s hit song secured the title on Friday, it made history as having the longest ever journey to make it to the top spot in time for Christmas Day.

After taking the number two spot, Ryder thanked his fans for the “belief and the support and the faith”.

He added: “Big up Andrew, big up the whole Wham! team, just absolutely unstoppable force and rightly so, they are icons, they are legends.

“And it feels great to be the filler in a Wham! and Mariah sandwich.

“Number two has always been a magic number for us and that won’t change.”

To claim the top spot this Friday, Ryder will have to see off competition from Wham! and Mariah Carey’s festive juggernaut All I Want For Christmas Is You, which is currently holding on to number three.

Wham! make UK chart history with Last Christmas landing top spot (Official Charts Company/PA)

Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John’s collaboration on Merry Christmas is also set to climb one place to fourth.

Their festive single missed out on the Christmas number one spot in 2021 to a sausage roll-themed charity rework of the song by LadBaby Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne.

Meanwhile, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s Fairytale Of New York is on course to move up one spot to number five.

There had been calls for the gritty festive song to claim the Christmas number one following the death of the band’s frontman Shane MacGowan last month, weeks before his 66th birthday on Christmas Day.

Originally released in 1987, the track has never reached the top of the UK charts, peaking at number two and beaten to the Christmas number one the year it was released by the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of Always On My Mind.