U.K. CHARTS: SPACE IS THE PLACE

Sam Ryder has hit #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart with his debut, There’s Nothing but Space, Man! (Parlophone). Over on singles, Wham! returns to the top.

Ryder, who represented the U.K. at Eurovision earlier this year, is the first British male solo artist to debut at #1 in more than three years. The last was Sam Fender in 2019.

Close behind Ryder, at #2, is SZA’s SOS (RCA/Top Dawg)—her highest peak in the U.K. It’s the most-streamed set of the week by far; Ryder won on digital downloads and physical sales.

Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Reprise) is up one to #4 as Silver Bells by Decca’s Andre Rieu & the Johann Strauss Orchestra also moves up one, to #5.

Fender’s Live From Finsbury Park (Polydor) debuts at #17, which helps his second set, Seventeen Going Under, rocket 30 places to #13.

On the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (RCA) returns to #1 for a second time. The track tallied 11.4m streams to hit the top this week.

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (Columbia) moves down to #2. It's one of six Christmas tracks in today’s Top 10.

The rest are Ed Sheeran & Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” (Atlantic) at #4, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (MCA) at #5, Bublé’s version of “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas” at #7 and The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” (Warner Bros) at #10.

Any of the above could claim next week’s Christmas #1, the race for which also includes releases by record-breaker LadBaby and YouTube group Sidemen.