Wham!, Sam Ryder and Mariah Carey are battling it out to be declared this year’s Christmas Number 1.
The final cut-off for sales and streams to count towards the ranking is 11.59pm on Thursday before the winner is revealed on Friday.
Wham!'s 1984 classic Last Christmas is in first position, with Ryder's You're Christmas To Me the top new release.
However, chart officials say Mariah Carey is also in a strong position to also take the crown, as she is currently in third place with her 1994 classic All I Want for Christmas.
Last year’s chart-toppers were LadBaby, who scored their fifth Christmas Number 1 with Food Aid, which raised money for food bank charities, are not competing this year.
Speaking to the BBC, Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said there was a much more “open field” this year.
“LadBaby have dominated for the last five years and I think by the time it reached its fifth Christmas number one last year, people were keen to see something a bit fresh and a bit new,” he said.
"We've obviously got the classics that are coming back into the charts, we've got the usual run of charity records driven by ordinary people who just want to raise some money for for good causes, and we've also got one or two really interesting releases as well, like Sam Ryder."
Other contenders include Fairytale of New York by The Pogues.
The Christmas classic, featuring Kirsty MacColl, has never been number one but has gained more support after the death of the band’s frontman Shane MacGowan last month.
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas by Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John, which was released in 2021, was denied the top spot by LadBaby but it may fare better this year.
A more unexpected contender for Christmas Number 1 this year is Noah Kahan's Stick Season, a melancholic folk-pop song about living at home.
The winner of 2023’s Official Christmas Number 1 will be announced Friday live on BBC Radio 1's The Official Chart, which airs at 4pm.
