Festive hits fly back into chart

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Festive music fans have given the chart a Christmas theme after sending eight classic hits back into the UK top 40.

Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You leads the seasonal favourites at number eight, up from 23 last week.

Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl is in 12th place, while Wham!'s Last Christmas is at number 23.

Andy Williams, Wizzard, Slade, Shakin' Stevens and Band Aid have also seen old hits reappear in the chart. Leona Lewis is at number one for a seventh week.

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS IN TOP 40 8 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You12 Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York23 Wham! - Last Christmas25 Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year27 Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day33 Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone37 Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody38 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? The X Factor winner's Bleeding Love, the year's best-selling single, held off the challenge of T2's Heartbroken at number two.

But with one in five places taken by Christmas songs, it is the first time the top 40 has been dominated by one theme.

That has been made possible by the easy availability of classic tracks to download, and rules introduced at the end of 2006 that mean every download counts toward the chart.

And with two more full weeks until 25 December, there is every chance that the festive hits could rise further in the top 40, and that more could appear.

Girls Aloud, Timbaland and Take That complete this week's top five.

Leona Lewis has also held on to the top spot in the album chart, with Westlife and Shayne Ward following at two and three.