Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" is this year's UK Christmas Number One

22 December 2017, 17:30 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(Ed Sheeran)

Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" has scooped the 2017 Christmas Number One, retaining the top spot in the charts after a late surge by Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and Wham!'s "Last Christmas".

Neither Carey nor Wham! were ever a match for the sheer power of Sheeran, whose Divide cut racked up 85,000 combined sales. Eminem's "River" (featuring Sheeran) came in second place in the end, with "Last Christmas" in the third spot and Carey relegated to fourth after a strong midweek showing.

Sheeran seemed destined to reach Number One after shooting out two alternative versions of "Perfect" - one with Beyoncé and another with classical icon Andrea Bocelli.

2017 has truly been the year of Sheeran - he's one of the year's most streamed names, and latest record Divide was so successful it forced a rejig of the UK chart mechanics.

Eminem takes the Christmas Number One in the albums category with comeback record Revival.

Check out the full festive charts.