The live iTunes rankings are only part of the picture in terms of the official singles chart – which also counts sales from other outlets, both digital and physical; and also factors in streams.
However the surge of Last Christmas, thanks to a campaign to get George Michael to No1 on the anniversary of his death, has really caught fire thanks to some high-profile celebrity support.
James Corden has backed the effort, retweeting a sales update from the campaign’s account earlier this week.
As of today, Sheeran’s Perfect still leads, with Music Week reporting the ballad is around 20,000 combined copies (150 streams equals one sale) ahead of Last Christmas. Eminem’s River, which also features Sheeran, is almost exactly between the two.
That’s actually a wider gap than earlier in the week, when only 10,000 combined sales separated Last Christmas from No1.
But will this new momentum on iTunes help the chasm close in time for the chart announcement on Friday?
Time is running short either way: the tracking week for the Christmas chart began at 00:00 last Friday, December 15, and will close at 23:59 tomorrow (Thursday) night.
Speaking of odds being cut in Wham!’s favour, Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek said: ”In this age of streaming we are yet to see if a good old campaign has enough clout to get a song to the festive top spot.
“But it would take a cold heart not to want Wham!’s classic to pip Sheeran to it.”
Last Christmas’s odds are currently 5/1 with Ladbrokes, with Sheeran ahead on 1/4.
The finalised Christmas chart will be announced on Friday at around 6pm.