A Very Bieber Xmas: #1 In Aus But Not The UK Xmas #1

While Adele's 25 album was stuffing stockings across the globe on Xmas Day - still number one this weekend in the US and the UK while seven-times platinum status here (just shy of half a million sales in Aus so far) - it was redeemed Canadian pop star Justin Bieber who had the song at the top of our Singles Chart this weekend.

Bieber spends his third week atop the ARIA chart with Love Yourself while also moving up to two with Sorry. He pushes Adele's Hello to three. And, the week's highest debut in the top 40 lodged just behind, with UK producer Jonas Blue's cover of Fast Car - featuring singer Dakota - landing at four. (Another cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car comes in at 37 by Swedish producer Tobtok with singer River. Chapman's own version re-enters at #93.)

In the US, Adele stayed at number one in the Hot 100 singles chart where Bieber sits at two with Sorry and four with Love Yourself (and at number five with What Do You Mean?). Drake managed to make his way into the US five to hang at three with Hotline Bling.

But in the UK, where the number one Xmas single is as big a seasonal tradition as the Queen's speech and vomiting into Santa hats, Bieber was hotly tipped to be the one to stop the decade-long reign of X Factor winners taking out the coveted Xmas #1. [Since Shayne Ward became the first X Factor winner to have a Xmas #1 in the UK in 2005, the TV show prize winners have landed the top Xmas spot seven times in total - Leona Lewis, in 2006, is the only one who achieved a successful career beyond that.]

However, neither X Factor nor Bieber took out the honour. Instead, this year a charity single by the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir is the Xmas #1. Their single A Bridge Over You is a mash-up of Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water and Coldplay's Fix You. The single outsold Bieber's three-to-one following a social media campaign to get the choir to #1.

The choir is made up of National Health Service workers such as doctors, nurses, physios, orderlies and hospital administrators. The choir had placed second in popular British reality choral competition series Sing While You Work. All proceeds from sales go to various healthcare charities including Carers UK.

Also, local singer Grace (Sewell, sister of Conrad) has managed to remain top ten (#6) in the UK as she celebrates a sixth week in the chart with her former Aus #1 You Don't Own Me. Xmas week is considered one of the biggest selling weeks in the UK chart year and Grace out-charted two favourites in the race for the Xmas #1: Stormzy's Shut Up (#9) and X Factor winner Louisa Johnson's cover of Bob Dylan's Forever Young (#12).

Back in Australia, Adele’s 25 stopped Michael Buble from topping the Albums Chart for a fifth year in a row. His Christmas album remained at number two this week, its highest peak this season (it has spent 13 weeks at number one since 2011). Bieber’s Purpose stayed at three.

The week’s highest debuts were Chris Brown’s Royalty (in at #14), John Williams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens score (#24), Ariana Grande’s Christmas & Chill (#49) and Baroness’ Purple (#64).