Triple J Christmas Single Well Short Of #1 This Week

Triple j's festive single Christmas Number 1 has a long way to go if it's going to debut in the top ten this week, with midweek figures indicating the track is well and truly in the lower half of the top 50.

The charity single features a number of the station's presenters – lead by Lindsay McDougall – as well as Elizabeth Rose, Abbe May, Andy Bull, Asta and members of Grinspoon, Papa Vs Pretty, Thundamentals and PVT, amongst others. With proceeds donated to the Red Cross, the station's aiming at Christmas' number one spot in the coming weeks but initial figures for the ARIA Singles Chart show that it's closer to 50 at this stage.

The track is slowly gathering momentum, however, and is up to the top 28 on the iTunes chart today. With increasing promotion it could potentially crack the top 25 this week – but that still leaves the single with a long way to climb in the next week-and-a-half before it gets within arm's reach of current number one – John Legend's All Of Me.

UPDATE: Christmas Number One has hit the top spot on the iTunes chart, but still faces an uphill battle to reach the chart's top spots. It is believed they need at least 20,000 total sales to mount a strong challenge.

There are a couple of other singles that – if current trends were to continue – will debut above the triple j track this week, particularly Pharrell Williams's Happy and Rudimental featuring Emeli Sande and Nas' Free. Jessica Mauboy's Beautiful is also in top 50 territory.

The biggest mover on the chart this week is Jason Derulo's Trumpets, number 22 last week, but he's not threatening All Of Me at this stage. The Vamps' We Can Dance is also making ground from position 34.

On the ARIA Albums Chart there may be a Christmas album in the top five this week with Michael Buble's Christmas and Susan Boyle's Home For Christmas experiencing sales bumps. Fleetwood Mac's 25 Years – The Chain and John Legend's Love In the Future also appear to be popular Christmas presents this year.

As far as the new debuts go, Jai Waetford's self-titled EP is likely to be the pick of the bunch, with Childish Gambino's Because The Internet (has just been added as triple j's feature album, so may have a strong finish to the week) and Cliff Richard's The Fabulous Rock'n'Roll Songbook also set to debut. Anthony Callea's This Is Christmas will enter the top 50 after a few weeks in the top 100.