Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Christmas album beats BTS to UK number one

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Christmas album has denied South Korean boy band BTS the UK number one spot.

Ball and Boe have gone to the top of the chart with Together At Christmas, on which they croon festive classics.

It has sold more than 31,000 copies on CD, which counts for much more than streaming in the chart calculations.

BTS have had two UK number one albums in the past two years, but their latest release, Be, had to settle for entering this week's chart at number two.

Together At Christmas is Ball and Boe's fourth album of duets following Together, Together Again and Back Together.

The new album includes covers of such seasonal songs as It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Silent Night and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and a new track titled My Christmas Will Be Better Than Yours.

Ball said reaching number one was "the greatest early Christmas present we could've wished for".

AC/DC, whose Power Up was last week's number one, dropped to third place in this week's chart, while Taylor Swift's Folklore jumped from 37 to number four following its vinyl release.

Neil Diamond and Iron Maiden also had new entries in the top 10, but there was no place in the top 40 for US rapper Megan Thee Stallion with her debut album Good News.

Megan spent three weeks at number one in the singles chart with Cardi B earlier this year and received four Grammy nominations earlier this week. Good News is expected to land near the top of the US album chart.

In the UK singles rundown, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Little Mix occupy the top three spots for the third week in a row.

This week sees a number of Christmas songs climb the charts, led by Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You at 14, the earliest the track has ever appeared in the top 20.

She is joined in the top 40 by festive favourites by Wham!, The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, Shakin' Stevens, Michael Buble and Band Aid.

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