Current Hot Press cover star Dermot Kennedy has held off stiff competition from SZA to retain the No.1 spot in the Irish album charts with Sonder.

The album is now four weeks in the charts, having debuted at No.1 in November. Kennedy is also at No.9 in the charts with his earlier album Without Fear – which has been an extraordinary 167 weeks in the charts.

However, the challenge mounted by SZA was clearly an intense one. SOS is the second album released by the singer and songwriter from St. Louis in Missouri, whose given name is Solána Imani Rowe. Now 33 years of age, the singer’s 2017 debut Ctrl was a huge hit, reaching No.3 in the Billboard Hot 100 and going triple-platinum.

SOS has already gone to No.1 in the Netherlands and – as in Ireland – debuted at No.2 in the UK. The first single from the album ‘Shirt’ was a hit, peaking at No.11 in the US. ’Shirt’ is currently at No.26 in the Irish singles chart after 7 weeks. However, two other SZA tracks from the album – ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Nobody Gets Me’ – are at No.7 and No.12 respectively.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s acclaimed Midnights is at No.3 – down just one place from last week – in its eighth week in the charts. Bruce Springsteen’s Only The Strong Survive holds onto the No.4 slot, while Harry Styles' Harry's House rounds out the top 5.

The other chart newcomer this week is from country star Nathan Carter, whose The Morning After enters at No.10.

Those two SZA tracks are the only newcomers to the single charts, which are a massively dominated by Christmas songs – an immediate reflection of the dominant importance of streaming. Top of that tree is Mariah Carey’s classic ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, at No.2. Fans of Shane MacGowan will be pleased to see that ‘Fairytale of New York’ has climbed to No.8.

Michael Bublé's Christmas album climbs to No.6 during the festive season, with Andrea/Matteo/Virginia Bocelli's A Family Christmas also makes the top 10.

Raye's 'Escapism', featuring 070 Shake, is Ireland's current No.1 single, followed by Mariah Carey, WHAM's 'Last Christmas', Taylor Swift's 'Anti-Hero', Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' and Elton John's Ed Sheeran collaboration, 'Merry Christmas'.

Michael Bublé's 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas' makes the No.9 spot while Bobby Helms' 'Jingle Bell Rock' rounds out the top 10.