It is appalling, and as I said before, the OCC are entirely complicit in it by this stage.
I guess where it gets difficult is that Amazon are just playing a game which has by now been well established (and accepted), and playing it very well. And it's not like Spotify aren't trying it either - Winter Wonderland by Laufey is a Spotify exclusive, has been given the #7 spot on their biggest playlist. Amazon are just playing a lot harder.
None of this is to let Amazon off the hook - and it absolutely needs looking at if it's true that they are pushing Ryder too hard, and suppressing the competition.
And to add to Shee's point about being happy new songs get a look in rather than the usual big three or four (although I'd contend it's quite a few more than that by now), isn't that another reason to separate out the old ones (any on ACR I'd say - they already have a measure) into their own festive chart?
I suppose doing so may leave the chart more vulnerable to the like of Sam Ryder this year, but that could be accounted for by other rules, should they want to address it. And it would allow songs like Cher this year to become a proper big hit this year (if you took out all the usual old ones this year, I imagine Cher would be top ten), and given a better chance of establishing itself as a recurring favourite.
And it may reinvigorate the Christmas chart a bit more because other acts may be more inclined to release Christmas songs (or even just release decent stuff at all in Nov and Dec), because they won't be competing with a chart which is so largely dominated by the same songs every year.