YouTube stars LadBaby are bidding for an unprecedented fifth Christmas number one in a row after teaming up with finance expert Martin Lewis (left)
(Picture: LadBaby/PA)Christmas is just weeks away, so festive playlists are sure to be playing on car radios and at office parties up and down the UK.
Classics such as Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You and Wham’s Last Christmas are long-time favourites, alongside child-friendly sing-alongs including Jingle Bells and When Santa Got Stuck up the Chimney.
Modern pop hits include Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me and Taylor Swift’s Christmas Tree Farm.
But the song everyone will be talking about during the holidays is the Christmas number one.
While in the past the honour has gone to hits such as Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody in 1973 and Band Aid’s Do They Know it’s Christmas? in 1989, recent years have seen a shift in what the UK chooses for its top Christmas song.
In the early 2000s, winning ITV’s X-Factor talent show was a sure-fire way of bagging a Christmas number one in the singles chart. Shayne Ward achieved this in 2005, as did Leona Lewis in 2006, Leon Jackson in 2007, and Alexandra Burke in 2007.
Rage Against the Machine thwarted 2009 winner Joe McElderry’s shot at the top spot with their protest anthem Killing in the Name, before 2010 winner Matt Cardle took back the crown.
However, a new Christmas number one pattern has emerged in recent years, with YouTube sensation LadBaby topping the charts every year since 2018, with parody hits We Built This City, I Love Sausage Rolls, Don’t Stop Me Eatin’, and Sausage Rolls for Everyone.
And according to William Hill, the husband-wife duo are set to take the number one spot yet again.
LadBaby have been awarded permission from Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and the Band Aid Trust to rework Band Aid’s Do They Know its Christmas?, in collaboration with MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis.
Odds on LadBaby achieving the Christmas number one are currently set at 1/8, followed by Sidemen on 9/2, and The Pogues at 12/1.
The odds of either Lewis Capaldi, Jason Manford, Olly Murs, Mariah Carey, or Elton John taking the top spot are 20/1.
Finally, other contenders for the number one this Christmas include Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds (Three Lions), Sam Ryder, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, The Evamore Project, Cliff Richard, Meghan Trainor, JVKA, Aled Jones and Russell Watson, Tyson Fury, Kate Bush, Stormzy, and Ed Sheeran, on 25/1.
