Elton John and Ed Sheeran have joined forces with a newly-released festive single for charity – fittingly called Merry Christmas.
Complete with every Christmas cliché imaginable and remakes of iconic festive scenes, the unexpected duo went down a treat with the British public. And now, bookies believe it stands a strong chance of becoming a number one chart-topper against Adele and LadBaby.
On Thursday, Ladbrokes gave Ed and Elton’s song 6/5 odds on claiming the top spot. Just 24 hours later when the song dropped, the odds have been slashed to 4/5 on becoming 2021’s Christmas classic.
“He was so buzzed that Step Into Christmas gets a higher position each year,” Sheeran explained to US chat show host Jimmy Fallon.
“So he’s like, ‘I want to do another Christmas song, do you want to do one with me?’”
“I’ve always been against it,” he said. “Not that I don’t like Christmas. I love Christmas. But in terms of doing a Christmas song, you need to chuck the kitchen sink at it.”
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A handful of scrooges weren’t completely sold on the charity single and turned to Twitter to express their grudges. One said they “hated it after listening to 20 seconds” of the track, while another warned people not to open the link when they get sent the song.
Others, however, were huge fans of the hit and flocked to social media to express their excitement.
“Ed Sheeran released a Christmas song with Elton John???? I didn’t expect this combo, but damn i love it,” one said.
@edsheeran @eltonofficial
— 🦋 Jimmy Dean Levi 💎 (@jimmygouchey) December 3, 2021
I LOVE IT!!!! JUST AMAZING!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Just decorated. #MerryChristmas pic.twitter.com/jr5fCZAnBa
Love, love, LOVE the new Christmas song by Ed Sheeran and Elton John. Proper old Christmas song. Great video too. #EdSheeran #EltonJohn #MerryChristmas
— caitlyn1972 (@AlwaysAnAngel72) December 3, 2021
Love it. Already learned it on piano. Catchy tune. Bit of Christmas spirit and for good causes. Shame people just have be negative when they could just say nothing :-). Merry Christmas!
— Paul Bunyan (@Mr_P_Bunyan1982) December 3, 2021
Ok…
— Ash C-C 🏳️🌈🎮 (@AshC1617_) December 3, 2021
I love Merry Christmas from Ed Sheeran and Elton John…
Don’t judge me 🥺
@eltonofficial @edsheeran thank u! The best Christmas song to be released in years! I love it and it’s now going to be the theme tune to Christmas 2021 in our house!!!
— DNicho (@nicholas6_dawn) December 3, 2021
I love all the homages to past hits too, Tis brilliant 😬😬😬
— Spaderfantastic (@spaderfantastic) December 3, 2021
Ok now this is a perfect cheesy Christmas song, and I'm totally in love with it. Well done to @eltonofficial & @edsheeran for the achieving the almost impossible task of the perfect Christmas toon. There'll be Scrooges all over this for sure, & humbug to the miserable sods. https://t.co/CuDOYEeWxn
— wendywales 💜🌻🌼 (@wendywales) December 3, 2021
Ladbrokes Alex Apati said: “Ed and Elton have re-established themselves at the head of the Christmas number one betting following the release of their new track, with punters seemingly now convinced LadBaby’s time at the top of the festive charts could be coming to an end.”
*Another catchy Christmas song to add to the list.*