Paradoxically, it’s never been easier nor harder to be top of the Christmas pops. It’s easier because you no longer need a costly marketing campaign, or even a new single to release, as people can just download any song they fancy from pop’s back catalogue online. Yet, it’s harder because The X Factor has become almost permanently entrenched as the provider of the biggest-selling end-of-year single. Since 2004, the talent show winner has hit number one five times out of six.

 

Yet this hasn’t deterred the usual bewildering array of acts from getting in the festive spirit. This year, the main opponent to The X Factor looks to be Nirvana, campaigned for by the same Facebook people who took Rage Against the Machine to the top in 2009. However, this week, Gareth Malone’s Military Wives Choir joined the race along with Lady Gaga – either of whom could topple Simon Cowell’s act.

 

The big news, however, is that this year the chart will be announced on Christmas Day. This skews the game against The X Factor because the final takes place on December 12, and the winner’s first week’s sales – usually the highest – will be out of the Christmas count. Canny competitors may wait until December 19 to release their single to take advantage of this. And, given that the talent show has failed to connect with its audience in quite the same way as usual, the field is open.

 

 

You might like:

· Lady Gaga's cover of White Christmas surfaces online23 Nov 2011(Culture & The Arts)

· Wombles Christmas No1 could hit bookies15 Nov 2011(Culture & The Arts)

· Slow Moving Millie: the TV ad, the song - and the tears23 Nov 2011(Culture & The Arts)

 

 

Nirvana: 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

 

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Campaign initially started by Nirvana fans angry that The X Factor tried to wrestle the name Rhythmix from a charity. The group thus monikered eventually became Little Mix. Will need more than its current 92,800 Facebook “likes” to beat Cowell.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

Hardly, but the grunge-rock masterpiece that catapulted the Seattle sound to worldwide fame 20 years ago will be pogoed to at parties, Christmas or otherwise, long after every other song on this list is dust.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 5/1

 

Military Wives Choir: 'Wherever You Are'

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Eternally youthful BBC choirmaster Gareth Malone’s latest series focused on a choir of soldiers’ wives who performed a song by Welsh composer Paul Mealor at the Albert Hall. Following a campaign by DJ Chris Evans, it will now be released.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

The heartstring-plucking lyrics are certainly gunning for it. “Wherever you are/My love will keep you safe/My heart will build a bridge of love across both time and space,” as sung by the heavily tattooed but oddly angelic soloist Samantha Stevenson.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 7/2

 

Lady Gaga: 'White Christmas'

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

La Gaga tackles the best-selling single of all time (the Bing Crosby version) as part of a US Thanksgiving TV special. Now leading her A Very Gaga Holiday EP, she announces unexpectedly mid-song that she’s added an extra verse –and does.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

A fine effort, a smooth jazzy affair with muted trumpet and piano, though who knows what Irving Berlin, the song’s composer, would make of her new lines that begin, “I’m dreaming of a white snowman/With a carrot nose and charcoal eyes.”

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 12/1

 

Justin Bieber: 'Mistletoe'

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

One of the helmet-haired teen sensation’s two Yule hotshots. The other being a duet with Mariah Carey on her All I Want For Christmas Is You (7/1), whose eagerly anticipated video may see Beliebers everywhere suffering cougar envy.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

A neat combination of Usher-esque R&B with simple, strummed cosy-fireside fare but the chorus’s “Ah’ma be under the mistletoe, shorty, with yoo-oo” is way too cringey to sing along to if you’re more than 14 years old.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 25/1

 

 

Amy Winehouse: 'Our Day Will Come'

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Back in 2002 the late, great singer recorded a version of this much-covered early-Sixties easy-listening soul number that now sees the light of day. £1 from each sale goes to the Amy Winehouse Foundation charity.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

Not a chance, not even a Winehouse classic, although her iconic status in death and the very familiarity of the tune may ensure that it does better than it deserves to. The Christmas No. 1 album spot, though, should be hers for the taking.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 12/1

 

The Wombles: 'Wombling Merry Christmas'

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Their smashing Glastonbury gig appears to have revitalised the Wimbledon litter-pickers, thus this No. 2 hit from 1974 reappears accompanied by a new video featuring Jedward Wombles and gently mocking Cowell’s hegemony.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

Already a second-tier seasonal staple and, like so many Christmas classics, a jolly glam stomp from the Seventies. Mike Batt may have since written both Bright Eyes and Katie Melua’s most famous songs, but he often goes Wombling at Christmas.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 9/1

 

Slow Moving Millie: 'Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want'

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Amelia Warner, 29, provides a wet piano version of a Smiths song for the John Lewis seasonal promo that appears to be a tribute to The Shining.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

The ad in question has been divisive, making the emotionally overwrought weep and Smiths fans wail in anguish. A seasonal classic in the same vein as Gary Jules’s wimpy 2003 take on Mad World.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 16/1

 

Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler: 'Home For the Holidays'

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

The folky singer-songwriter and the guy from Ash, stuck in Sussex last December, decided to record some original Christmas songs, including this gem about catching up with long-lost old flames. They sadly dropped their original moniker – Sleigher.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

It would be nice to think so. The song sparkles with longing, Emmy’s voice, even away from her usual haunting fare, is plaintively persuasive, and the video is a Richard Curtis-style pub-bound love-fest in miniature.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 100/1

 

Cast of The Only Way is Essex: 'Last Christmas'

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

The astonishingly vacant reality-TV show that has reached a strange zeitgeist-surfing profile peak. The Christmas charity single is the cast’s next surreal step towards meta-celebrity.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

The Wham! original could make that claim, but TOWIE are keeping theirs under wraps until early December so we can’t say for sure. However, call us cynical, but our money is on it not holding its own next to Slade or Bing Crosby.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 16/1

 

Gruff Rhys: 'Atheist Xmas EP'

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Super Furry Animals’ erstwhile lead singer takes the biscuit for Yuletide miserabilism, particularly on the Leonard Cohen-esque Slashed Wrists This Christmas.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

The couplet “It was 1987/You’d just been diagnosed with manic depression” alone makes such a status seem doubtful. And there’s also a song called Post-Apocalypse Christmas.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 1,000/1

Edited November 26, 201113 yr by steve201

Some news outlets are reporting that George Michael's pneumonia is very serious. If the worst happened, Last Christmas (the original, obviously) could make it.

God don't say that (although it would be an excellent no1 for xmas)!

Edited November 26, 201113 yr by steve201

I really think there's no point in odds being offered for anything except the XF winner and Nirvana. It'll be one of the two and nothing else stands the slightest chance.

Now the protest has been made I reckon the give a shit level about the christmas number 1 is at an all time low. Nobody cares but the bookies.

I really think there's no point in odds being offered for anything except the XF winner and Nirvana. It'll be one of the two and nothing else stands the slightest chance.

 

Doubt that Nirvana protest will do much, only 92 thousand likes. The X-factor being in its second week of release may make it interesting.

 

Don't really think anyone of the above has much chance of no1 but i thought i would get people talking about it....

 

Is there a Killers single this year - Boots was their best christmas single ever and only peaked at no53 last December - does anyone have sales for it?

The year's biggest #1 single is clearly Adele's 'Someone Like You' anyway, so the Xmas releases are irrelevant in that context.

I really think there's no point in odds being offered for anything except the XF winner and Nirvana. It'll be one of the two and nothing else stands the slightest chance.

Do you not realise how bookies work? They're there to make a profit, they will give odds for ANYTHING if someone is stupid enough to bet on it!

William Hill are offering:

 

4/7 Little Mix X-Factor Winner

6/4 Milatary Wives Choir (:unsure:)

5/1 Nirvana

8/1 Mariah Carey & Justin Bieber

10/1 The Wombles

12/1 Lady Gaga

12/1 Amy Winehouse

14/1 The Smiths

14/1 Stacey Solomon

16/1 Cast Of The Only Way Is Essex

16/1 Slow Moving Millie

16/1 Arianna Morgan (WHO?)

25/1 Johnny Coppin (again, who?)

25/1 Westlife (:lol:)

25/1 Justin Bieber

33/1 Adele

33/1 One Direction

33/1 Joe McElderry

40/1 Matt Cardle

50/1 Rihanna

50/1 The Wurzels

 

 

Then we have The Wanted, Pixie Lott, Yeo Valley, JLS and Ronan Parke all at 66/1, Cher Lloyd, N-Dubz,Michael Jackson, Olly Murs, Aled Jones, Coldplay and Boyzone at 80/1 and Alexandra Burke, Take That, The Saturdays, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Elton John, The Pogues, Leona Lewis, Blue, Cliff Richard, Jedward and Michael Buble at 100/1!

 

 

Some of them are UTTERLY ridiculous and I bet 75% (likely a lot more even) won't even touch top 75 on the week! But as RFC said, people are stupid enough to bet, and they'll make a profit. Someone's probably stupidly even bet on The Saturdays tbh...

Do you not realise how bookies work? They're there to make a profit, they will give odds for ANYTHING if someone is stupid enough to bet on it!

 

Exactly, and in many cases the odds do not remotely resemble the *actual* probability of the song getting to #1... :rolleyes:

Military Wives Choir: 'Wherever You Are'

 

WHAT’S THE STORY?

 

Eternally youthful BBC choirmaster Gareth Malone’s latest series focused on a choir of soldiers’ wives who performed a song by Welsh composer Paul Mealor at the Albert Hall. Following a campaign by DJ Chris Evans, it will now be released.

 

A SEASONAL CLASSIC?

 

The heartstring-plucking lyrics are certainly gunning for it. “Wherever you are/My love will keep you safe/My heart will build a bridge of love across both time and space,” as sung by the heavily tattooed but oddly angelic soloist Samantha Stevenson.

 

WILLIAM HILL ODDS ON MAKING NO.1 7/2

 

 

Arianna Morgan is a 10 year old who's cover of Fleetwood Mac's Songbird is released next month. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culture...n-Songbird.html

 

Johnny Coppin is a folk singer, not sure why he's up there athough his Wikipedia says he released Xmas albums in the mid 90s.

Do you not realise how bookies work? They're there to make a profit, they will give odds for ANYTHING if someone is stupid enough to bet on it!

 

Oh I know that. It's just stupid.

I would love either Lady Gaga or Stacey Solomon as Christmas #1!

I would love either Lady Gaga or Stacey Solomon as Christmas #1!

 

Stacey Solomon hasn't even released anything yet has she?!

Stacey Solomon hasn't even released anything yet has she?!

 

She's releasing Driving Home For Christmas on 18th December. It's the song she sings on the Iceland advert.

Why are no one releasing great tracks for christmas, the likes of Wizard, Slade or Shawaddywaddy but to name a few.....

 

Bring back the greats, the kids nowdays don't know what they are missing

I think my campaign for Vanilla to get to number one will be the most successful!

 

 

Vanilla's classic 1997 hit looks set to smash this Christmas

Surprised that odds on Buble are as long as 100/1!

 

Personally doubt he would do it but as he has some kind of ITV show coming up, plus any other TV exposure like Strictly that he may do, and I wouldn't be surprised to see one of his Christmas songs top 10.

 

Not #1 - but he has a much better chance than some of the acts with shorter odds!

Edited November 26, 201113 yr by John_Squire

Top Christmas Classic Odds (To chart the highest this year)

 

Paddy Power

The Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl/ Fairytale Of New York 1-20f

Mariah Carey/ All I Want For Christmas Is You 7-1

Band Aid/ Do They Know It's Christmas 25-1

Slade/ Merry Christmas Everybody 25-1

Wham!/ Last Christmas 25-1

Wizzard/ I Wish It Could Be Christmas 25-1

Jona Lewie/ Stop The Calvary 40-1

Paul McCartney/ Wonderful Christmastime 50-1

Perry Como/ It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas 50-1

David Bowie & Bing Crosby/ Little Drummer Boy 66-1

Cliff Richard/ Mistletoe And Wine 100-1

 

NO Shakin' Stevens offered as a price :huh:

^^Surely Chris Rea would be a great bet to place for the highest charting classic single, i mean anyone who hears the Iceland ad and doesn't realise its a Rea classic (young kids) will search for 'Driving home for Christmas' and find it...also the Solomon version strangely isn't out until the 18th December which is stupid from her record company! (although they maybe want a high charting single to keep her profile high before the new album)