Tinsel, turkeys and TV talent: The race for the Christmas Number One

11 months ago 20th Dec 08:15

It's that time of year again - presents are being wrapped, wine is being mulled, everyone is arguing over whether there will be snow and normally-sane people have taken all leave of their senses and decided to invest in a series of funny, tacky and out-and-out silly songs. Yes, it's almost Christmas - which means the race for the UK Christmas number one is well and truly underway.

Of course 'The X Factor' winner and chief warbler Alexandra Burke is the hot favourite to triumph. Even before the choice of song, 'Hallelujah', was revealed, or she was even crowned champion of the show, many betting agencies were predicting the TV talent show winner would top the charts. For the last three years the triumphing singer on the show has crooned their way to the highly-coveted Christmas top slot, with their legion of Saturday night armchair devotees suddenly finding their legs to help ensure they clinch the top spot. It has been claimed 'The X Factor' winner could release just about anything and still make it to number one - although reports the show's producers are set to rise to the challenge by making next year's song a Cliff Richard cover are yet to be verified - with music mogul and show supremo Simon Cowell himself claiming the show's winner is a shoo-in.

The 80s spawned just as many catchy but ultimately irritating festive number ones

"The advance orders for the single have already been over 500,000 units so I just can't see how anyone else can compete with that," Simon said, talking before Alexandra had scooped 'The X Factor' crown. "I don't want to sound too arrogant about it as we've already been accused of ruining the Christmas number one, we're not ruining it, we're just giving the finalists a chance to have a shot at it."

Annoyingly, it's going to be hard to prove the smug TV talent show judge wrong. 'Hallelujah' became the fastest-selling download single in European history after it sold over 105,000 copies in the UK on download alone on Sunday (14.12.08) - the first day it was available. Incidentally, the previous record was held by fellow 'The X Factor' winner Leona Lewis with her Yuletide chart-topper 'A Moment Like This'.

A spokesman for music retailer HMV said: "We're seeing a phenomenal rush to download the 'Hallelujah' single from our website.  It's both our fastest and biggest-ever selling download, and Alexandra already has the Christmas Number one all wrapped up."

Although many believe the race for the festive top spot is already over, they are failing to take into account the bucketload of competition from other acts Alexandra is facing. As is customary with Christmas chart releases, the young singer is battling it out against a mixture of novelty records, rock stars, charity songs and traditional festive tracks.

Internet campaigns, including several groups on social networking website Facebook, have urged people to download Jeff Buckley's version of 'Hallelujah', arguably the most famous version of the Leonard Cohen track, and it looks set to make the top 10 at least, though whether it can beat the new version to the top remains to be seen.