This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
And Finally Artist News Releases
Justin Bieber and LadBaby looking like key contenders for Christmas number one
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 15 December 2020
It’s 24 whole hours since we last published anything about this year’s Christmas number one race, so it’s probably about time we did it again. The big battle now is between Justin Bieber and the NHS on the one side and LadBaby and food bank charity The Trussell Trust on the other. Which organisation is the most worthy? We will find out this Christmas.
YouTuber and sausage roll obsessive LadBaby has, of course, topped the Christmas chart for the last two years running. Can he make it a hat trick? Will sausage roll-based reworks of classic songs have worn thin after three years? Don’t rule him out.
However, he has very strong competition from Justin Bieber and The NHS Choir. Five years ago, Bieber and the Choir were actually competitors in this race, with the latter winning out only after the former encouraged his fans to play their song ‘A Bridge Over You’ instead of his ‘Love Yourself’.
Now they’ve come together for a new version of Bieber’s ‘Holy’. Does that give them double the festive power? Or will they cancel each other out? It’s too early to say.
Caroline Smith, Leader of the Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Choir – to give it its full name, which you really should – says: “Justin Bieber helped make our dreams come true in 2015 and he’s doing the same this year; we really can’t thank him enough for the chance to work with him on this wonderful, uplifting song. We’re so proud to represent Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Trust and all the heroes in the NHS”.
Bieber adds: “It’s great to be reunited with the Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Choir, as we share a fun bit of UK chart history together. Especially in these difficult times, I’m humbled to team up with them for a charity single that will benefit NHS workers on the frontlines of this pandemic and pay tribute to their unbelievable dedication”.
Of course, some will be hoping that nothing charity-related will be the number one record come 25 Dec, and instead that Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ will stay put for three weeks in order to hold the position.
It’s probably also worth keeping an eye on BTS who, some might say cynically, have released a festive remix of their track ‘Dynamite’.
Boss of the Official Charts Company, Martin Talbot, says: “With two previous winners, a powerful current number one and big name new releases – including Liam Gallagher and Jess Glynne – in the running, this year really is shaping up to be one of the most exciting and competitive races for the Official Christmas Number One that we’ve yet seen. It really is an incredibly difficult race to call”.
People under the age of 30: This is what the charts used to be like every week! Imagine that! What a topsy turvy world we used to live in. Not like these steady normal times we are enjoying in 2020.
FYI, Bieber and LadBaby’s tracks will be released this Friday, to ensure that all first week streams and sales go towards their Christmas chart position.
