Well, the Christmas singles chart may not be released until Sunday, but bookmakers have already declared Band Aid 20 as 'Christmas number one'.
As we reported yesterday, sales of 'Do They Know It's Christmas' remain high and HMV reported on Monday sales of the charity record were way ahead of closest rivals Kylie Minogue and Ronan Keating. So much so bookmakers Ladbrokes yesterday declared the song as Christmas number one and said it would start paying out winnings to anyone who bet on the track. A spokesman for Ladbrokes told reporters last night: "This is the first time that we have ever paid out ahead of Sunday's charts. There is no way Band Aid 20 won't remain top of the tree so we have declared it Christmas number one five days early."
The decision will be costly for bookies. With the poor critical response to the track and suggestions that a sudden rush to buy the single in week one would mean sales would be down by the time the Christmas chart came round meant some bookmakers were offering better than expected odds on Band Aid being the festive chart topper. The Ladbrokes' spokesman admitted: "Band Aid 20 topping the charts was a five figure loser for us. We hope all those who backed it to be Christmas number one use their money to buy more copies."