Mixing two of the best things about Christmas – festive films and songs – could send obscure Austrian Trickster to the top of the charts.
Sausage roller LadBaby is the 5-4 favourite for the Christmas No.1 – his sixth in a row – despite not yet confirming he will even try. But Trickster is a contender after Robbie Williams’ Angels co-writer Guy Chambers helped produce his swing mash-up of Silent Night and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
He has a blockbuster movie to go with it, made at Pinewood Studios by a crew that worked on Lord of the Rings and Mission Impossible. The Top 40 is already getting Christmassy, with Mariah Carey and Wham! coming early this year.
Meanwhile a fan campaign is attempting to get AC/DC in the festive charts and Andrea Bocelli is 20-1 for No.1 with Festa, which is in the John Lewis Christmas ad. The Beatles could also snag top spot with Now and Then – which would mean they had equalled LadBaby’s tally of five. And with Shane MacGowan in intensive care with encephalitis, his Pogues classic Fairytale of New York is also tipped to do well.