X Factor's Shayne set for Xmas No.1 spot

12/24/2005 6:58 AM, Reuters


Shayne Ward, the winner of Britain's ITV1's talent show "X Factor," is expected to take the coveted Christmas number one spot in this year's UK pop charts, music stores and bookmakers say.

Ward, who won the "X Factor" crown last Saturday, released his debut single "That's My Goal" on Wednesday and it is already expected to put him in the British music hall of fame.

His main challenger for the Christmas number one is expected to come from current chart topper Nizlopi who surprised critics by taking top spot last week with the quirky "JCB Song" which is about bullying at school.

The Pogues, Westlife and Diana Ross, the Pussycat Dolls and Crazy Frog are the other main candidates, according to the Official UK Charts Company, which will reveal the number one just before 7 p.m. on Christmas Day.

"We won't get a true indication whether (Ward) will achieve the coveted Christmas number one until later in the week when Shayne's legitimate downloads are added to the physical sales," Darren Haynes, the company's marketing manager said.

Bookmaker William Hill has stopped taking bets on Ward being number one after he finished 1/100 on favorite.

"A few weeks back, this looked a pretty open race ... but once it was confirmed that there would be an X Factor single released in time for the Christmas chart, you always felt that all bets would be off," Stewart Allan from retailer HMV said.

All the songs will have some way to go if they are to match the sales success of the biggest-selling Christmas hits.

Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" sold 3.55 million singles in 1984 while Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child" shifted 1.79 million copies in 1978.

This year's Christmas number one winner will join an eclectic group of artists who have been seasonal chart toppers since the charts began in 1952. They include Rolf Harris, Benny Hill, Bob The Builder and Mr Blobby.