December 20, 2005 11:44

Christmas Number One race is ‘over’

'X Factor' winner looks set to top chart

The Christmas Number One race is virtually over, according to high street chain HMV.

'X Factor' winner Shayne Ward is set to clinch the festive top spot despite losing two days of sales by releasing his record ‘That's My Goal’ tomorrow (December 21).

His record label Sony BMG have now shipped in excess of 700,000 copies of the single, suggesting closest rivals – and current Number One – Nizlopi will struggle to beat him.

"At one point, a few weeks back, this looked a pretty open race,
particularly with the absence of a major charity single, 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,” suggested HMV singles buyer Stewart Allan.

"The biggest challenge to 'X Factor' winner Shayne Ward is likely to come from the current number one - Nizlopi," said Allan, "particularly as the 'JCB Song' has the advantage of three days extra sales, which must give it a chance - however small -but, given the huge momentum and massive publicity surrounding Shayne, he must now be viewed as the firm favourite.”

Allan added that if just two per cent of 'X Factor'’s TV audience purchase the single then the contest was over, while Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday was also bound to swell sales.

This has all caused some book-makers to stop taking bets on the 'X Factor' single.