It is always around this time of year that artists throw their hat into the ring to become number one in the singles charts on Christmas Day. Usually, there are a flurry of new releases just before Christmas week, in order to try and snatch the number one spot for themselves.
However, this year it seems like it could be a resurgence from a band that claims the big spot. Since Friday, there has been plenty of money coming in for Elbow bringing them in to best odds 6/1. As you will probably be aware by now, this is due to their dulcet tones appearing on the new John Lewis Christmas advert. Every year the John Lewis TV ad is big news and its release has became somewhat of a tradition now. When it is released, many people now see it as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas period.
Of course, this means that the advert garners a lot of attention throughout the country. For this reason, Elbow are down to 6/1 to land the Christmas number one spot. They will hope that their effort is more successful than the band to appear in last year’s John Lewis ad, as The Vaults only managed to reach number 53 in the charts at Christmas. This was even though the advert as a whole, featuring Buster the boxer and a trampoline, was deemed to be a massive success.
If you had been watching the Christmas number one betting market closely earlier this week, you may have been confused by the fact that Irish bookmaker Paddy Power listed Elbow as a 6/1 shot, three days before the advert was even released.
Another big name bookmaker, this time Sky Bet, followed this up on Wednesday by pricing Elbow as 12/1. They gave the game away a little bit too, listing it as ‘The John Lewis song’.
At this time last year, The Vaults were placed at 12/1 for the number one spot, so it seems as if the bookmakers have a lot more faith in Elbow for this year. William Hill, Paddy Power, Betfair and Betway all list them at 6/1.
According to Oddschecker, only 0.4% of all bets on the Christmas number one market were placed on Elbow before the John Lewis advert was released but as you would expect, there were a large number of bets placed on the band since Friday morning.
Current Favourite?
The current favourite is not Elbow however, as Wham currently lead the betting with best odds of 6/4. After the tragic death of former Wham lead singer George Michael on Christmas Day 2016, many members of the public will be looking to get the band to number one, most likely through their famous song ‘Last Christmas’ which was first released in 1986.
Ed Sheeran has been dominating the UK charts in 2017, and his legion of fans may be determined to get him back to number one for Christmas Day. He can currently be backed at 4/1. Mariah Carey sells thousands of records every Christmas, and her song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ can be backed at 6/1, which looks like a value option.
Much like Ed Sheeran, American singer Pink has had a fantastic year, and can be backed at 8/1. X Factor winners used to dominate the Christmas charts but that has not really been the case in the last few years. Whoever wins the 2017 competition can be backed at 9/1.
In order to help you get a better impression of what kind of artists do reach number one on Christmas Day, here are the last few:
2008: Alexandra Burke – Hallelujah
2009: Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name
2010: Matt Cardle – When We Collide
2011: The Military Wives Choir – Wherever You Are
2012: The Justice Collective – He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
2013: Sam Bailey – Skyscraper
2014: Ben Haenow – Something I Need
2015: The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir – A Bridge Over You
2016: Clean Bandit – Rockabye
Regarding who will come out on top in 2017, Oddschecker spokesman George Elek had this to say:
“Elbow remain fourth favourites in the market, behind George Michael / Wham, Ed Sheeran and Mariah Carey. “Last Christmas” by Wham still remains the most popular pick to top the charts with punters, in the month to date they have accounted for 44% of bets in the market.”
Matched Betting
Though it is a lot of fun to look at the latest odds for interesting markets such as this, there is always the option of taking advantage of offers from bookmakers in order to make an expected profit. This is through the technique of matched betting, which involves placing a back bet with a bookmaker and a lay bet with a betting exchange.
We always advise signing up for a Premium membership for a matched betting site, such as MatchedBets. More information on this site in particular can be found in our MatchedBets Review. The reason we advise this is due to the tools and specialist advice they can offer. The matched betting calculator will work out the ideal lay stakes that you need to place, the Odds Matching tool can find you a relevant selection in just a few seconds and the step by step guides talk you through exactly what you need to do in order to make an expected profit.
Once sign up offers have been completed, you will be able to look at the reload offers that are listed by bookmakers. Making an expected profit long term is possible with the right guidance from a top matched betting site.