Jake Massey
Another Christmas, another Christmas number one for LadBaby.
Gone are the days of exciting battles for top spot between the world's biggest and best musical artists, it seems, with LadBaby securing their fifth consecutive Christmas number one – surpassing a record set by The Beatles in the 1960s.
Social media star Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne, known as LadBaby, claimed the top spot with their single 'Food Aid', which reworks the Band Aid song 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
The track features lyrics about the cost-of-living crisis and vocals from MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis.
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In the run-up to Christmas, the track sold more than 65,000 units to become the fastest-selling single of 2022 to date.
Profits from the new single will be split equally between food bank charity the Trussell Trust and the Band Aid Trust.
Reflecting on making chart history, LadBaby said: "I can't quite believe it. We're number one. The charity has made it five years in a row. How have we done this again?
"We want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us for the last five years. A massive apology to The Beatles, and to all The Beatles' fans… I'm sorry.
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"The charity wins. The Trussell Trust gets Christmas number one again.
"Thank you to all the people who have downloaded, all the people who believed in us and brought a bit of Christmas magic. We love you all. Yes mate."
Last year, LadBaby equalled the The Beatles' total of four Christmas number ones, earned by the Fab Four non-consecutively in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
However, Sir Paul McCartney has featured as an official artist on five festive chart-toppers, with his Beatles hits plus 1977's 'Mull of Kintyre' by his band Wings.
LadBaby reached the top of the festive chart with food-inspired tracks 'We Built This City' (2018), 'I Love Sausage Rolls' (2019), 'Don’t Stop Me Eatin'' (2020) and the Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John-featuring 'Sausage Rolls For Everyone' (2021).
In second place this year are Wham! with 'Last Christmas', while YouTube group Sidemen claimed third place with 'Christmas Drillings' featuring JME, in aid of food poverty charity FareShare.
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Mariah Carey followed with 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' at four, with Sheeran and Sir Elton's 'Merry Christmas' rounding off the top five.
Lizzo's Amazon Music Original cover of Stevie Wonder's 'Someday At Christmas' rose seven places to number 15.
Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said: "It only seems yesterday that LadBaby turned up with their first festive campaign four years ago, so it feels slightly surreal to be sending hearty congratulations on their fifth successive official Christmas number one.
"Securing one Christmas number one is a huge achievement in itself – to do it five times, in successive years, is unprecedented and frankly incredible.
"The success of Mark, Roxanne and their family is more than just a chart feat too.
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"The work they have done to raise profile and funds for food banks generally and the Trussell Trust in particular has been immense over the past five years, especially at a time which continues to be so difficult for so many people in the UK."
On the festive albums chart, Taylor Swift's Midnights retuned to number one after a battle with Sir Cliff Richard, whose Christmas With Cliff gave him his highest chart position since 1993.