It is the ultimate festive accolade that musicians vie for every year.
And today, a parody song mocking Sir Keir Starmer is in with a chance of taking the coveted title of Christmas number one.
The BBC has been criticised for failing to play the song – which has already topped the Official Singles Downloads Charts.
Freezing This Christmas, by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers, slams the Prime Minister for Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners to the tune of Mud’s 1974 track Lonely This Christmas.
The official Top 40 Christmas Number One will be announced today, with Wham!’s Last Christmas the favourite to take top spot on its 40th anniversary.
But even if the satirical song does not hit the top, it could appear on BBC Radio One’s weekly countdown of the Top 40 – which is played every Friday.
The BBC has faced pressure to play the song, with Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, saying it was ‘an absurdity’ that the BBC ‘should not play a song that is selling so well’.
And the musicians behind the song have claimed their efforts to reach number one are being thwarted by radio stations refusing to play it to their audiences.
Freezing This Christmas, by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers, slams the Prime Minister for Labour ’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners