Alex B Cann weekly column - 28th November

Who is going to be this year's Christmas number one? The race is on, and the smart money is on Mariah Carey...but who else could it be? Alex looks at the contenders for the 2024 crown!

The race is on for this year's coveted festive chart topper! There has been much debate about when we should start playing Christmas songs on Tameside Radio, and I have to confess I led the way in deciding to open the box of tinsel topped box of delights a few days earlier than planned. Others said wait until 1st December, but with Wham already in the top five, it seems the public have spoken! I do feel a little sorry for those who work in retail, though, and can't get away from ubiquitous Wizzard, Shaky, Mud and Mariah for the next few weeks. And that's before taking into account rude customers who have loud conversations into their mobile phones at the till, barge folk out of the way, and are just generally not very nice humans.

Anyway, back to the Christmas chart. I used to write down the Top 40 in a notepad every week, and wherever I was on a Sunday afternoon, I'd stop it to listen to Kid Jensen or Bruno Brookes counting them down. I even taped my favourites off the radio, and tried to press pause before the disc jockey spoke at the end of the tracks.

As for the hit parade this year, I would quite like to see Mariah Carey finally make it to the summit with her cheery ditty All I Want For Christmas Is You. It may have been played to death in the last 30 years, but I think it's a bit of a travesty that East 17 left her with the silver medal in 1994. Another interesting horse that's entered the race is ELO's Mr Blue Sky, as 'Rage Against The Machine Christmas Number 1' campaigner Jon Morter aims to promote the social media platform Bluesky as an alternative to Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter (when it was good). It would also be a fitting tribute to ELO's rich musical legacy ahead of their fareful tour, which arrives at Co-op Live in Manchester in July 2025. The news of the song joining the race was announced on the Official Charts Bluesky channel earlier this week. Mr Blue Sky originally peaked at number six back in 1978, so I'd be more than happy to see it reach number one. Jon Morter is the guy who helped Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name become an unlikely yuletide chart topper in 2009, denying Joe McElderry the top spot with The Climb. He also played a part in getting the Justice Collective to the top in 2012, raising money for victims of the Hillsborough disaster and their families.

After X Factor domination and sausage roll madness for a few years, it seems to be quite an open field in 2024. Admittedly, the chart isn't the giant it once was, and most Generation X'ers my age will often tell me they have no idea what's even in the chart any more. I follow it pretty closely, and believe it's been a really good year for music. Don't believe those who say nothing good has been released!

Another contender for the turkey crown this year, announced on Friday 20th December, include Band Aid 40, which has attracted some headlines with the news that Ed Sheeran is not too happy at being included. Reports suggest Bob Geldof would like to meet him for a chat. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that one! Wham could do it again, after finally getting to number one in the Christmas chart of 2023, whilst Liam Payne's All I Want (For Christmas) could be sent to the top posthumously by fans grieving him following his tragic death in Argentina earlier this year.

Tom Grennan has released It Can't Be Christmas, but only on Amazon Music, so that could be a little bit of an outsider. It's very good though, as is his current single Higher which we are playing on Tameside Radio. Other possibilities include Oasis with their cover of Slade's Christmas classic, a One Direction re-release, Ed Sheeran's Under The Tree (from the Netflix film 'That Christmas'), or perhaps Jedward, who are releasing LOVEmas. They've described it on Instagram as "a song with a mission to share the love this festive season", and includes such lyrical poetry as "the Christmas dinner's Hot to Go, Santa's singing espresso". Before you rule it out, remember Mr Blobby beat Take That in 1993. Where's Cliff? Has he given up?! Time will tell who triumphs.