LadBaby close to Christmas number one with song about sausage rolls

December 22, 2018

With five days to go until the big day, the race for Christmas number one is on.

According to the latest from the Official Charts, top contenders currently include Ariana Grande with Thank U Next, Ava Max with Sweet But Psycho and a more unusual possibility: a sausage roll-loving Youtube star called LadBaby.

Released on December 14, LadBaby’s single We Built This City (on sausage rolls) is performed by parenting blogger Mark Hoyle, a man who claims he has never sung before.

The charity single is raising money for food bank charity The Trussell Trust and is undeniably an admirable feat.

But could his hilarious number really get the top spot?

According to the midweek chart update, the UK blogger is currently at number two – 508 sales and streams ahead of Grande and just 978 sales behind singer Ava Max, who is currently in the lead.

But there’s a major issue here. The mid-week chart does not include streaming data from Amazon, Apple and Spotify for Sunday, and also lacks YouTube data for the entire weekend, according to the BBC.

100 premium video and audio streams count as one sale; as do 600 free video and audio streams.

So while sales of We Built This City are strong, a look at its latest performance on streaming platforms shows the song trailing behind Ariana Grande’s.

"People will cheerfully buy a charity single," chart expert James Masterton explained to the broadcaster. "It’s a nice, tangible, feel-good gesture. But they won’t necessarily listen to it."

LadBaby’s single doesn’t appear in Spotify’s Top 50 most played chart, and has over 909,000 views on Youtube versus an average of 10m plays per day of Thank U Next.

Given that streaming accounts for a huge proportion of the Official Chart’s data, this means LadBaby’s chances are slimmer than they appear in the midweek data.

Nevertheless, LadBaby’s spirits and enthusiasm remain high.

Speaking to OfficialCharts.com about the mid-week data, Mark said: "Who would have thought it? A sausage roll song being sung by a Nottingham lad would be sitting at Number 2 in the Official midweek Singles Chart?!

"What a fantastic achievement and great start, but let’s not stop there!

"Let’s pinch that number one spot from the global mega stars, eat our own body weight in sausage rolls and, most importantly, raise even more money to support the amazing UK food banks charity Trussell Trust this Christmas."