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.
Freelance writer and marketer Chris Middleton, 33, wrote the lyrics to the song. They include: ‘It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home, it’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm. It’ll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home, this Christmas.’
Despite describing himself as ‘not very political’, Mr Middleton told the Telegraph: ‘I felt obligated to take on the issue. Pensioners have told me they feel abandoned.’
He accused Starmer of ‘hypocrisy’ and hit out at the PM for not putting the changes to winter fuel payments in his manifesto.
Mr Middleton enlisted Rat Pack tribute singer Dean Ager, 51, to sing the song, which has so far raised £15,000 for Age UK.
Mr Ager hit out at radio stations for not playing the song, saying: ‘I’ve not heard it one time – I get being impartial, but surely that contradicts freedom of speech. So many people out there are suffering because Labour took away the allowance.’
The BBC said: ‘We play a wide range of music across our stations – we don’t have specific policies on tracks or ban any songs. Decisions on what we play are always made with the relevant audiences and context in mind.’
