Elbow enter Christmas Number One race after covering The Beatles for festive John Lewis advert

The British rock band look set to win a legion of fans with their Beatles cover
Festive fun: Elbow frontman Guy Garvey
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty
Emma Powell10 November 2017
The Weekender

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Piers Morgan may have thrown his hat into the ring for Christmas Number One – but it looks as though Elbow might beat him to the top.

The British rock band are currently the 6/1 favourites to clinch the coveted spot after providing the soundtrack to this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert with a cover of The Beatles classic, Golden Slumbers.

They look set for better success than last year’s band The Vaults, who on the day the advert was released in 2016 had odds of 12/1.

But Elbow will face tough competition from Ed Sheeran, Mariah Carey and Wham. Fans are hoping to catapult the band's 1986 hit Last Christmas to the top spot in honour of frontman George Michael who died on Christmas Day last year.

Oddschecker spokesman, George Elek said: “Elbow remain fourth favourites in the market, behind George Michael/Wham, Ed Sheeran and Mariah Carey.

“Last Christmas by Wham still remains the most popular pick to top the charts with punters, in the month to date they have accounted for 44 per cent of bets in the market.”

John Lewis Christmas Advert 2017 - In pictures

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The news comes days after Morgan threatened to unleash a Johnny Depp inspired country album after Nick Knowles, Jason Manford, Bradley Walsh and Shane Ritchie all tried their hand at singing.

Kicking off his bid on Good Morning Britain Morgan said: “I’m missing a trick here. Bradley Walsh, Jason Manford, Nick Knowles. I’ll do my Johnny Depp voice.”

He then proceeded to tease viewers with a taster of what they could be listening to this Christmas, before describing his upcoming album as “country meets Johnny Depp”.

But viewers weren’t as enthusiastic, with a Good Morning Britain poll showing 65 per cent of people would not be in favour of a Morgan Christmas album.

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