Bookies slash odds on The Pogues being the Christmas Number One single – as fans call for Fairytale Of New York to top the festive charts in tribute to Shane MacGowan

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Bookies have slashed their odds on The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York becoming Christmas number one after the passing of Shane McGowan earlier today.

McGowan, who was born on Christmas Day, died at the age of 65 after an eight-year battle with a brain condition, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke announced on social media today.

Fairytale of New York was already the favourite to hit number one as fans rallied around the Pogues frontman during his fight with viral encephalitis, a life-threatening condition that leads to brain swelling.

But with the news of his death bookies including Ladbrokes and Coral now say the 1987 duet with Kirsty MacColl is all-but-certainly set to top the charts.

Famous fans including Piers Morgan are already leading calls to make the song – frequently named the best Christmas song of all time in polls – number one as a fitting tribute to the Irish punk legend. 

Finally number one? The Pogues are the odds-on favourite for the Christmas Number One single with Fairytale Of New York – amid lead singer Shane MacGowan’s ongoing health woes

Piers Morgan is leading calls for the single to take the coveted Christmas number one spot

News of his death was announced in a post on Instagram by his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, today (pictured)

Fairytale of New York was released in 1987 and reached number two in the Christmas single charts, beaten to the top spot by the Pet Shop Boys

Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl, with whom he duetted on Fairytale of New York, in a promotional shot for the single 

Ladbrokes has given odds of 1/4 on The Pogues, with Wham!’s Last Christmas the next-closest bet with odds of 6/1. Earlier in November, it was offering odds of 6/4.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: ‘The Pogues were already clear favourites for this year’s festive top spot, before this morning’s tragic news. 

‘We’d be amazed – at this point – if Fairytale of New York wasn’t top of the charts come Christmas Day.’

UK CHRISTMAS NUMBER ONES 

What was the number one song in the UK on Christmas Day between 2012 and 2022?

2012 He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by The Justice Collective

2013 Skyscraper by Sam Bailey (X Factor)

2014 Something I Need by Ben Haenow (X Factor)

2015 A Bridge Over You by The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir

2016 Rockabye by Clean Bandit 

2017 Perfect by Ed Sheeran

2018 We Built This City by LadBaby

2019 I Love Sausage Rolls by LadBaby

2020 Don’t Stop Me Eatin’ by LadBaby

2021 Sausage Rolls For Everyone by LadBaby ft. Ed Sheeran and Elton John

2022 Food Aid by LadBaby

Source: OfficialCharts.com

Coral, meanwhile, is offering the same odds of 1/4, against 5/1 on Wham’s classic. It had previously offered 5/4 on the single before McGowan’s passing.

Spokesperson John Hill said: ‘Punters think there is going to be a wave of support behind The Pogues landing the Christmas number one single this year following the sad passing of Shane MacGowan. 

‘We make Fairytale of New York odds-on to top the official singles charts on Christmas Day, 36 years after it was released.’

Betfair says it has ‘significantly shorted’ its odds following Thursday’s news. It now offers slightly slimmer odds, 4/11, on the single topping the charts. 

Spokesperson Sam Ramsbottom said: ‘The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York is always a firm favourite with punters when it comes to Xmas number one.

‘Following today’s tragic news about the passing of their singer, Shane MacGowan, the odds have significantly shortened to 4/11 and it’s hard to see anything else topping the charts. It would certainly be a fitting tribute.’

Other bookies have also slashed their odds on the bittersweet single – a drunken dirge by an Irish immigrant in New York as he reminisces about a former lover – topping the charts by the end of December 21.

The results will be announced on the last Friday before Christmas, December 22. Bet365 and Betfred are each offering slashed odds of 1/4, according to Oddschecker.

Despite regularly topping polls naming it as the best Christmas song ever written, Fairytale has never made it to number one. It was beaten to the top spot by the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of Always On My Mind in 1987.

It’s something that fans – including some famous faces – now hope to rectify in McGowan’s memory.

Piers Morgan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘RIP Shane MacGowan, 65. Irish punk legend, genius Pogues singer/songwriter, and hell-raiser extraordinaire. 

‘His favourite joke was: “I was given six weeks to live, about 25 years ago!” Let’s make Fairytale of New York the Christmas No1 as a tribute. (He was born on Xmas Day).’

McGowan’s wife Victoria expressed support for the single’s long-awaited ascension to the top spot a week before his death, sharing a post on X about bookies’ odds with four red heart emojis.

The field is open for The Pogues to storm the charts at long last after YouTube duo LadBaby announced they would not be releasing a sixth consecutive Christmas single, after dominating the festive charts for five years in a row since 2018.

Handing over the baton: The news comes as LadBaby revealed that they aren’t doing a festive single for 2023 to give other acts a chance, the band have had  five Christmas number ones

The duo – parents Mark and Roxanne Hoyle – reached the top of the festive charts with food-inspired tracks including We Built This City (2018), I Love Sausage Rolls (2019), Don’t Stop Me Eatin’ (2020) and the Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John-featuring Sausage Rolls For Everyone (2021). 

They surpassed a record held by The Beatles to claim the first ever fifth UK Christmas number one with Food Aid in 2022, a rework of the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Profits from the singles were donated to food bank charity The Trussell Trust, which says single sales and other ‘partnerships’ raised over £1.2 million to feed the hungry.

Mark Hoyle told the Metro earlier this month: ‘After five amazing years we’ve decided to pass the baton over to the Great British public and we’re not going for Christmas No 1 this year.

‘We never expected it to be five, I’ll be totally honest. It’s one of those things that just happened over the years and we thought it was amazing that the public got behind us in the way that they did. 

‘Five years ago when we started this, we knew the importance of food banks in this country and we wanted to raise funds and awareness for that so we did that one [song], that was lovely.’

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