Fairytale Of New York Christmas Number One Odds Slashed After Shane MacGowan’s Death

Fairytale Of New York is a Christmas classic and the odds on the 1997 release being number one on December 25th have never been lower, following the death of frontman Shane MacGowan.

Christmas is almost upon us and so we can start to look forward to finding out who will be this year’s number one ahead of the new year, with the Pogues now odds-on favourites to claim the title.

The Pogues have seen their odds of landing the prize increase significantly in recent weeks, after five time Christmas number one holders Ladbaby announced they would not be releasing a single for the first time in six years.

U.K. Xmas No.1 Odds

• The Pogues 8/13
• The Beatles 7/1
• Mariah Carey 8/1
• Wham 8/1
• Ed Sheeran 8/1
• Adele 8/1
• Taylor Swift 8/1
• Dua Lipa 9/1
• AC/DC 10/1
• JVKE 12/1
• Lewis Capaldi 14/1
• Sam Ryder 16/1
• Slade 16/1
• S Club 16/1
• Sidemen 20/1
• Harry Styles 20/1
• Cliff Richard 20/1
• Charlie the commentator 25/1
• Lorraine Kelly 25/1

Who Will Be Christmas Number One?

Taking the odds for each team listed above, we have outlined the implied probability of

The Pogues (8/13) have had their odds to be Christmas number one slashed by a significant margin after it was announced lead singer Shane MacGowan has died aged 65 following a battle with encephalitis and general ill-health.

MacGowan has been in intensive care for the last few months now and his wife shared a thank you message on Twitter to all the well-wishers towards the end of his time.

I just wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone who has been messaging me and ⁦@ShaneMacGowan⁩ and thank you 🙏 ⁦@spiderstacy⁩ and Terry Woods for coming to visit him ❤️love and prayers for everyone who is struggling right now ❤️hang in there! pic.twitter.com/9OrUdgPxEd

— @victoriamary (@Victoriamary) November 14, 2023

The 65-year-old was a part of the English-Irish Celtic Punk band ‘The Pogues’ which was founded in 1982, although the lead singer left the band in 1991 due to drinking issues.

Former band mates Spider Stacy and Terry Woods both paid visits to their friend in the hospital, as he continued to struggle with viral encephalitis.

The Pogues most famously wrote ‘Fairytale Of New York’ alongside Kirsty MacColl in 1987 and although the song never made it to number one in the UK, it was the number one in the Irish charts at Christmas the year the single was released.

Ladbaby were second favourites in the race to be Christmas number one, but after earning the title five years in a row the husband and wife duo have decided to not release a single this year.

Th Beatles (7/1) have now moved up to second favourites in place of Ladbaby, with popular artists Mariah Carey, Wham, Ed Sheeran, Adele and Taylor Swift all just behind priced at 8/1.