2013 X Factor winner to enter Official Christmas Number 1 race

This year’s X Factor winner’s single will be released during the Christmas Number 1 sales week.

After a two year absence from the Official Christmas Number 1 race, the X Factor will once again be battling it out to claim the festive top spot, OfficialCharts.com can confirm. This year’s live final is set to take place on Sunday, December 15, which is the start of the sales period for the Official 2013 Christmas Number 1, with the winner’s single set to go on sale immediately after the show finishes airing on ITV 1.

X Factor, which celebrates its tenth anniversary year, has dominated the Christmas singles market, with contestants from the show responsible for the five of the last eight Official Christmas Number 1s: Shayne Ward, who won Series 2 of the show, scored the 2005 Christmas Number 1 with That's My Goal. 2006 winner Leona Lewis, 2007 winner Leon Jackson and 2008 winner Alexandra Burke all went on on to claim the festive top spot for their respective years.

In 2009 Joe McElderry became the first X Factor contestant to lose a Christmas Number 1 race. His cover of Miley Cyrus’s The Climb was kept off the Official Christmas Singles Chart summit thanks to a social media campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s 1993 single, Killing In The Name, to Number 1. It was organized by husband and wife team Jon and Tracy Morter as a protest over X Factor creator Simon Cowell’s perceived monopoly of the Christmas singles market.

X Factor returned to the top of the Official Singles Chart the following Christmas with 2010 winner Matt Cardle taking the festive top spot with When We Collide, a re-titled cover of Scottish rockers’ Biffy Clyro’s Many Of Horror. However, due to TV scheduling, 2011 winners Little Mix and 2012 winner James Arthur saw their singles reaching Number 1 the week before Christmas.

Other Official 2013 Christmas Number 1 Contenders

While many artists are yet to throw their hats into the Official 2013 Christmas Number 1 race, other potential contenders at the moment could include 11-year-old choirboy Jack Topping with Tomorrow (from the musical Annie), Britain’s Got Talent finalists Richard & Adam with I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In (On Christmas Day), and Susan Boyle and Elvis Presley's O Come, All Ye Faithful. Plus: 911, Blue, 5ive, Atomic Kitten, Liberty X and B*witched will also be giving it a shot as part of the Big Reunion’s cover of Wizzard’s 1973 hit, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

Sales of singles between 00:01 on Sunday, December 15 up midnight on Saturday, December 21 will be counted towards the Official Christmas Number 1 race. The Official Top 40 2013 Christmas Singles Chart will be revealed on Sunday, December 22 from 4pm on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart Show with Jameela Jamil, with the full Top 100 posted on www.officialcharts.com at 7pm.