London Hospices Choir, Rag N Bone Man and Inspiral Carpets have emerged as early leaders in the Official Christmas Number 1 race 2016 after 24 hours, ‪OfficialCharts.com can confirm.

Initial Official Charts Company sales reports - based on preorders and early sales data only up to midnight last night ( with the vast majority of streams yet to be tallied) -  show the London Hospices Choir currently leading the way, ahead of BRITs Critics Choice winner Rag ‘N’ Bone Man (2), and a fan-led campaign to get Manchester band Inspiral Carpets’ Saturn 5 (3) to Christmas Number 1 following the untimely death of drummer Craig Gill last month.  

But there is a long long way to go yet. A full 7 days streams still have to be counted, along with 6 days of sales, indicating that the race is still wide open at this stage.  

London Hospices Choir - a choir of staff, patients and volunteers from 18 hospices across London have released a cover of Mike & Mechanics’ The Living Years, are heading a closely fought race at the end of day 1 by just over 600 copies and the entire Top 20 at this stage separated by less than 3,000 copies.

Big tracks from current chart stars could also be in with a chance, as X Factor winner Matt Terry rides at Number 4, trailed by reigning chart-toppers Clean Bandit with Rockabye at 5, and Little Mix’s Touch (6), Zara Larsson (7) and Louis Tomlinson (8) also present in the Top 10 at this stage.

This year’s Christmas Number 1 race welcomes a range of new contenders throwing their hat into the ring, many raising money for charity, several of which are cracking today’s early sales flash, including Friends Of Jo Cox (Number 9) with their cover of The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, released in memory of the late politician who was tragically murdered earlier this year in Birstall, West Yorkshire. The track features the likes of KT Tunstall, David Gray, Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson and Parliamentary rock band MP4, and was backed by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this week.

Just outside today’s early Top 10 at Number 12 is Hartlepool duo Liv ‘N’ G with Our Superhero (A Christmas Wish), a track released to raise funds for the much-needed cancer treatment of 5 year-old Sunderland football fan, Bradley Lowery, who has been battling Neuroblastoma since the age of two.

Further down at Number 15 is a team of South Yorkshire firefighters – The Everly Pregnant Brothers - with ‘Chip Pan’ (15), a rework of Kings of Leon’s Sex On Fire, but this time all about the hazards of chip pan fires. Proceeds from this release going to Shelter and Age UK to protect the elderly and vulnerable in their homes. 

Salford lad, ex-boxer and Facebook Live blogger James ‘Shinny’ Davenport is another new entry after 24 hours with ‘Christmas Number 1’ (24), donating 20p from every download to Macmillan Cancer Support. 

And finally, Celtic fan group The Green Brigade start the week at Number 25 after teaming up with Glaswegian band Glasnevin on Grace (Green Brigade). The self-titled Ultras are making a bid for Christmas Number 1 in order to pay their mounting legal fines for offensive behaviour.

Whoever you're backing, this is the time to get behind your favourite contender. This year’s Official Christmas Number 1 race kicked off Friday 16 December, the cut-off point for sales and streams to be counted toward the chart is midnight on December 22.  

The Christmas Official Chart Top 40 will be counted down on The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1, Friday, 23 December from 4pm. The full Top 100 will be published on OfficialCharts.com at 5:45pm. 

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Watch a selection of videos from the aforementioned artists below: