Tag: William Hill

Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ the most successful Christmas Number One of New Millenium, according to new study

With the 70th Christmas Number One due to be crowned in little over 24 hours time, bookmaker William Hill can reveal Perfect, by Ed Sheeran, to be the most successful festive chart-topper of the new Millennium.

The singer-songwriter capped a hugely successful 2017 by scoring his first ever Christmas Number One, landing top spot with Perfect. In all, hit-maker Sheeran released six versions of the track, including duets with Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli.

William Hill, which instituted the now traditional festive flutter on the coveted Christmas Number One back in 1977, has ranked all previous Christmas chart-toppers based on a combination of Spotify plays, first week sales, total sales, weeks at number one and YouTube video views.

And while a number of the 20 tracks analysed barely even mention a snowflake or a bauble, let alone the great man himself – only 12 Number Ones out of the 69 so far mention the festive season – the one thing they do have in common, is that they sold copies by the sleighful. 

Sheeran has racked up a staggering 1,910,250,798 Spotify plays, 3,030,169,858 YouTube video views, and combined UK sales to date in excess of 4.1 million.

That is enough to see him finish above X Factor’ winner Alexandra Burke, who raced to Number One in the UK singles chart in 2008, nabbing the coveted Christmas top spot with her cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Burke’s Hallelujah became the fastest-selling single by a female solo artist, with 576,000 copies shifted in its first week.

Shayne Ward, another winner of everyone’s favourite talent show, the X-Factor, debuted at Number One in 2005 with That’s My Goal, and with 742,000 first week sales – the only track to surpass Burke’s Hallelujah – is the third most successful Christmas Number One in the last 20 years.

Burke clocked 18,570,042 YouTube views, with Ward mustering just half of that, but both were dwarfed by Sheeran – 3,030,169,858, and counting – whose track, Perfect, spent six weeks at number one.

Rockabye, by Clean Bandit, is the fourth most successful Christmas Number One of the new Millennium, the dance hit, about a single mother struggling to support her family, fended off stiff competition in 2016, to spend a mammoth nine weeks in top spot.

Fifth is Do They Know It’s Christmas? By Band Aid 20. It remains one of the most iconic charity records of all time and claimed top spot in 2004, two decades after the original, with another clutch of famous faces – not to mention voices – getting together to record a cover version.

Total combined UK sales of 3,820,000 make it the second biggest selling behind Sheeran’s Perfect, but its Spotify plays, first week sales and YouTube views of 9,595,268, make it successful enough, JUST, to make the top five.

Bottom of the pile is He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, by The Justice Collective, closely followed by all three of the LadBaby efforts to date.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Youtube duo, LadBaby, are at the front of the queue for Santa’s grotto, as William Hill have slashed their odds even further to 1-25 for this year’s Christmas Number One. 

The Christmas single on course to win, Sausage Rolls for Everyone, was released last week, featuring two very special celebrity guests and rival Christmas carolers – Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John. 

The single is a rework of Sir Elton and Ed’s recently-released festively named tune Merry Christmas, which is second favourite, 9-1, to land at the top of the Christmas tree.

If successful the fundraising, sausage roll-loving Dad, would make Christmas chart history, joining the Spice Girls and The Beatles as the only music acts to pick up four Christmas Number Ones. In doing so consecutively, they would set a brand new record!

LadBaby – 1-25

Elton John & Ed Sheeran – 9-1

The Lathums – 33-1

Mariah Carey – 33-1

Wham! – 33-1

Have A Word Pod – 33-1

Adele – 66-1

To view the Christmas Number One market, please visit: https://sports.williamhill.com/betting/en-gb/tv-specials/OB_EV21915074/uk-christmas-number-one-2021

William Hill reveals odds on Christmas Number One and White Christmas

  • William Hill offered the very first odds market on both the Christmas Number One and White Christmas over 40 years ago.
  • Tight-lipped LadBaby and Christmas collaborators Sir Elton John and Ed Sheeran are 7-4 joint favourites to secure the 70th festive chart-topper.
  • Abba, who today released new album Voyage, which included a Christmas track, have been cut to 8-1 to finish top of the tree in the singles chart.
  • Birmingham Airport is 7-2 favourite, among 11 major UK airports, for a White Christmas, closely followed by Edinburgh and Newcastle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9QLn7gM-hY

William Hill has launched both its festive markets with betting for the 70th Christmas Number One and a White Christmas NOW OPEN.

The bookmaker, which instituted betting on the festive chart-topper over 40 years ago, currently has YouTuber LadBaby and the pending Sir Elton John & Ed Sheeran festive collaboration track, as joint 7-4 favourites to win this year’s race to number one spot.

Meanwhile, Birmingham leads the way as the most likely recipient of festive flurries, with odds of 7-2 that a single snowflake is observed in the 24-hour period of December 25. Edinburgh and Newcastle are joint second favourites at 4-1, while Belfast is 9-2, as odds at 11 major UK airports were revealed for another growing tradition.

Chart superstar Sheeran has teamed up with friend and mentor Sir Elton John to create three new Christmas songs, the first of which will be released at the beginning of December, and is called Merry Christmas. 

Sheeran, 30, who released his fourth solo studio album = last week, recently revealed the accompanying music video for their Christmas contender will parody former number ones. William Hill continues to see money coming in for the pair and, as a result, have tightened their odds further from 3-1 to 7-4.

Powerhouse songstress Adele, who recently secured a third UK number one with her first new music in six years, shattered all manner of streaming records with Easy On Me. Her album 30, due to be released on November 19, is expected to be the biggest-selling record over the Christmas period. The Tottenham-born 33-year-old is 11/4 to continue her domination and claim the biggest selling festive single.

Abba, who have just released their first studio album in 40 years in what was billed as the reunion of the century, have been cut from 10-1 to 8-1 with the third track on the album revealed to be twinkly Christmas tune, Little Things.

LadBaby, real name Mark Boyle, has kept his cards close to his chest as to whether he will stake a claim for a historic fourth consecutive number one. Achieving such a feat – William Hill is offering odds of 7-4 (joint favourites) – would see Boyle draw level with The Beatles, who have four Christmas Number Ones to their name. 

Among other serious contenders are Gary Barlow and Sheridan Smith. The pair have already recorded How Christmas Is Supposed To Be, after initially duetting on Instagram for Gary’s Crooner Sessions, and are a 12-1 shot, while recently reunited boy band The Wanted have their hearts set on securing the top festive single at 18-1.

The 70th Christmas Number One will be announced at 17:45 on Friday December 24, while the White Christmas market will settle as the clock strikes 00:00 on Sunday December 26.

To view the Christmas Number One market, please visit:

https://sports.williamhill.com/betting/en-gb/tv-specials/OB_EV21915074/uk-christmas-number-one-2021

To view the White Christmas market, please visit: 

https://sports.williamhill.com/betting/en-gb/tv-specials/OB_EV21589670/snow-on-christmas-day

Betting on a white Christmas: William Hill reveals odds on festive flurries

  • William Hill, which instituted betting on a white Christmas, has made northerly duo Edinburgh and Newcastle favourites for festive flurries.
  • Britain’s highest airport, Leeds Bradford, is 6-1 to experience snowfall on the big day.
  • Last snowfall on Christmas Day was in 2017, and the last widespread white Christmas was in 2010.

Bookmaker Wiliam Hill has opened its book on the UK being treated to a white Christmas, with prices being assigned to 10 major UK airports.

For many of us, snow is synonymous with Christmas – Bing Crosby even dreamt of it – but in the UK, snow or sleet falls an average of 3.5 days in December, with the MET Office able to accurately forecast whether snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand.

Edinburgh and Newcastle Airports are current favourites, both 4-1 to experience wintry conditions on December 25. And despite its disruptive nature, Christmas is the one time of the year when the bothersome weather appears to get a free pass.

Leeds Bradford Airport is more than 700ft above sea level and holds the record for being the highest airport in the UK. It is therefore surprising to see it appear alongside the likes of Birmingham, London City Airport and Dublin on 6-1.

Manchester is 13/2 while Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff Airports are 8-1.

The popular pastime of betting on a white Christmas was in fact instituted by William Hill, and traditionally required a single snowflake to fall on the MET Office operations centre in London. 

Nowadays, and with that building long since sold – the national weather service now based in Devon, all that is needed to declare a white Christmas is the observation of a single snowflake falling in the 24 hours of December 25, at one of 10 major UK airports.

The UK has not seen snow on the ground on Christmas Day since 2015 when it was observed at a tenth of weather stations. Those 2015 flurries came five years after widespread snow and the coldest December for a century in 2010.

The last widespread white Christmas (2010) saw snow on the ground at 83% of weather stations (the highest amount ever recorded), while snow or sleet fell at 19% of stations.

Technically though, 2017 was the last true white Christmas in the UK – with 11 percent of weather stations recording snow falling, but none recorded any on the ground.

If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, please visit:

https://sports.williamhill.com/betting/en-gb/tv-specials/OB_EV21589670/snow-on-christmas-day

Euro 2020 VAR decisions 14.39% less controversial than English Premier League, research reveals

VAR and refereeing were unlikely highlights of this summer’s European Championships, with new research revealing the technology’s use to be 14.39% less controversial than the English Premier League.

Research onVAR at the Euros from bookmaker William Hill has combined reactionary metrics such as Tweet volume, text sentiment analysis, articles generated and associated levels of engagement, culminating in a bespoke, first-of-its-kind controversy rating being assigned to each of the 18 overturns.

And this summer’s pan-European football tournament, which comprised 24 teams, 51 matches and 11 host cities, returned an average controversy rating of 4.40, going some way toward resurrecting its ailing reputation at what many believed was a seminal moment for the technology.

In all, there were just 18 overturns by the 22-strong VAR team based in Nyon, who shaved 17.84% off a pre-tournament average of a change every 3.25 matches, since February 2019.

Five of those 18 overturns led to goals, six led to the awarding of penalties (four of those missed), three goals were allowed after offside and six disallowed, there was one disallowed for handball, and two red cards brandished, as a result of the technology’s unobtrusive patrol.

In all there were 276 incidents checked in 51 matches (5.4 a match) with 93.5% of on-field calls correct. Of 30 tight offside calls, nine required review, but the VAR team ensured a 100% accuracy on these.

“I believe that Europe has the best VARs in the world,” said chairman of UEFA’s Referees Committee, Roberto Rosetti. “We feel that VAR is an incredible tool for football, because it helps prevent clear and obvious refereeing mistakes.

“The 18 VAR corrections at the EURO were all 100% right, which shows the quality of the work that the VAR teams did. We can accept referees’ mistakes on the field – these can happen – but it’s very difficult to accept mistakes by VARs in front of a video screen.

“Consequently, we were pleased that the EURO VARs’ decisions were so reliable.”

Mario Gavranovic’s ruled-out winner (6.63) in a 1-1 group-stage draw with Wales claimed the unenviable accolade of ‘most controversial VAR call of the tournament’, the Swiss forward adjudged to have been inches offside (correctly). That was one of 21 tight offside calls in the first 36 games of the tournament, and one of six warranting review.

Karim Benzema’s strike (6.0) for France in their 1-0 group-stage win over Germany too, was one of those clinically accurate offside calls by the VAR team. On this occasion Kylian Mbappe strayed just offside as part of a free-flowing counter. 

Elsewhere, Matthijs de Ligt’s card upgrade to red, for deliberate handball, in the Netherlands’ last 16 clash with Czech Republic was rated at 5.92.

But with all three proven to be technically correct, we have seen fewer controversies, less outrage, no game-defining errors and most importantly no lengthy VAR interruptions over the past four weeks.

Europa League Final VAR Françoi Letexier (6.63) was the most controversial VAR official, 10.5% more controversial than Juan Martínez Munuera, Amsterdam ArenA (5.305) pipped Football Arena Munich and Olimpico in Rome to be the most controversial stadium, and the final five minutes of the 90 were comfortably most controversial too.