Could James Arthur bag the 2012 Christmas Number One after all? Despite the bookies selecting The Justice Collective’s Hillsborough charity single as the likely candidate, it now looks as though James Arthur is now the favourite for the number one slot this year. His single ‘Impossible’ looks to be heading to the top of the chart, despite the huge support for The Justice Collective’s cover of The Hollies’ ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,’ which is raising money to help the families of those killed in the Hillsborough disaster with their legal fees.

James’ single is also raising money for charity. Proceeds from his single will go to Together For Short Lives, which debuted last week with sales of 490,000. The Managing Director of the Official Charts Company told STV “While James Arthur has an early lead over The Justice Collective after just two days of sales, it is exceptionally tight – especially with Christmas gift purchases likely to impact on both releases as the week progresses. It looks like being an extremely exciting race for this year’s Official Christmas Number One." So it’s not quite in the bag for The X Factor winner then, but he’s in the lead at the moment. Can he keep hold of his lead until the weekend? Or will the Justice Collective take over.

The Justice Collective features contributions from Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Paloma Faith, Mel C and Rebecca Ferguson.