The race is on for the UK Christmas Number one, due to be announced on Sunday December 23, 2012.

It’s a battle of two charity singles this year: The x factor winner James Arthur is looking for a second week at number one with ‘Impossible’, the proceeds of which will go to help the charity Together For Short Lives (which helps sick children), whilst The Justice Collective are hoping for the number one slot with their cover of The Hollies’ ‘He Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother).’ The Justice Collective single is also a charitable concern, raising money to help the families of those affected by the Hillsborough Disaster with their legal fees.

Despite receiving far less airplay than Arthur, The Justice Collective – which features Holly Johnson, Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams and Rebecca Ferguson, among many others – currently looks to be in the front-running for the title. The former Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer, Holly Johnson, is urging the public to go out and buy the single – not simply so that it can go to number one, but because it will help the families of the victims of the 1987 disaster.

In response to the news that the Hillsborough single was inching ahead, Johnson told STV “That is fantastic news, that a record that hasn't had weeks and weeks and weeks of television programmes promoting it, like some records I might not mention, and I think it is just great. It shows the amount of compassion and sympathy that the British public have for those families and I think that is the most important thing at the end of the day.”