THERE'S nothing like the race for the Christmas number one to breathe new life into the singles market.

While commentators spend the rest of the year mourning the demise of the humble 45, this is the time of year when everyone gets really excited about which song tops the charts.

The winner of X-Factor is odds-on favourite with the bookies, but many pundits are predicting a closer race than usual with Last Choir Standing winners, Only Men Aloud, launching a bid and former X-Factor champ Leona Lewis also entering the fray.

“The X-Factor has killed the Christmas number one in the last few years, but at last we have a song that can take on the Cowell juggernaut,” says Rupert Adams, spokesman for William Hill bookmaker, even though it is offering odds of just 1-4 on the X-Factor winner. “Last year the X-Factor winner fared badly. There’s potential, if the wrong winner is chosen, they will be beaten.”

HMV is predicting big things for the choir whose double-A single features covers of All By Myself and festive standard Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and is out on December 15.

“Only Men Aloud have gained a huge fan base through Last Choir Standing and All By Myself is the classic song that helped them win the show,” says HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo.

But a Parkstone boy could have something to say about that. Eddie Argos, of cult indie band Art Brut, whose single Emily Kane recounted Eddie’s teen obsession with a girl from Ashley Cross, has reactivated his Glam Chops side project in time for a tilt at the holiday top spot. The 10-piece collective will release Countdown To Christmas/ Baby Jesus Was the First Glam Rocker as a double A-side on November 24.

According to Eddie, the songs feature “a children's choir, sleigh bells and bagpipes for maximum Christmas effect”.

Former X Factor winner Leona Lewis is also in contention. She plans to release a cover of Snow Patrol’s Run, a song she originally sang on Radio 1’s Live Lounge; while Snow Patrol themselves have scheduled the second single from their hit album, A Hundred Million Suns, to come out in time for Christmas.

But joint second favourites at the bookies are Take That, Boyzone and Bob the Builder, the only one of the trio to have actually scored a festive chart-topper.

Other strong contenders include Cliff Richard, aiming for his third Christmas number one; Girls Aloud, who are chasing their second; and Robbie Williams and Amy Winehouse both seeking their first.

Rank outsiders Status Quo plan their first ever Christmas single, It’s Christmas Time, as the 75th single release of their 40-year career; while former Mercury Prize winner Antony Hegarty appears without his band The Johnsons on Be Good to Earth this Christmas, whose release will be limited to just 1,000 seven inch vinyl copies.

Babyshambles drummer Adam Ficek, who played one of his first shows as a solo artist at the Opera House in September, has also entered the fray with his solo project, Roses Castles Kings, releasing a Christmas single, Horses – complete with sleighbell-style sound effects – as a digital download on December 8, then as a 7-inch vinyl single on December 15.

Finally, lively Liverpool indie band The Wombats have teamed up with veteran comedian Les Dennis to record Is This Christmas?, a charity single in aid of Mencap to be released on December 15.