Having analysed the songs from the past 7 years, we set out to find singers and bands who might fit the criteria for this year’s song.

To find the singers likely to sing the cover song:

From AlbumOfTheYear, we gathered a list of 18,480 albums and EPs that were released in 2014-2016. We then used the genre labels on last.fm to filter for female indie singers. Then we cross-referenced Spotify, iTunes, AlbumOfTheYear and last.fm to find the year of each singer’s debut album or EP. This left us with the 17 female singers listed above.

To find the bands likely to be covered:

We used the Official UK Charts combined with genre labels on last.fm to generate a list of British rock bands that have had 4 or more number 1 UK albums and at least 1 top ten single. We excluded any artists that were covered in previous Christmas ads which left us with the 21 bands listed above.

Even though no single song in the past 7 years has ticked every box of the winning formula, these are still the most recurrent patterns. And if this year’s song meets every criteria, perhaps it will be the ultimate Christmas advert song!

We’re looking forward to finding out if the predictions were right, and most importantly, another heart-warming, tear-jerking, great Christmas ad!