IT seems a foregone conclusion that the Justice Collective will claim the coveted Christmas number one on Sunday if the bookies are to be believed.

Their beautiful take of He Aint' Heavy, He's My Brother is as low as 40-1 on with Bet365 to come out on top and you can understand why.

Proceeds of the song will go towards the families of the 96 victims who lost their lives in the Hillsborough football tragedy 23 years ago.

Up until this year, the family were never told the truth of what actually happened on that fateful day and the cover-up campaign that followed just added to the wounds.

But now they have got justice thanks to the independent report that was revealed in September and their story has touched the hearts of millions of people across the country.

And the fact that Sir Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams have offered their services in the song will surely mean that it will get the number one slot.

When the X Factor became the phenomenon that it was, it seemed that there was no point in anyone else entering the battle for the Christmas number one song as the winner of the ITV show was nailed on to get it.

That was why a campaign started to stop the trend from continuing in 2009, which led to American rap metal group Rage Against the Machine unbelievably getting to number one with their hit Killing in the Name.

So it's humbling to see that charity songs are winning the battle now, with the Military Wives having last year's Christmas number one.

I remember growing up getting all excited when the Christmas number one was announced and winding my sister up because Mr Blobby had beaten Take That.

I don't think that there is the same sort of buzz these days, but no doubt it is still something to cherish for the winners.

Looking at the list of Christmas number ones, there are some classic songs in there, like Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody, Do They Know It's Christmas by Band Aid and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

The latter two got to number one at Christmas on two separate occasions, but there have also been the love songs, like Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You and it's no surprise to see that the Spice Girls dominate the charts in the 1990s.

But, there have been the occasional novelty song.

Who could forget Mr Blobby getting a Christmas number one in 1993 or Bob the Builder in 2000?

And there there's Rolf Harris and St Winifred's School Choir, who both have Christmas number ones to their names.

So is there much prestige in being at the top of the charts on December 25? What do you think and what are your favourite festive songs?

Leave your comments below.