by Jane Ball, News Editor
Saturday, December 10, 2011
1:41 PM
»An unsigned internet singer from Hornchurch is neck-and-neck with pop megastar Justin Bieber in the race to have the Christmas number one in the UK singles chart.

YouTube sensation Alex Day, 22, has been given odds of 16-1 by bookies William Hill, to take the coveted top spot in three weeks’ time.
These are the same odds as 17-year-old Canadian Justin – a worldwide star with millions of adoring fans who found fame on the internet site in 2008.
Justin is releasing festive classic All I Want for Chrsitmas is You with Mariah Carey.
A song by the cast of The Only Way is Essex has been given the same odds.
Alex, who is one of the UK’s most popular YouTube bloggers with nearly 500,000 subscribers, hopes his single about friendship, Forever Yours, has what it takes to beat his rivals.
The former Emerson Park schoolboy released the song online last Saturday (December 3) and since then, his video has had more than a million views.
“People seem to be really loving the track,” said Alex. “I wrote, recorded and produced it on my own. I haven’t had any label support or radio play, but I’m really excited that I’m getting a real momentum with all this, and now I want to push it forward.”
For the past few years artists have found it almost impossible to beat the X Factor winner to the number one spot.
But an anti-Simon Cowell Facebook campaign saw Rage Against the Machine re-release Killing in the Name do just that last year, outselling Joe McElderry
“I always loved the Christmas chart battle as a kid so being a part of that is really exciting for me,” said Alex. “And I’ve told my audience that I’ll give a huge chunk of the profits to World Vision, a charity I volunteered with in Zambia last year.”
Vignettes
The current favourite, according to William Hill, for the Christmas number 1 is the Military Wives Choir at 8/13; followed by the winner of the X Factor, 6/5; and Nirvana at 7/1.
“We estimate that to beat [X Factor] you will need sales of between 200,000-300,000,” a William Hill spokesman said.
Alex – known online as Nerimon – has a huge online following, mainly American teens, who tune in to watch his vignettes filmed from his bedroom.
The Bugaboo brand is well known with stylish new mums for their well-made and practical yet versatile and iconic designs.
6 comments
Us nermiearmians will get Alex to number 1!
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Zoe Stabler
Monday, December 12, 2011
200,000-300,000 to get Number One? 500,000 fans? And the Christmas Number One is........
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legorockman
Saturday, December 10, 2011
To have Alex Day as number one this Christmas would be great, especially as he is supporting World Vision. I hope everyone will help him by buying his song in Christmas week, I know the nermie army will :)
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nermie army
Friday, December 9, 2011
It would be soo amazing if alex would be christmas number one :) i'm going to buy the song on itunes in christmas week and today i'm going to make a music video for the song and send it ti all my friends. Good Luck Alex :) Greetings from Germany
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Sophia Böer
Friday, December 9, 2011
It would be soo amazing if alex would be christmas number one :) i'm going to buy the song on itunes in christmas week and today i'm going to make a music video for the song and send it ti all my friends. Good Luck Alex :) Greetings from Germany
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Sophia Böer
Friday, December 9, 2011
The world would be a much better place if Alex gets first in the charts intead of someone from the X factor or justin bieber. All i am saying is that he deserves to get something back from us; he has been giving us awesome content from he's youtube channel (Nerimon)
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Quesadalejandro
Friday, December 9, 2011