Philanthropy can come in many guises, and in the UK this Christmas week (and for the three preceding Christmas weeks) philanthropy came in the form of a music download as a novelty band LadBaby hitting the vaunted Christmas number one spot and then gave all of the proceeds of their song to charity.
The song ‘Sausage Rolls for Everyone’ featuring appearances from Ed Sheeran and Elton John raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for their appointed charity, the Trussell Trust, a food bank that’s helped 14 million Britons living below the poverty line.
The song also made history, beating The Beatles and The Spice Girls as the artist with the most consecutive UK Christmas number one singles.
The Beatles scored four number one UK Christmas hits, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ ‘I Feel Fine,’ ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘Hello, Goodbye,’ but the numbers ones were not in consecutive years.
LadBaby has had every UK Christmas number one song since 2018 with the songs, in sequences, being ‘We Built This City (on Sausage Rolls),’ ‘I Love Sausage Rolls,’ ‘Don’t Stop me Eatin’ (Sausage Rolls) and ‘Sausage Rolls for Everyone.’
‘Sausage Rolls for Everyone’ was atop the Christmas chart this year above ‘Merry Christmas’ from Ed Sheeran and Elton John at number two. Perennial Christmas hits ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham and ‘All I Want for Christmas’ by Mariah Carey were at three and four.
The LadBaby songs have little musical merit and are, at best, mildly amusing, but buying their songs (the vast majority of revenue of LadBaby songs has come from paid downloads, not streaming) is fast becoming a Christmas tradition, in the season’s spirit of giving and novelty.
The man behind LadBaby is Nottingham man Mark Hoyle, who was an established YouTuber and Facebook and Instagram blogger before his recording career, and made his name giving new dads advice on parenting and baby equipment.
His wife Roxanne Hoyle and their sons Phoenix and Kobe contribute significantly to the Christmas songs that LadBaby are most famous for.
The pair now also have myriad for-profit business ventures, from kids’ books and books about life hacks, to a clothing line and even a line of sausage roll flavoured crisps.
No doubt next year the pair will be breaking out the rhyming dictionary and GarageBand for another charitable tilt at the Christmas charts.
Listen to ‘Sausage Rolls for Everyone’ below.
