Social media now has Christmas number one in its grip as man singing about sausage rolls named festive chart topper

Social media has seized control of the Christmas number one as a previously unknown YouTuber has secured the top spot.

In previous years, stars such as The Beatles, The Spice Girls, Cliff Richard and Whitney Houston won the race for number one. Now, the new social media trend for charity singles by non-celebrities means that this year’s top song is about a sausage roll, sung by a minor social media celebrity who calls himself “Ladbaby”.

The "dad blogger" - real name Mark Hoyle - fought off competition from international pop stars Ariana Grande, Ava Max and Miley Cyrus for his charity single, all the profits of which will go to foodbank charity The Trussell Trust.

The blogger, who has 450,000 YouTube subscribers, took the top spot with novelty song We Built This City. The tune riffs on the 1985 Starship track, but has changed the lyrics to “we built this city on sausage rolls”, instead of “rock and roll”.

In a message to his fans, Mr Hyde, 31,  told OfficialCharts.com: "Thank you everybody in the UK who has got [the song] to the top. I can't thank you enough, not only for downloading the song but for raising money for such an incredible charity.

"I'm honestly speechless and lost for words. Thank you so much. Yes mate!"

The 31-year-old recorded the ode to sausage rolls, as opposed to rock and roll, with his wife Roxanne and their two sons. Proceeds from the single will go to The Trussell Trust, which supplies food banks.

He gained support from organisations including Luton Town Football Club, as well as BBC presenter Lukwesa Burak who told her followers to “get it to number one.”

According to the Official Charts Company, We Built This City sold 75,000 combined sales in the last week, of which 93 per cent were downloads, and it finished 18,500 units ahead of Ava Max's Sweet But Psycho, which claimed runner-up.

Thank You, Next - last weekend's number one - was forced into third place.

While charity songs often win the race for number one, with the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir winning in 2015, the track is the first novelty song to secure the spot since Bob The Builder's Can We Fix It? in 2000.

Christmas classics are still popular to download during the festive season; Mariah Carey's festive hit All I Want For Christmas Is You took fourth place - as it did last year. Last Christmas by Wham! reentered at seven.

The Pogues' Fairytale Of New York sat at 11, Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? took 13 and Michael Buble's It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas claimed 16.