A little primary school in England is writing the feel-good Christmas story of the year, challenging pop stars and major recording studios for the coveted number-one spot in the UK Christmas charts.
Flakefleet Primary School's adorable Christmas carol Light Up is tracking strongly on the download charts, outdoing perennial favourites including Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You, and Wham's Last Christmas.
The official charts have the school song — written, produced and distributed with a budget of zero dollars- at number 15, and trending strongly, with the chart organisers describing it as a "chart contender''.
On both the Google Play and Amazon lists, they're second only to a YouTuber known as Ladbaby, and ahead of the pop superstars Miley Cyrus, George Ezra, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga.
They'd also cracked number 33 spot in the top 40, which includes radio plays.
Written by students and their teachers, sung by the entire school, and filmed and edited by head teacher Dave McPartlin on his iPhone, Light Up is proving a real underdog success story in the run-up to Christmas.
The students from the working-class school in Fleetwood, northern England, are spending this week on a battle bus, similar to an Australian campaign bus, travelling around England and promoting their song, which is a fundraiser for the local Alzheimers Society.
Aged from three years to 11 years, the students and residents of a nearby aged care home star in the video, and sing about making good memories for people at Christmas.
The actor Stephen Fry is one of those who has got behind the school, and McPartlin urged everyone to download it, and spread the word on social media.
"One of the kids had said at assembly that he wanted to be a pop star and have a number one song,'' McPartlin told News Corp.
He got to thinking about how he could show the 470 students at the suburban school that it was important to dream big.
The school has a friendship with the local aged care home, where students and residents visited each other once a week, and McPartlin hit upon the idea of combining the pop star dream with an important experience for the students and the elderly residents.
Students and teachers wrote the lyrics to Light Up, while some "friends-of-friends'' were roped in to produce it and set it to music.
The school choir sang the song, the entire school sang the chorus, and a smaller group of students appeared in the video, treating their elderly friends to a day out at a theme park, with dancing, singing, and a trip in a limousine.
McPartlin, who is social-media savvy and had helped the school produce a viral video on the wedding of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan earlier in the year, shot the video on his iPhone, edited it, and uploaded it to all online platforms.
"It's been brilliant,'' he said of the experience for the students.
"There's a real buzz about the place. The whole community is behind it and there's some real excitement. We've had a really fun, crazy few weeks.''
The final results will be announced on Friday, and while it's unlikely little Flakefleet can make it to number one, they've already succeeded in creating wonderful memories for their students and the care home residents.
