Waits coming up the inside at 6-1!!!

I hadn't even noticed this but Tom Waits is now just 6-1 to make it to number 1 for Christmas in Ireland... wow!

That makes our campaign the third most likely to hit the top spot according to PaddyPower.com.

I think it's a pretty impressive achievement by all of us to make Tom Waits anything other than a complete outsider for a time like this, and we're only inches away from being favourite!

So if you're as confident as I am about Waits' chances maybe you might drop a few quid on the line - if we make it you'll be able to make your money back from the song purchase and maybe have enough left over for a scoop or two over Christmas!

Update: It looks like the page for Christmas Number 1 has been taken down for the time being - we'll keep an eye out to see if it comes back.

Higher and higher

"Christmas card..." has broken into the top 20 on the Irish iTunes chart as of this morning, and that may not even include all of Monday's sales (and certainly doesn't include any from today so far).

Big thanks to everyone who has bought the track so far and/or promoted it in their own way - it's clearly having an impact. The iTunes chart is the only real indicator we have to see how things are going and with 3 days or so of purchasing left I'd say it's going well.

There's plenty of time left to push it further up the chart and remember, even if it does amazingly well online we still need to counter-act physical sales so an extra push is needed.

If you've not bought already, now's the time to do it. If you have bought already, make sure you tell everyone you know about the campaign. If you're feeling extra generous at this festive time of year, log onto one of the stores you haven't already bought from and pick it up again!

Not got a credit card? Never fear

We need people to buy online to make Waits number one, but one limitation to this is that a credit card (or visa debit card) is required - not even the trusty Laser will work anywhere that we know of.

So what if you want to buy "Christmas card..." but don't have a credit card? Well why not follow the suggestion of Vincent Lacey on Facebook and invest in an iTunes voucher instead?

One place you can get these vouchers in the offline world is in a 3G store (locations here). You can also get someone you know with a credit card to buy you vouchers online and send them on to you to use.

(And if you know of anywhere else besides 3G where people can pick up an iTunes voucher in Ireland then leave a comment with details.)

Another solution is to get a 3V card, which is kind of like a temporary Visa card you can top-up in shops or through your phone. The problem here is that the charges are quite high, so you'll end up paying far more than 99c for one song.

So if you know of any other way that people without a Visa or Mastercard can buy a song online or if you know of any reason why either of the above won't work on iTunes (or anywhere else) then let us know.

Getting support

Thanks to all the bloggers who have posted about this campaign so far - it's already starting to kick off and hopefully the momentum will continue.

The important thing now is to get some support together so if you're a blogger please give us a mention on your site. If you're not a blogger maybe you can let friends of yours know about the campaign if you think it's their sort of thing - just point them in this direction or the direction of the facebook group.

To get into the Christmas charts purchases will have to be made between Friday 14th and Thursday 20th of December - not before and not after.

I'll be posting about that in more detail sooner to those all important dates!

So for now, go forth and spread the word!