John Lewis Christmas advert 2018: Can Elton John scoop the Official Christmas Number 1 with Your Song?

This year's John Lewis Christmas advert has been unveiled - and it's a tribute to Elton John. 

The retail chain's annual tear-jerker to sell Christmas this year takes the form of Elton performing his first major hit Your Song, and charts his journey from playing the piano in school and in small London pubs to reaching global megastardom. 

The 2m20s clip closes with a young Elton unwrapping a piano in what is supposed to be the sitting room of his home in his London home in the 1950s. 

“We’ve been doing John Lewis Christmas ads for some time now and what’s on my mind is how we move it on creatively but hold on to the heart of what makes them special," said Craig Inglis, the customer director at John Lewis & Partners. “I hope audiences will watch this and really enjoy the national treasure that is Elton John."

The advert also serves to promote Elton's 300-date retirement tour, which reaches the UK in 2020 for a string of stadium shows, and the upcoming biopic film Rocket Man which is set for release in May 2019. 

It's not the first time Your Song has been used for a John Lewis Christmas ad - in 2010 Ellie Goulding covered the track and reached Number 2 with it on the Official Singles Chart. 

The advert puts Elton's Your Song in the running for this year's Official Christmas Number 1 - bookies currently have him down at 5/1 to clinch it. Look back over every Official Christmas Number 1 single ever.

Some of the most successful songs featured in the adverts in previous years include a cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's The Power Of Love by Gabrielle Aplin in 2012, and Lily Allen's rendition of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know in 2013. Both reached Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, but didn't hold on long enough to claim the Christmas top spot. 

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