01 December 2019
Newsdesk
Robbie Williams has given up on his hopes of landing a second U.K. Christmas number one single.
The former Take That star released his own festive album, The Christmas Present, on Friday, but would be shocked if its lead single Time For Change charted strongly.
"I just think the oxygen that I need has been taken away because streaming is massive and my audience don't stream," he told Britain's Music Week magazine.
As a result, he believes he has no chance of bagging the coveted festive top slot, as he did in 2001 with his duet with Nicole Kidman, Somethin' Stupid.
"If we were still in a market where people bought records I'd be in with a shout for Christmas No.1 but, as it happens, my audience don't stream so it's going to be very difficult to even get in the Top 20," the 45-year-old revealed.
Robbie wrote the album, which features contributions from stars including Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams, in a bid to keep his songs relevant in middle age.
"I'm a middle aged man that's married with three kids," the Angels hitmaker shared. "I'm in a place where I still want to write and still find the need to write something that hopefully becomes the fabric of people's lives, but I have to figure out a different way to attack it.
"So I wrote a Christmas song in one particular session - because I wanted to own Christmas, New Year and birthdays - and I really enjoyed it, and I thought could do a whole album of it. Three years later, here it is."
