Cliff Richard urges fans to make him Xmas No 1

LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) Veteran rocker Cliff Richard has urged fans to go out and buy his latest single in a bid to land Britain's coveted Christmas number one and beat runaway favourite Leona Lewis, winner of talent TV show The X Factor.

Some bookmakers have already closed the betting on the lucrative Christmas chart topper, believing Lewis has sold enough records to secure the top slot.

But Richard, 66, has not lost hope.

''Cliff has a good chance of hitting the No 1 spot this Sunday with '21st Century Christmas', but sales need to continue over the next few days,'' said his official Web site (www.cliffrichard.org).

''Please buy copies for family and friends - let's all do our best to help him achieve that 'No 1 in a sixth decade'!!'' it added.

Richard can already boast at least one number one single in each of the first five decades since the inception of the UK singles charts in the 1950s, and a Christmas chart topper in 2006 would make it a perfect six.

Web sites estimate that the performer of hits including ''Living Doll'', ''Congratulations'' and ''Summer Holiday'' has sold around 250 million records worldwide.

''21st Century Christmas'' made it to No 2 in the UK singles chart last week, behind comeback boyband Take That.

Bookmaker William Hill is so sure that Lewis will storm to the chart peak with ''A Moment Like This'' on Sunday that they are only taking bets on who will be No 2.

Their odds suggest that Take That are well ahead of Richard even for the runners-up slot.

REUTERS PB ND0936