How UK Christmas Number 1 win changed LadBaby’s life – from celebrity friendships and dazzling TV appearances to huge live show

They’ve got five consecutive festive number one singles under their belt and have even surpassed a record set by The Beatles.

But husband-wife duo LadBaby – who earlier this month admitted that they won’t be releasing a track for 2023 – never expected to hit their level of fame when they first made a food-inspired charity tune in 2018.

That year, We Built This City… On Sausage Rolls, a parody of the 1985 Starship hit, scooped the coveted number one, beating songs by Ava Max and Ariana Grande to the top spot. 

Further successes followed for Max Hoyle, 36, and his wife Roxanne 39 – including I Love Sausage Rolls (2019), Don’t Stop Me Eatin’ (2020) and the Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John-featuring Sausage Rolls For Everyone (2021). 

Last year, the couple from Nottingham once again defied the odds and got No 1 after joining forced with financial expert Martin Lewis for Food Aid – based on the 1984 BandAid track.

With LadBaby out the competition, Wham!’s Last Christmas has this year scored a first — by shooting to the top of the charts to enjoy its first ever year as Christmas Number 1 single in the UK.

Here, FEMAIL looks at the couple’s rise from family vloggers to stardom – including brushing shoulders with famous pals, appearing on daytime TV and hosting their own live show.

SURPRISE HIT 

Mark, a graphic designer and blogger from Nottingham, rose to fame with his wife Roxanne – by making YouTube videos. 

The clips posted under the name of LadBaby followed his life as he prepared to welcome his first child with Roxanne, who is known as LadBabyMum. 

The couple eloped in Las Vegas in 2015, going on to welcome their first son Phoenix, six, in 2016 and Kobe, four, in 2018. 

Their social media accounts, which have over 12Million followers combined, feature light-hearted videos on parenting tips, money saving hacks and pranks.

LadyBaby took a bash at their first Christmas No 1 back in 2018.

We Built This City… On Sausage Rolls raked in 75,000 combined streams and sales to take the top spot, and despite a fiercely close race all week, finished 18,500 ahead of the closest competition after a last-minute push. 

Mark’s victory was made all the more remarkable as the father-of-two, who donated all profits to The Trussell Trust, which runs food banks around the UK, had never sung before in his life.

‘I’m not someone that sings in the shower, which everyone can probably hear if they’ve listened to the song,’ he told Femail at the time.

CONTINUED SUCCESS 

The duo secured the top spot with another novelty charity single I Love Sausage Rolls in 2019.

It rose to the top of the charts once again – warding off stiff competition from the likes of Stormzy, Lewis Capaldi and Dua Lipa. 

The festive song, a take on Joan Jett’s 1981 hit I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, once again raised money for food bank charity The Trussell Trust. 

Mark revealed that he had reached out to Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi to collaborate on the track, but neither accepted his request. 

However, they both shared messages of support to the vlogger, which he says were ‘highlights of my life’. 

LadBaby landed Christmas No 1 for the third year running in 2020 with his single Don’t Stop Me Eating. 

The Youtube stars beat Gemma Collins and Mariah Carey with the charity single Don’t Stop Me Eating, sung to the tune of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. 

The happy couple were seen sporting white faux fur hats and matching Santa Claus costumes decorated with a sausage roll print.

Their children also rocked matching sausage roll outfits as they smiled for a picture alongside their father’s three Christmas Number One awards.

They also made chart history by securing the Christmas number one for a fourth consecutive year in 2021, becoming the first musician to do so in the 70 years of the Official Christmas Chart. 

Mark and Roxanne scored the top chart spot with the novelty track Sausage Rolls For Everyone featuring global superstars, Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John.

The song is a sausage roll-themed charity rework of Ed and Sir Elton’s own new festive single Merry Christmas, again, in aid of The Trussell Trust food banks.

The milestone meant that LadBaby surpassed music titans The Beatles and Spice Girls, who are the only other acts to score a consecutive hat-trick. 

Last year, they beat a record set by The Beatles in the 1960s when they topped the charts with their single Food Aid, a rework of the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas.

But now the couple have revealed they have decided ‘to pass the baton on’. 

In November, Mark told the Metro: ‘We never expected it to be five, I’ll be totally honest. It’s one of those things that just happened over the years and we thought it was amazing that the public got behind us in the way that they did. 

‘Five years ago when we started this, we knew the importance of food banks in this country and we wanted to raise funds and awareness for that so we did that one [song], that was lovely.’ 

DAYTIME TV GUESTS

While they’re no longer in the race, LadBaby are still renowned celebrities in the festive charity scene.

And earlier this week, the couple were on ITV to discuss charity single ‘Golden’, by Joss Stone and Lorraine’s Change + Check Choir.

The couple sat down with Ranvir Singh as they discussed the importance of backing causes close to our heart this time of year.

‘It was a pleasure to join the amazing @lorraine team this morning to talk all things Christmas and the importance of charity songs at this time of year,’ the pair wrote in an Instagram post after the appearance.

‘If everyone reading this gets behind just one charity song this Christmas it could make such a huge difference to so many people! Being ambassadors of the @trusselltrust we know just how far 1 persons support can go to changing someone’s life.

‘The song “Golden” has been launched by Lorraine’s Change+Check campaign with all proceeds being donated to Future Dreams Breast Cancer Charity and we’d love to see it flying high in the charts this Friday!’

CELEB PALS – BOTH REAL AND FAKE! 

Since achieving their incredible success, the couple have made some famous pals along the way – including Martin Lewis and Bob Geldof.

Last year the YouTube stars joined forces with the financial expert for Food Aid – a rework of the Band Aid classic. 

The music video, which came out on December 16 last year, also featured cameos from celebrity lookalikes of Boy George, Elton John, Adele and others. 

In February, Bob Geldoff – who wrote the iconic Band Aid track with Midge Ure, 69, in 1984 – explained why he let the YouTubers use the track.

Speaking on This Morning, the rocker revealed that he permitted the project in order to help ‘people that are disgracefully going cold and hungry’ as he slammed the cost of living crisis. 

Bob said: ‘It’s probably the record that’s has the most number one’s ever. It just keeps generating and obviously that money keeps going to charity. It’s less of a song a more of its own thing. It’s history.’

‘The LadBaby thing, whatever you think of the production, that doesn’t matter. With LadBaby, it was for the many people that are disgracefully going cold and hungry in Great Britain in 2023.’

The musician added of Do They Know It’s Christmas: ‘It has a life of it’s own now.’  

The couple were also in attendance at the Pride of Britain awards in October, where they took Instagram snaps with famous faces including Frankie Bridge, Alison Hammond, Sunetra Sarker and Scarlett Moffatt.

DAZZLING LIVE SHOWS 

This month LadBaby treated Nottingham audiences with its first ever live show.

A TikTok video shared by the couple’s account shows a packed theatre delighting in humorous festive skits.

Flashing lights and exciting props appeared to make for a lively crowd. 

‘SHOWTIME! Huge thank you to everyone that came to our first ever LIVE Show in Nottingham,’ they wrote.

‘You were honestly the most amazing crowd ever and we loved every minute of it.’