Entertainment

Who is LadBaby? The ‘dad blogger’ who claimed a Christmas number one

The social media star from Nottingham stole the top spot from Ariana Grande and Ava Max.
The social media star from Nottingham stole the top spot from Ariana Grande and Ava Max. The social media star from Nottingham stole the top spot from Ariana Grande and Ava Max.

YouTuber and father-of-two Mark Hoyle is the unlikeliest of pop stars.

But the social media personality – who blogs under the name LadBaby – became exactly that when he stole the Christmas number one from both Ariana Grande and Ava Max.

The self-proclaimed “dad blogger” took the top spot with an ode to sausage rolls based on Starship’s 1980s glam-rock song We Built This City.

Like Strictly Come Dancing runner-up Joe Sugg, Hoyle is a social media star who had been able to translate his online success into sales.

Hoylfe, who is from Nottingham, found fame blogging about his journey from “lad to dad” after the birth of his two sons with wife Roxanne.

The 31-year-old, who lives in Hemel Hempstead, launched his YouTube channel in 2016 to document the pitfalls of fatherhood.

At the time of his win he had nearly 500,000 subscribers.

Earlier this year he fended off another pair of famous names to win the Clas Ohlson celebrity dad of the year award – beating Prince William and former One Direction star Liam Payne.

Proceeds from Hoyle’s novelty single will go to The Trussell Trust, which supplies food banks.