The sheep have featured on television shows

The 'Baarmy Sheep' track is available from Cumbria Tourist Board's website.

It has declared the track as unofficial Christmas number one because it claims it has attracted more downloads than artists like Madonna.

But it will not feature on Radio One's Official UK Download Chart because it is available free.

The tourist board said Madonna's Hung Up secured the top spot after having 9,000 downloads, but the Baarmy Sheep were downloaded more than 15,000 times over the same week.

Since it was made available three weeks ago, it has attracted 83,000 downloads.

Tourist board chairman Eric Robson said: "It was important to Cumbria Tourist Board that we made this single and video free to people because it is Christmas.

"But we think the Baarmy Sheep have now earned the right to the official number one spot."

The board said it has received e-mails from around the world and the sheep have appeared on a series of television shows.