‘The X Factor’ UK final rankings: Where Matt Terry, Saara Aalto, 5 After Midnight stand

It’s almost here: In a little over a day the first part of the “X Factor” final will be here, and we will see the final three acts all take the stage in hopes of launching something resembling a music career. There’s no guarantee of success — heck, at this point it seems wrong to even expect anything.

Since we cannot look into the future and see whether or not any of these people will be a successful winner (there are a wide array of components that go into that), let’s just discuss how they’re faring going into the finale. Who’s in the best spot? We’re ranking based on our typical criteria, and that includes performance quality, voting history, and perhaps the most important one at the moment which is momentum.

3. 5 After Midnight (last week: 4) – Let’s start off this list by acknowledging that this may be the most difficult “X Factor” final we’ve ever had to rank. All three of these acts have been in the bottom before, they’ve all had great moments, and we can see scenarios where they will all win. It may sound stupid, but we’re most ranking the boys last because of the fact that their mentor Louis Walsh got into a war of words accidentally with Liam Payne — you don’t want to turn off One Direction fans from voting for you, given how influential they can be. If they perform like they did on the show this weekend, they may have a reasonable chance.

2. Saara Aalto (3) – She’s probably been the belle of the “X Factor” ball for the past two weeks, but that doesn’t necessarily equal confidence she’ll emerge the winner. The controversy about alleged Finnish votes entering the fray may be an unnecessary distraction, and she’s such a risk-taker that we don’t know what she’s going to do for any single performance. We like that as a reviewer for the show, but it doesn’t give you the most confidence. She has the potential for higher highs entering the final, but also for lower lows. We will still contend that a Saara win would be the most interesting from a storytelling standpoint given the road she had to get there.

1. Matt Terry (1) – He’s been arguably our frontrunner for almost the entirety of the live shows, and we think that this past show may have been the best time to fall into the bottom two given that it could unify his fans at the best possible time to get out there and vote. He’s consistently good, and we also think that he is the sort of performer who the producers would love to see emerge from this as the winner. We’re not saying that they’re rigging it by any means, so take off your conspiracy cap. We just think that it never hurts to have someone with commercial appeal win the show.

The biggest thing aiding Matt right now may just be that he is the only one of the top three entering the final without a tabloid controversy to his name.

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Who do you think is in the best spot entering the final? Vote now in the poll below and be sure to leave us a comment! If you want to get some other news when it comes to “The X Factor,” be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: ITV.)