James Arthur on course for Number 1 with fastest selling single of 201

X Factor winner James Arthur is on course to top the Official Singles Chart this weekend with the fastest selling single of 2012 so far, according to the Official Charts Company's sales data.
james_arthur_2012.jpg

X Factor winner James Arthur is on course to top the Official Singles Chart this weekend with the fastest selling single of 2012 so far, according to the Official Charts Company's sales data.

James Arthur looks set to debut at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart on Sunday with one of the greatest opening week totals for an X Factor winner. Arthur’s debut single, Impossible, has clocked up sales of 255,000 copies up to midnight last night – according to latest Official Charts Company sales data.

The single has now already beaten the total of Little Mix’s opening week last year (with Cannonball selling 210,000 week one) and is fast closing in on Leon Jackson’s 275,000 opening week total (with When You Believe in 2007).

Impossible has already comfortably surpassed 2012’s previous biggest one-week total of 152,000 which was achieved by Cheryl’s Call My Name in June.

Impossible, which went on sale on Sunday evening immediately after Arthur was unveiled as the 2012 X Factor winner, is on course to become one of X Factor’s biggest hits. Only three X Factor winners' singles have previously sold more than 500,000 in their first week – 2006’s A Moment Like This by Leona Lewis (571,000), 2008’s Hallelujah by Alexandra Burke (576,000) and 2005’s That’s My Goal by Shayne Ward (742,000).

Impossible has predominantly been available as a digital download until today, when it is fully available as a CD single for the first time. Tomorrow’s update from the Official Charts Company will be the first to include these sales, which could see James Arthur’s opening week tally increase significantly.

Make sure you're following @OfficialCharts on Twitter for all the latest news.

Official Singles Chart Update

In addition to James Arthur’s Impossible (Number 1), there are four other new entries in today’s Official Singles Chart Update.

Will.I.Am looks set to score his fourth solo Top 5 hit on Sunday with Scream & Shout (Number 2). The follow up to his July Number 1 smash, This Is Love, features guest vocals from Britney Spears. Will.I.Am’s debut solo album, #willpower will be released early next year.

Rihanna is currently enjoying not one, but TWO tracks in the Top 10 at this week’s midway point. Previous chart topper Diamonds rides at Number 6, while Stay, a new collaboration with Mikky Ekko and the second track to be lifted from her Number 1 album, Unapologetic, is at Number 8. Daley FT Jessie J’s Remember Me is new in at Number 19, and the week’s new entries are completed by Emeli Sande’s Clown at Number 24.

The highest re-entry on this week’s Official Singles Chart is the original version of this year’s X Factor winner’s single, Impossible, by Bajan singer Shontelle. The track originally peaked at Number 9 upon its release in 2010, and is at Number 16 on today’s Update.

The full Official Singles Chart Update Top 40 is as follows:

1 IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR
2 SCREAM & SHOUT WILL.I.AM FT BRITNEY SPEARS
3 LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN BRUNO MARS
4 THE POWER OF LOVE GABRIELLE APLIN
5 TROUBLEMAKER OLLY MURS FT FLO RIDA
6 DIAMONDS RIHANNA
7 BENEATH YOUR BEAUTIFUL LABRINTH FT EMELI SANDE
8 STAY RIHANNA FT MIKKY EKKO
9 LITTLE THINGS ONE DIRECTION
10 KISS YOU ONE DIRECTION
11 GANGNAM STYLE PSY
12 DIE YOUNG KESHA
13 I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE TAYLOR SWIFT
14 TRY P!NK
15 HO HEY THE LUMINEERS
16 IMPOSSIBLE SHONTELLE
17 GIRL ON FIRE ALICIA KEYS
18 CANDY ROBBIE WILLIAMS
19 REMEMBER ME DALEY FT JESSIE J
20 DON'T YOU WORRY CHILD SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA/MARTIN
21 FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK THE POGUES FT KIRSTY MACCOLL
22 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY
23 DON'T STOP THE PARTY PITBULL FT TJR
24 CLOWN EMELI SANDE
25 LOVE IS EASY MCFLY
26 A THOUSAND YEARS CHRISTINA PERRI
27 SKYFALL ADELE
28 GOLD DUST DJ FRESH
29 SWEET NOTHING CALVIN HARRIS FT FLORENCE WELCH
30 NOT GIVING IN RUDIMENTALFT JOHN NEWMAN AND ALEX CLARE
31 DNA LITTLE MIX
32 I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY WIZZARD
33 LATCH DISCLOSURE FT SAM SMITH
34 CAN YOU HEAR ME (AYAYAYA) WILEY FT SKEPTA, JME AND MS D
35 ONE MORE NIGHT MAROON 5
36 HALL OF FAME THE SCRIPT FT WILL.I.AM
37 SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION THE SCRIPT
38 GIVE ME LOVE ED SHEERAN
39 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY SLADE
40 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Related artists

Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.

Already registered?

Log in

No account?

Register