The Band Aid charity single hit shelves in the UK yesterday, and is the bookies favourite to become the Christmas number one.

The reworked version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? features One Direction, Bono and Ellie Goulding, and is expected to raise millions to help fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Chancellor George Osborne agreed to waive VAT on the single’s sales, so every penny will help the charity effort.

The new recording marks the 30th anniversary of the song, which was originally put together to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.

The single was premiered on The X Factor, and Bob Geldof made a special appearance on the show to urge people to buy it and help the charity effort.

He said the song is “a little bit of pop history” but also delivered a powerful message about the urgent need to fight the deadly virus, which is estimated to have killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa.

He said Ebola created “mothers not able to touch their baby” and “husbands and wives not able to touch each other in the last moments. This is the most inhuman disease out there, but we can stop it and we will stop it.”