The X Factor winner Ben Haenow. Photo: OfficialCharts.com/ PA WireThe X Factor UK winner Ben Haenow has won the battle for this year’s Christmas number one.
The 29-year-old’s single Something I Need had combined chart sales of over 214,000 and is now the second-fastest selling single of the year, behind Band Aid 30’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which shifted nearly 313,000 copies in its first week back in November. But Band Aid 30’s revamped charity hit, once considered a strong bet for the Christmas number one, is down at number 17 in the Official Singles Chart.
Haenow, a former van driver from Croydon, triumphed over the likes of Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk feat. Bruno Mars at number two; The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York feat. Kirsty MacColl at number 11; and last-minute surprise contender, The Wealdstone Raider’s Got No Fans at number five.
Ed Sheeran is at number three with Thinking Out Loud and Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato is at number four with Up.
Mariah Carey’s classic All I Want for Christmas is You is at number 18.
For the first time in the Christmas number-one race, it is not just what people have been buying and downloading that counts towards the final tally, but audio streams from services such as Spotify, Deezer and O2 Tracks were also counted.
Breaking the all-time record for the most streamed track in a single week, Uptown Funk has been listened to nearly 2.34 million times last week.
The record was previously held by Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, which notched up over 1.72 million streams in a single week in November.
Meanwhile, Sheeran’s X is still at the top of the Official Albums Chart. He broke another record as it scored the biggest one-week sales of any artist album in 2014. The album, which racks up its 11th week in the number one spot, has shifted over 214,000 copies in the past seven days, giving the flame-haired musician the biggest one-week sales tally of any artist album this year.
Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour holds firm at number two, Olly Murs’s Never Been Better is at three, George Ezra’s Wanted On Voyage is at four and Take That’s III is at five.