Little Mix reach No.1 on Official Singles Chart... but their dreams of Christmas number one may be snatched by Military Wives
By Andrea Magrath
Last updated at 1:49 AM on 19th December 2011
X Factor winners Little Mix blasted to the top of the Official Singles Chart with debut release Cannonball shifting over 210,000 copies in its first week.
The release achieved the biggest first week sales for a single so far this year - outselling the rest of this week's Official Singles Chart Top 5 combined.
Irish folk-singer Damien Rice had the talent show to thank too this week.
We're number one! Little Mix were tonight celebrating reach number one on the Official Singles Chart with their single Cannonball
His original Cannonball - which peaked at 32 when first released in 2003 - was re-released and reached number 9 in October after featuring on X Factor. Today it re-entered the singles chart at number 19 thanks to Little Mix's cover.
En Vogue's Don't Let Go also received a boost this week courtesy of Little Mix's performance of the track on X Factor final night, climbing to number 27 from last week's 89.
Celebration: The X Factor winners tweeted that it was 'such a great feeling' as they left Radio 1 tonight
Bright future: The girls' song achieved the biggest first week sales for a single so far this year
William Hill have Gareth Malone's choir at 1/8, with the X Factor winners trailing behind at 11/2, based on the pre-orders for The Military Wives' Wherever You Are breaking Amazon records.
'X Factor will have lost a week's sales by the time the Christmas number one is counted,' said a William Hill spokesperson.
'It looks like the Military Wives can't be beaten.'
Competition: But Little Mix are expected to be knocked off the top spot for next week's Christmas number one by The Military Wives choir
Admitting defeat already? Simon Cowell tweeted congratulating both Little Mix and Military Wives, despite the Christmas number one not being announced for another week
Early congratulations: The girls were presented with a cake last night in anticipation of the news
There was just one new entry in this week's Top 10 - Leona Lewis, herself an X Factor winner back in 2006, crashed straight in at number 8 with her cover of Hurt, a song written by Nine Inch Nails but made famous by the legendary Johnny Cash.
In the albums chart, Grammy winning Canadian superstar Michael Bublé's festive album Christmas scored the biggest weekly sales of any album this year so far.
More than 269,000 copies were sold in the last seven days, a week-on-week sales increase of over 42%.
Stars: The group performed at G-A-Y last night to a sell-out crowd
Influential: Little Mix's cover of En Vogue's Don't Let Go has also seen the original climb the charts
It is the second week that Christmas has spent at top spot, having previously peaked at Number 1 in November.
The record has not been out of the Top 5 since entering the chart at number 3 in October.
Bublé, who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, has scored six Official Albums Chart Top 10 hits in his career.
Belting it out: Tulisa Contostavlos has predicted Little Mix, saying they will be more successful than the Spice Girls
Perks of fame: The girls arrived back at their hotel tonight with some nice swag wheeled in by a doorman
This week festive fever really took hold with the Official Albums Chart Top 6 all recording sales over 100,000.
Coldplay record the biggest percentage increase in week-on-week sales (113%) as Mylo Xyloto climbed to number 4 from last week's number 8.
While there were no new entries in the Top 10, Westlife saw their Greatest Hits collection re-enter at number 9, up from last week's 11, having previously peaked at number 4 in November.
The official Christmas single and album number ones will be announced on Christmas Day.
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