Posted by Richard Head

Sunday December 21, 2008

Hallelujah!

Alexandra Burke has won the battle for Christmas number one.

The X Factor winner beat off competition from Jeff Buckley with her very own version of Hallelujah.

Selling 576,000 copies across CD and downloads, the song became the fastest-selling single by a female solo artist, according to the Official Charts Company.

Burke is now the the current European record holder for single sales over a period of 24 hours – after the single sold a whopping 105,000 copies in just one day.

“This is absolutely crazy, I can’t believe it. It’s been the best week of my life,” Burke gushed. “Thank you so much to everyone that has supported me and bought the single. I’m bursting with excitement right now, it’s incredible!”

A classic cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah by Buckley, who died in a drowning accident in Memphis in May 1997 aged 30, finished at number two on download sales only.

This means that, for the first time in 51 years – and for the first time ever at Christmas – the same song is at numbers one and two of the singles chart. The Official Charts Company said the only other time the scenario occurred was in January 1957 when Tommy Steele and Guy Mitchell held the top two places with Singin’ The Blues.

In a further twist, Cohen – who wrote the hit more than 20 years ago – made it a triple Hallelujah in the top 40 with a new entry at number 36.

The track was first released by Cohen on an album in 1984 and was covered by various artists before Buckley recorded it 10 years later.

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said, “December truly has been a record-breaking month for sales of downloads and CDs, and this week in particular has seen some unprecedented sales for both singles and albums – especially Take That and newcomer Alexandra Burke.

“It is a particularly amazing week for Alexandra Burke who has broken a string of records to announce her arrival in spectacular style.

“And, chart placings at 1, 2 and 36 are remarkable for a 25-year-old song which has never previously reached the top 40.”

HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo said, “It was pretty much a given that Alexandra Burke’s cover of Hallelujah would dominate the race for this year’s Christmas number one, but it’s been such a strange year that we thought the charts would throw up some kind of a surprise, and the twist came in the form of the Jeff Buckley cover.

“It’s unprecedented to have two versions of the same song at number one and two in the Christmas charts, and it’s ironic that it’s taken the X Factor to get a lot more of us to appreciate the music of Leonard Cohen and the talent of Jeff Buckley.”

The full top ten singles:

1. Alexandra Burke: Hallelujah
2. Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah
3. Leona Lewis: Run
4. Beyoncé: If I Were A Boy
5. Geraldine McQueen: Once Upon A Christmas Song
6. James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado: Broken Strings
7. Kings of Leon: Use Somebody
8. Beyoncé: Listen
9. Take That: Greatest Day
10. Britney Spears: Womanizer