James Arthur is back at Number 1 with Impossible

By Dan Lane

X Factor winner James Arthur reclaims the Official Singles Chart top spot with Impossible.

He may have lost out on the 2012 Christmas Number 1 to the Justice Collective’s He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, but today X Factor winner James Arthur returns to the top of the Official Singles Chart with Impossible.

Arthur’s track has sold a further 184,000 copies over the last seven days, which brings Impossible’s total sales tally to a staggering 897,000 copies. In just three weeks the 24-year-old from Middlesbrough has now overtaken the lifetime sales of Leona Lewis’ A Moment Like This to become the fourth biggest selling debut single by an X Factor artist. He is currently behind 2008 winner Alexandra Burke’s Hallelujah (1.2 million), 2005 winner Shayne Ward’s That’s My Goal (1.1 million) and 2010 winner Matt Cardle’s When We Collide (1 million)

Impossible, which became the fastest selling single of 2012 earlier this month, has also overtaken the likes of Jessie J’s Domino, Nicki Minaj’s Starships and international YouTube sensation Psy’s Gagnam Style to become the fifth biggest selling single of 2012 so far.

However, it’s not just James Arthur who has enjoyed impressive sales this week; the Top 3 singles – Will.I.Am FT Britney Spears’ Scream & Shout (Number 2) and Psy’s Gangnam Style (3) – have each sold over 110,000 copies, while the combined Official Singles Chart Top 10 have racked up over 900,000 sales between them.

Official Singles Chart Re-entries

As the nation gets ready to usher in 2013, and people put the finishing touches to their New Year’s Eve playlists, a slew of party anthems have re-entered the Official Singles Chart Top 40.

Former Number 1, Bom Bom by Sam And The Womp, is this week’s highest climber, up 40 places from Number 79 to Number 39.

Flo Rida’s I Cry soars 38 places to Number 40 while X Factor stars Little Mix’s Wings (Number 36) and One Direction’s Live While We're Young (Number 38) are up 35 and 27 places, respectively. And everyone’s (not so) guilty pleasure, Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, climbs 23 places from Number 56 to re-enter the Official Singles Chart at Number 33.

The Official Singles Chart Top 10 is as follows. See the full Top 100 here.

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.