James Arthur scores debut Number 1 smash with Impossible

X Factor winner James Arthur scores huge debut Number 1 smash as Impossible becomes fastest selling single of 2012.

James Arthur picks up his Official Number 1 Award from the Official Charts Company and Radio 1 as the X Factor winner lands a huge debut Number 1 with Impossible.

Impossible has so far racked up sales of 490,000 copies, leapfrogging Cheryl’s Call My Name to take the lead as the year’s fastest selling single.

Arthur’s impressive sales tally this week also makes Impossible the fastest selling winner’s single since Alexandra Burke’s 2008 hit Hallelujah. Her cover of the Jeff Buckley classic went on to become the biggest selling X Factor single of all time.

Comparatively, Arthur’s version of Impossible outperforms the opening week of last year’s winners Little Mix’s Cannonball by more than two copies to one (210,000), fellow musician Matt Cardle’s 2010 single When We Collide (439,000), Joe McElderry’s 2009 eventual chart topper The Climb (451,000), Leon Jackson’s 2007 hit When You Believe (276,000) and Steve Brookstein’s Against All Odds (128,000).

“I would like to say to everyone from home and around Britain who bought the single, thank you very, very much,” James Arthur told OfficialCharts.com. “You have made my dreams come true. The fact that it was in aid of Together For Short Lives, which is a great cause and a great charity, I think that really helped.

“This is a life-long dream and ambition achieved!,” he added. “My Official Number 1 Award is going to go on my mantelpiece and I’ll probably kiss it every time I pass it for two weeks solid!”

Watch the full interview below:

New Entries

In addition to James Arthur’s Impossible (1), there are five other new entries this week.

Will.I.Am scores his fourth solo Top 5 hit with Scream & Shout (2). The follow up to his July Number 1 smash, This Is Love, features guest vocals from Britney Spears. Will.i.am’s debut solo album, #willpower will be released early next year.

Rihanna’s new collaboration with Mikky Ekko, Stay, and the second track to be lifted from her Number 1 album, Unapologetic, climbs two places since midweek to 6. Riri’s previous chart topper Diamonds is also one place below at Number 7.

The original version of this year’s X Factor winner’s single, Impossible, by Bajan singer Shontelle re-enters at Number 22. The track originally peaked at Number 9 upon its release in 2010. Daley FT Jessie J’s Remember Me is new in at Number 24, and the week’s new entries are completed by Emeli Sande’s Clown at Number 35.

The Official Singles Chart Top 10 is as follows. Click here to see the Top 100 in full after 7PM.

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.