Joe McElderry goes for gold

Congratulations to Joe McElderry who now has three gold albums to his name.

The former X Factor winner’s first album, 2010’s ‘Wide Awake’, was certified gold over the weekend after achieving sales of over 100,000 copies in the UK. His second album ‘Classic’, released in August of this year, achieved gold status in its first month of release, and sold another 100,000 copies within three months of its release. And now his latest album, ‘Classic Christmas’, which was released on Monday, has shipped gold.

By a statistical quirk, Joe seems to have bucked the trend of former X Factor contestants who have tended to have had bigger debut releases than their subsequent follow-ups. His second album sold more than his first – and now his third is well on course to eclipse both of them.

Watch a video of Joe talking about his achievement below:

Can Joe’s 2009 X Factor show mate Olly Murs, who released his second album ‘In Case You Didn't Know’ yesterday, emulate his success on this Sunday’s Official Albums Chart? Check out www.theofficialcharts.com tomorrow to see how well both Joe and Olly’s albums are in the Official Chart Update.

Official Charts - Joe McElderry interview on MUZU.