The biggest selling post-X Factor debut singles revealed!

Once their time on The X Factor was over, which contestant had the biggest post-competition debut single? We count down the Top 10.

The X Factor is the biggest talent contest of them all. Every year hopes and dreams are made or broken, and it’s all thanks to you. And when it’s over, the champions release their winners’ single, of course, which is almost always a guaranteed instant Number 1.

But what happens when these brand-new popstars no longer have the backing of a show watched by millions? As last year’s winner James Arthur prepares to release his first proper debut single You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You, we started to wonder who’s had the biggest smash with their first non-X Factor track.

For the winners, it’s their ‘debut proper’. For those who didn’t make it, it’s just a debut. We count down those first post-X Factor hits. (Remember, winners’ singles from the final aren’t included here, so don’t panic if your fave isn’t here.)

	10. Amelia Lily – You Bring Me Joy (2012) Amelia Lily was the comeback kid of the 2011 X Factor finals. Voted out in Week 1 in a shock twist, she turned that surprise vote on its head and returned as a wildcard voted back into the show by the public in Week 6. You Bring Me Joy was a Xenomania-produced slice of pumped-up pop. PEAK POSITION: 2 SALES: 203,000 CHART FACT: Amelia had two more Top 40 hits with Party Over and Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got). WHERE IS SHE NOW? Amelia is currently recording her debut album.
	9. Diana Vickers – Once (2010) Diana Vickers is the Lancashire lass who caught judge Cheryl Cole’s eye on the Girls Aloud star’s first year on The X Factor in 2008. She finished fourth, bowing out in the Week 9 semi-final. Gutted. She had the last laugh, though, when her debut single Once went straight in at the top of the Official Singles Chart. PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 221,000 CHART FACT: Diana’s debut album Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree was a Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart in May 2010. WHERE IS SHE HOW? Diana is promoting her second album Music To Make Boys Cry, which has so far peaked at Number 37.
	8. Shayne Ward – No Promises (2006) Our first winner in the countdown – but definitely not our last – Manchester-born Shayne was the clear frontrunner on the second series of The X Factor, winning the show and going to Number 1 with his winners’ single That’s My Goal. This follow-up kicked off a solo career that saw him release three Top 40 albums. PEAK POSITION: 2 SALES: 238,000 CHART FACT: Shayne’s winner's song sold 1.1 million copies. Ooh,and in case you're interested (we were), he shares a birthday with fellow X Factor contestant Amelia Lily – 16 October – although Amelia is 10 years younger.  WHERE IS HE NOW? Post-pop, Shayne went on to star in West End musical Rock Of Ages as wildman rockstar Stacee Jaxx and was a contestant on spangly celeb ice skating show Dancing On Ice. If you’re out there, Shayne, let us know what you’re up to!
	7. Cher Lloyd – Swagger Jagger (2011) She was mouthy and boisterous but had a voice as sweet as pie, and Cher Lloyd was the talk of the tabloids. From her very first audition, all eyes were on the controversial Worcestershire teen. She managed to ignore the ‘haters’ long enough to get all the way to the final, although she was first to be eliminated that night, finishing fourth overall. Her post-X Factor debut Swagger Jagger pretty much answered all her critics. PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 243,000 CHART FACT: Cher had two further Top 40 hits, With Ur Love and Want U Back. Her album Sticks + Stones reached Number 4 on the Official Albums Chart.  WHERE IS SHE NOW? She is poised to release her second album, which she says is called Sorry I’m Late. Don’t be sorry, Cher, just get a watch – it’s easier for all of us that way.
	6. Olly Murs – Please Don’t Let Me Go (2010) Olly Murs is the cheeky chappy who, in the 2009 series of The X Factor, won the hearts of the nation – well, most of them. Joe McElderry may have walked off with the crown, but it was Olly who reaped the rewards of being runner-up. PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 421,000 CHART FACT: Olly has had four Number 1s on the Official Singles Chart – this one, Heart Skips A Beat (tune!), Troublemaker and his biggest selling single Dance With Me Tonight, which has shifted 728,000 copies. WHERE IS HE NOW? Olly is about to release a repackaged version of third album Right Place Right Time and is to feature on his idol Robbie Williams’s new album Swings Both Ways.
	5. Little Mix – Wings (2012) Perrie, Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Jade are the first band to feature in our countdown, and the only girlband. The ladies all auditioned as soloists in the eighth series of The X Factor but were put together as Little Mix (initially known as Rhythmix) when judges saw their potential. Once the winner's single – a cover of Damien Rice’s Cannonball – was out of the way, it was time for the girls to put their own stamp on their material. And boy did they! PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 464,000 CHART FACT: Little Mix have had four Top 40 hits and a Top 5 album. Cannonball has sold 475,000 copies and is their biggest seller. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? They are about to release a brand-new single Move (which is pretty good, FYI) and their second album will follow.
	4. JLS – Beat Again (2009) Time for another set of runners-up, this time the guys who lost out to Alexandra Burke in the 2008 series. JLS – Aston, Marvin, Oritse and JB – could easily have won with their slick harmonies and impressive moves, but it wasn't to be. Undeterred, they landed a record contract and scored their first of five Number 1s on the Official Singles Chart with this cautionary tale of a misdiagnosis by a bungling cardiologist. (Not quite, actually – Lyrics Ed.) PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 564,000 CHART FACT: JLS have sold over 3.4 million singles in the UK and have had 11 Top 40 hits and four Top 3 albums, including one Number 1. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Incredibly, the boys are about to call it a day. Their farewell greatest hits, Goodbye, is out November 18. Say it ain’t so! (It is so.)
	3. Alexandra Burke – Bad Boys (2009) Alexandra Burke was a winner who truly overcame all the odds. Rejected by Louis Walsh at the judges’ house round of the 2005 series of The X Factor, she returned in 2008 and ended up racing ahead of bookies’ favourite Diana Vickers. This attitude-packed banger was Alexandra’s second of three Number 1s on the Official Singles Chart and showed the world Alexandra was not your average pop princess. PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 755,000 CHART FACT: Alexandra’s winner’s single, Hallelujah, is still the best-selling debut single of any UK X Factor act, selling over 1.2 million copies. Alexandra has had eight Top 40 hits and a chart-topping debut album, Overcome. WHERE IS SHE NOW? Alexandra recently released a special EP, #NewRules, and is currently recording her third album.
	2. One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful (2011) Our highest-place non-winners on the countdown didn’t even come in second – Zayn, Liam, Harry, Niall and Louis ended up a respectable third in the 2010 series, just ahead of Cher Lloyd and behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. Any disappointment they have about not taking the title must surely have evaporated by now, as they enjoy global success with a string of hits. Feel-good anthem What Makes You Beautiful was their first Number 1, but there were more to come… PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 890,000 CHART FACT: What Makes You Beautiful is 1D’s biggest selling single. The guys have had two further Number 1s, 2012’s Little Things and 2013’s Comic Relief single One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks). WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Everywhere! Their third album Midnight Memories is out in November and they’re going on another world tour in 2014.
	1. Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love (2007) You knew she had to be in here somewhere, and where else but the very top for Leona Lewis, who was the favourite of the third series of The X Factor from the very first moment she opened her mouth to sing. Leona’s global smash Bleeding Love is Londoner Leona’s biggest selling single, and she’s the only X Factor winner to overtake sales of her winner’s single with a subsequent release. And sales for One Moment Like This were pretty impressive – over 902,000 at the last count. But the Ryan Tedder-penned Bleeding Love smashed through the million mark to top the charts both sides of the Atlantic and launch a true superstar. PEAK POSITION: 1 SALES: 1,074,000 CHART FACT: Leona has had three Official Singles Chart Number 1s (the third was Run) and two chart-topping albums. Her debut, Spirit, has sold 3.1 million copies, which is pretty wow when you think about it. WHERE IS SHE NOW? Leona has just recorded a Christmas album on which, according to mentor Simon Cowell, Leona sounds the best she's ever sounded. Is that even possible?!

Watch our interview with Leona Lewis on the million-selling Bleeding Love:

So how will James Arthur’s first post-X Factor album fare? Keep your pop-loving peepers on the Official Singles Chart, aired on BBC Radio 1 on Sundays from 4pm and published right here on OfficialCharts.com on Sundays from 7pm.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, here’s 11–20 in the countdown:

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