The Top 10 biggest selling X Factor debut singles and albums revealed!

08/12/2012

By Dan Lane

 

Ahead of tonight’s X Factor final, the Official Charts Company reveal the Top 10 biggest selling debut singles and debut albums by all of the X Factor acts to date.

 

Later this evening, Christopher Maloney, Jahmene Douglas and James Arthur will begin battling it out to win the 2012 series of the X Factor, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance of a major label recording contract.

 

However, according to the Official Charts Company’s analysis of all the show’s former contestants, they could all already be winners. The Top 10 biggest selling debut singles and albums by previous X Factor stars is dominated exclusively by acts who made it into the final three of each year’s competition.

 

2008 winner Alexandra Burke’s Hallelujah is the biggest selling debut single by an X Factor act, having sold 1.2 million copies to date. There have only been 123 million selling singles in the 60 year history of the Official Singles Chart, and X Factor stars account for three of them; the other two are 2005 winner Shayne Ward’s That’s My Goal (which is Number 2 in our countdown with sales of 1.1 million sales to date), and 2010 winner Matt Cardle’s When We Collide (Number 3 in our countdown with over a million sales). The biggest selling debut single by a runner up is What Makes You Beautiful (Number 6) by One Direction, who came third in 2010’s competition, while debut releases by JLS (who came second in 2008), and Olly Murs (who came second in 2009), also make it into the Top 10.

 

The biggest selling debut album by an X Factor contestant is 2006 winner Leona Lewis’ Spirit, which has sold over 3 million copies to date. JLS’ self-title debut is at Number 2 with sales of over 1.4 million copies, while Alexandra Burke’s Overcome is at Number 3 with sales of 816,000 copies. The Top 5 is completed by One Direction’s Up All Night (777,000 sales to date) and Olly Murs’ self-titled debut album (761,000 sales).

 

The full Official Top 10 Biggest Selling X Factor Debut Singles And Albums are as follows:

 

The Official Top 10 Biggest Selling X Factor Debut Singles

TRACK TITLE ARTIST X FACTOR YEAR FINAL PLACING SALES TO DATE

01 Hallelujah Alexandra Burke 2008 1 1,200,000

02 That's My Goal Shayne Ward 2005 1 1,100,000

03 When We Collide Matt Cardle 2010 1 1,000,000

04 A Moment Like This Leona Lewis 2006 1 895,000

05 The Climb Joe McElderry 2009 1 807,000

06 What Makes You Beautiful One Direction 2010 3 781,000

07 Beat Again JLS 2008 2 556,000

08 When You Believe Leon Jackson 2007 1 506,000

09 Cannonball Little Mix 2011 1 465,000

10 Please Don't Let Me Go Olly Murs 2009 2 401,000

 

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

 

The Official Top 10 Biggest Selling X Factor Debut Albums

ALBUM TITLE ARTIST X FACTOR YEAR FINAL PLACING SALES TO DATE

01 Spirit Leona Lewis 2006 1 3,000,000

02 JLS JLS 2008 2 1,400,000

03 Overcome Alexandra Burke 2008 1 816,000

04 Up All Night One Direction 2010 3 777,000

05 Olly Murs Olly Murs 2009 2 761,000

06 G4 G4 2004 2 611,000

07 Heaven Rebecca Ferguson 2010 2 586,000

08 Shayne Ward Shayne Ward 2005 1 536,000

09 Journey South Journey South 2005 3 414,000

10 Rhydian Rhydian 2007 2 406,000

 

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

I'm sure In Case You Didn't Know is on at least 600k so should be at least between G4 and Rebecca, if not between G4 and his debut.

Edited December 8, 201212 yr by Liаm

'In Case You Didn't Know' has sold over 800K and i'm sure 'When You Believe' had sold much more than 500K? :o

I'm sure In Case You Didn't Know is on at least 600k so should be at least between G4 and Rebecca, if not between G4 and his debut.

These are just debuts I'm afraid, so In Case You Didn't Know can't appear. :(

Edited December 8, 201212 yr by liamk97

'ICYDK' would be #3 if it were included I believe - but this is just a list of X Factor debut albums and 'ICYDK' was Olly's second :P

Surely it would have made more sense for them to list the Top 10 X Factor singles/albums, rather than debut singles/albums?

Oh lmao I didn't take any notice of the DEBUT bit, stupid of me really seeing as for example Bleeding Love wasn't on the list having sold a lot more than most of that top 10 :lol:

 

And I was gonna say ICYDK is over 600k easily!

Surely it would have made more sense for them to list the Top 10 X Factor singles/albums, rather than debut singles/albums?

 

You expect the OCC to publish a list that's not unnecessarily specific?

What a misleading topic for them to choose! Considering only Olly and probably 1D have been able to better their debuts but they're way down the list, this isn't an accurate reflection of X Factor success and is therefore pointless! In terms of success it's 1. One Direction (becuase of their worldwide sales) 2. Olly (consistent success and getting bigger all the time).

Joe McElderry also improved on his debut. Joe and Olly are the only XF acts whose second albums have outsold their debuts as per Music Week last week, 1D might go on to do so as well but I'm not sure, 'Up All Night' has had incredible longevity which I'm not sure 'Take Me Home' could match.

Wow Spirit sold 3 million, that's huge, I hadn't realised it was that big! I'd Forgotten about Journey South & G4, shame it's not an all time list though and maybe a top 40. It would be very interesting that's for sure.

 

Joe McElderry also improved on his debut. Joe and Olly are the only XF acts whose second albums have outsold their debuts as per Music Week last week, 1D might go on to do so as well but I'm not sure, 'Up All Night' has had incredible longevity which I'm not sure 'Take Me Home' could match.

 

Wasn't hard for Joe to top his dismal debut sales was it! That was more a reflection of how much he flopped and it turned out to be flash in the pan as his sales have dipped once again.

 

1D are bigger in the U.S than they are here. They almost matched their debuts sales here in one week with their new album. Guess the size of the country helps and album sales are doing very well over there (Taylor Swift FFS!).

In terms of success it's 1. One Direction (becuase of their worldwide sales) 2. Olly (consistent success and getting bigger all the time).

 

Actually it would be:

 

1. Leona Lewis

2. One direction

3. Olly Murrs

 

Leona's sold more albums and singles than 1D worldwide. Of course they could over-take her if their current era continues to be successful and Leona's recent continues to drastically underperform.

Edited December 9, 201212 yr by Envoirment