James Arthur holds on to No 1 with Impossible

James Arthur holds on to No 1 with Impossible
James Arthur holds on to No 1 with Impossible

X Factor winner James Arthur has notched up his third week at number one in the charts with his debut single Impossible - despite a strong challenge from Britney Spears and will.i.am. The 24-year-old fought off competition from The Voice judge and the X Factor USA judge who have teamed up on the duet Scream and Shout - but had to be content with the number two position despite the midweek charts suggesting they were on course for the top spot. It is the third week at the top for James although the track has spent four weeks in the charts, being knocked off the top spot in the Christmas chart by the Justice Collective's He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother. The song is the fastest-selling debut single from an X Factor victor in series history and has now shifted almost a million copies. It also became the fastest selling single since Hallelujah, the debut effort from 2008 series champion Alexandra Burke. So far Impossible - a cover of the Shontelle single - has also sold more copies than the debut efforts from Little Mix, Joe McElderry, One Direction, JLS and Olly Murs sold during their entire chart run. The track was released on December, just moments after James Arthur was crowned 2012 X Factor winner ahead of Jahmene Douglas.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.