James Arthur's Impossible passes 1m sales barrier

X Factor 2012 winner James Arthur has passed the 1m sales mark with his debut single Impossible, which was released just moments after he won the series on December 9. The song - which is the fastest selling single since Alexandra Burke's 2008 debut Hallelujah, took just four weeks to reach the magic number, passing the 1m mark at midnight on Thursday. Since its release four weeks ago it has spent three non-consecutive weeks at number one, giving way to the Justice Collective in the Christmas chart but returning to the top spot the following week. "Hitting the million mark in around a month is a fantastic achievement for James Arthur," said the Official Charts Company's Martin Talbot. "X Factor winners often score strong first week sales but to push through to the million mark so quickly is truly impressive." Impossible is now the fourth biggest X Factor debut single behind the efforts from Burke, Shayne Ward and Matt Cardle. However its chances of spending a fourth week at number one on Sunday are currently being threatened by the Britney Spears-will.i.am duet Scream and Shout.

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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.