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Red Moon · 16-12-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Anti-X Factor internet campaign rockets Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah up the charts... but it won't stop Alexandra becoming Xmas No.1

Anti-X Factor campaigners are trying to sabotage Alexandra Burke's chances of taking the coveted Christmas number one spot by downloading an alternative version of her winner's song.

The late Jeff Buckley's iconic version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah has raced to number three in the unofficial midweek charts.

A spokesman for HMV said chart rules meant he was unable to reveal the exact sales of each release, but that just 10,000 more sales were needed for Buckley to overtake Leona Lewis's version of Run, which is currently in second place.

If this happens Hallelujah will be in first and second place in the charts - the first time a song has done this.

But it seems unlikely Buckley will take the coveted number one place - the first single from X Factor winner Alexandra has already broken records for downloading, with the CD single not due to hit shop floors until tomorrow.

By 11.59pm on Monday, 149,548 copies of the single had been downloaded - the biggest week one download ever.

The previous record was 139,000 for Leona Lewis's X Factor winner's song A Moment Like This.

On Sunday, the first day Alexandra's version of the song went on sale, more than 105,000 copies were downloaded - smashing the previous record of 82,000 in one day for A Moment Like This.

A spokesman for Alexandra said she was 'overwhelmed' by the record breaking sales.

'She can't even take it on, these are incredible figures,' he said.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said that the idea of Alexandra not taking the number one spot seemed 'unthinkable'.

But he added: 'Just when it looked like the X Factor had taken all the unpredictability out of Christmas, the charts are coming back to prove they remain capable of throwing up a surprise.'

Buckley's version of the song previously topped the download chart in March this year after it was performed by Jason Castro on American Idol.

Buckley released the song on his debut, and only, studio album Grace in 1994. Less than three years later he died in a tragic accident while swimming, at the age of just 30.

Following his death, he was nominated posthumously for a Grammy Award for his song Everybody Here Wants You in 1998.

His version of Hallelujah was deemed one of the 500 Greatest Songs ever by Rolling Stone magazine, who also gave Buckley a coveted spot in the 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.

Buckley fans mobilised support in the Facebook group Jeff Buckley for Xmas no. 1, which has nearly 60,000 members.

The group's mandate is: 'Following the rather depressing news that this year's X factor finalist will be covering Leonard Cohen's beautiful Hallelujah, I think everyone should download the Jeff Buckley version, instead of buying the inevitably soulless version churned out by Simon Cowell's Crimbo flash in the pan...

'We can make this work, and make a huge statement against the barrage of cynical manufactured pop dirtying up our charts. I am willing to download this version the week the X factor version comes out, and I know others will be too.'

Source: Daily Mail