Trampling over Little Mix, by last night the Military Wives has sold 242,000 copies of Wherever You Are, more than the X Factor winners shifted in an entire week.
According to the Official Charts Company, the Wives are the fastest sellers since Shayne Ward’s That’s My Goal in 2005, which sold 313,000.
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With even Simon Cowell admitting that the Military Wives are likely to wipe the floor with Little Mix, it looks as though this will be the second time in three years that an X Factor winner doesn’t top the charts over Christmas.
Today, Gareth Malone’s choir were promoting their single with a performance at HMV in Oxford Street.
Military Wives sing Wherever You Are live on Oxford Street
Photo ops galore were provided by Radio 2’s Chris Evans, who turned up in a military jeep to hand out mince pies and is pushing their single on his radio show.
According to choirmaster Malone, the Military Wives have Evans to thank for their shot at CHristmas number one.
”There was one morning that my phone went red hot with everyone saying ‘Chris Evans says you should be Christmas number one’ and everything changed from that moment,” he said.
”People have been telling me they have been crying every time they hear it, crying in their cars when they go to work, and that makes me really proud and it means they understand what these women’s lives are like, crying every day about their husbands.”
Earlier this month, the man behind the campaign get Nirvana’s Smell’s Like Teen Spirit to Christmas number one backed the Military Wives, telling NME: “The Military Wives single has got a very big amount of pre-orders. In complete honesty, I think that’s the one to keep an eye out for, more than the actual X Factor.”
Listen to the Military Wives single here.
