X Factor winner Sam Bailey has won the battle for this year’s Christmas number one.
And that’s great news for a Huddersfield charity.
The 36-year-old former prison officer sold twice as many copies of her single, Skyscraper, than US star Pharrell Williams in second.
Bailey, 36, who was crowned the winner of the singing contest last week, is splitting all proceeds between Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Together For Short Lives, a charity which helps children with life-threatening conditions.
One of the charities helped by Together for Short Lives is the Brackenhall-based Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, who will now get a sizeable donation.
Chancellor George Osborne has agreed to waive VAT on the release.
Bailey told OfficialCharts.com: “Being Number 1 is absolutely amazing.
“It really is the icing on the cake and it means Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity and Together For Short Lives will benefit from the single, which makes it extra special.”
Bailey sold 149,000 copies of Skyscraper, outstripping Happy by Pharrell Williams by more than two copies to one to become one of the fastest selling singles of the year.
One More Sleep by the 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis came in third spot.
The entire profits from the sale of each CD single and digital download will go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital and the charity Together For Short Lives – and the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice is a member of this.
The proceeds are expected to be at least £1 per CD and 20p per download.
Forget Me Not chief executive Peter Branson said the share of the proceeds will help the hospice to keep supporting children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice currently supports around 80 children and their families in West Yorkshire.
