It may not have been the biggest shock in Chart history today when it was revealed that Alexandra ‘X-Factor’ Burke has scored a Number One for Christmas, with more than half a million sales of ‘Hallelujah, but the continuing love affair between the Christmas music buying public and the programme has moved to another level with the additional news that, the late and much lamented, Jeff Buckley’s definitive cover of the song has reached number two due to the irresistible pull of X-Factor. Even the original Leonard Cohen version has been invited to the party, reaching number 36 in the chart.

…amazintunes.com

• Reformed boy band Take That have today sold the millionth copy of their latest album ‘The Circus’. Released just seven days ago, the album has become the second fastest ever to reach the one-million mark.

• At the other end of the spectrum pop mega-star Madonna has earned her lowest charting position since 1984 with her latest single ‘Miles Away’. Taken from her new album ‘Hard Candy’ the track debuted at Number 39 before dropping out of the charts altogether last Sunday.

• In the US the digital downloads market has reached new highs, with 2008 seeing legitimate downloads hit the billion mark for the first time. Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis was the most successful with 3.3m downloads alone.

…amazingtunes.com

Congratulations are in order for X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke who walked away with a £1 million record contract. Her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is already on course for the number one spot through downloads alone. The final was watched by over 15million people, record ratings for the programme.

Not to be outdone by the contestants, X-Factor supremo, Simon Cowell,  has now been voted the most famous person in the world. In a recent poll of under-10’s seemingly the best arbiters of such important questions, Cowell beat God and the Queen into second and third place, respectively.

Lest we forget, our own X-Factor songstress Laura White can be heard on amazingtunes.com for you to enjoy.

…amazingtunes.com

Christmas is on the doorstep and 2009 is but a snowballs throw away, so it’s time to look at who we think is going to be making it big in the year to come?

First up is North East blues behemoths Detroit Social Club. Under the watchful eye of Wildlife Management – Arctic Monkeys, The Rascals, Travis – this soulful sextet is causing a great stir amongst all who hear their powerful meanderings, and they are sure to become a household name in 2009.

Another band breaking the mould, or rather shaping their own, is manchester-based post-rockers Spokes. After two brilliantly received tours in ‘08 coupled with a few festival performances and the glorious title of amazingtunes’ Sound08 winners, these industrious rockers already have chins wagging and labels knocking. Their album People Like People Like You – released on the Everyone Label

The nominations for this years Grammys have been announced with another good show from British acts. Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Duffy and Adele have all been nominated for gongs, while Coldplay, off the back of their latest release Viva la Vida, have notched up an impressive seven nominations. The US’ very own Lil’ Wayne leads the way however, up for eight awards with Jay-Z, Kanya West and Ne-Yo having all received six.

It was Amy Winehouse’s party last year as she took away an impressive six awards, a repeat of which for Colplay this year probably being atop of their Christmas wish list. You can see the full breakdown of 2009 nominations here.

It’s certainly not all songs of praise for Coldplay however. While their leading single ‘Viva la Vida’ has received a nomination for single of the year, it has also received the scorn of virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani. He is suing the British rock band on the grounds that they have allegedly plagiarised his 2004 song ‘If I Could Fly’. The claims have just been made so the drama is sure to ensue.

You can check out some amazingtunes acts that sound like, and are influenced by Coldplay here.

…amazingtunes

Top of the Pops has found itself top of the BBC agenda of late as this years one-off Christmas special got announced, then got axed, only to be announced again, and as it stands the show is now accompanied by a New Years Eve special to boot.

At the ripe old age of 42 Top of the Pops was cancelled by the BBC in July 2006 due to waning figures. However when rumors and a subsequent announcement that this years Christmas special was to be cancelled there was an overwhelming show of support for the program, now causing speculation that the BBC must bring back the iconic chart show to a regular weekly slot. A poll running on MusicWeek.com showed a 91% majority in favor for the return of TOTP, with a host of industry insiders all optimistic of a return to our screens in the near future.

Obviously though, there’s more than one music chart that matters, and for all that is current on amazingtunes check out our run down of the amazingtunes top 10 here.

…amazingtunes