Simon Cowell is reportedly regretting his track choice for this year's ‘X Factor’ winner’s single, after disappointing sales for Louisa Johnson’s debut ‘Forever Young’.
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While previous singles from ‘X Factor’ champs have usually hit the top spot, Louisa landed at number nine in last week’s official chart, and her cover of Bob Dylan’s classic is now a rank outsider to be crowned this year’s Christmas number one.
Simon Cowell
Simon is now said to believe he should have chosen a more uplifting, mid-tempo song to help shift more copies of the single, which sold just 39,000 in its first five days on sale.
A source told The Sun (via The Mirror): "It’s an embarrassing result for Syco. Even though Louisa had two fewer days of sales, they expected the single to fare much better.
"On reflection, they feel picking a more up-tempo, anthemic song would have been a better idea. But they are fully behind Louisa and insist the poor chart position was down to the song, not the performer."
While Louisa’s single hit download and streaming sites two days later than other new releases, due to the ‘X Factor’ final taking place on a Sunday, and the release day for new songs being moved to Fridays earlier this year, her sales are still way off those achieved by previous ‘X Factor’ winners.
Louisa Johnson's single has been hit by poor sales
Last year's champ Ben Haenow achieved 214,000 combined sales with his winner's single, ‘Something I Need’, during its first week on sale - which saw him take the Christmas number one spot.
2005 winner Shayne Ward also sold an impressive 740,000 copies in his first week on sale with ‘That’s My Goal’.
Bookies have now pegged Louisa at 50/1 to claim the Christmas number one, with it looking to be a two-horse race between the NHS Choir and Justin Bieber for the festive top spot.
The official Christmas number one will be announced on Christmas Day.