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Geldof's Band Aid a sure bet for Christmas No 1 in Britain
Bob Geldof arrives for the recording of the Band Aid 30 single at Sarm Studios in Notting Hill, London (Anthony Devlin/PA Wire)
U2 lead singer Bono arrives for the recording of the Band Aid 30 charity single in west London November 15, 2014. Singers came together to record a new version of the Band Aid charity song to raise money to combat Ebola in Africa (REUTERS/Neil Hall)
British singer Ellie Goulding arrives for the recording of the Band Aid 30 charity single in west London November 15, 2014. The single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?", was first recorded 30 years ago after musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof inspired a host of stars to come together under the Band Aid name to help those affected by famine in Ethiopia (REUTERS/Neil Hall)
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The new version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' has already become Britain's fastest-selling single of the year - after just a day's sales.
Figures from the Official Charts Company show it is a cert to claim the number one position at the weekend after shifting 206,000 download copies in the hours after they went on sale yesterday at 8am.
The original track by Band Aid released in 1984 sold around 200,000 copies in the space of two days.
The latest reworked version - the fourth version of the song and now released under the name Band Aid 30 - features Bono, One Direction, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Bastille and Ellie Goulding. It has been available to pre-order since last week.
The track is being sold on the iTunes store, with all proceeds going to the fundraising efforts to help ease the Ebola crisis in west Africa.
The mastermind of the project, Bob Geldof, yesterday claimed that within minutes of the track being debuted on 'The X Factor' on Sunday evening, they had raised £1m (€1.25m) in Britain. A number to text donations was also given out during the programme.
The song is also being sold elsewhere and by last night it had topped the iTunes chart in more than 50 countries.
The latest version of the track appears to be on course to outstrip the previous effort - Band Aid 20 which was released in 2004 and shifted 297,000 during its first week on sale.
It is also way ahead of the next biggest seller of the year, Clean Bandit's 'Rather Be', which sold 163,000 copies during its opening week in January.
Martin Talbot, the chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said: "Everyone expected a strong start from Bob Geldof and his team, but they have outperformed expectations."
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