"X Factor" winners Little Mix top UK charts - Reuters India

LONDON | Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:08am IST

LONDON (Reuters) - Girl band Little Mix, who last week became the latest winners of the "X Factor" reality TV show shot to the top of the British pop charts on Sunday although they are not expected to hang on to take the coveted Christmas number one spot.

The quartet, the first girl band to reach the final of the talent show, recorded the biggest first week sales of a single this year, selling 210,000 copies of their debut release "Cannonball", the Official Charts Company said.

However their joy may be short-lived as bookmakers have made the Military Wives Choir, made up of women whose spouses and partners have served with British forces in Afghanistan, hot favourites to be top for Christmas next week.

Coldplay moved up five places to second with "Paradise", while Olly Murs, the 2009 X Factor finalist, dropped from number one to third with "Dance With Me Tonight".

In the album charts, Canadian singer Michael Buble's seasonal offering "Christmas" knocked British singer Amy Winehouse's posthumous release "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" from top spot.

Coldplay were in third with "Mylo Xyloto", with Murs unchanged in fourth with "In Case You Didn't Know", and Rihanna another non-mover in fifth with "Talk That Talk".

(Reporting by Michael Holden)