Olly Murs takes the title as best-selling X Factor act of all time on Amazon.co.uk

Series 6 runner-up Olly Murs leads the over 25s to victory, taking the top spot as all-time best-selling X Factor act on Amazon.co.uk.

Groups have success with JLS, One Direction, Little Mix and G4 all featuring in the top 10 despite Little Mix being the only group ever to win the show.

One Direction take third place but are expected to challenge Olly Murs for the top spot with the release of Midnight Memories on 25thNovember.

Cheryl Cole is the mentor with the most acts featuring in the top 15, but Simon Cowell has the highest ranking acts, having mentored three out of the top five.

Luxembourg, 13th November 2013 - As the 2013 competition hots up in the tenth series of The X Factor, Amazon.co.uk has today announced the top 15 best-selling X Factor acts since the series started 10 years ago.

Olly Murs has beaten off stiff competition to be named the best-selling X Factor act of all time by album sales on Amazon.co.uk. The over 25s category contestant and runner up in series six (2009), Murs has returned to the show that made his name as a guest judge this year.

JLS take the number two spot just days ahead of the release of their final album Goodbye – The Greatest Hits (18th November). Boy band of the moment One Direction, who are currently enjoying success around the world, come in just after at number three. With the release of their much-anticipated third album Midnight Memories on 25th November they’re expected to challenge Murs place at number one. Midnight Memories was announced in October as the fastest selling album of all time on Amazon.co.uk based on day one pre-orders alone.

Powerhouse Leona Lewis is the best-selling female X Factor act, taking fourth place, and Liverpool-born songstress Rebecca Ferguson rounds off the top five. Both have new albums coming out on 2nd December: Lewis gets festive with Christmas, With Love, whilst Ferguson follows up her debut album with Freedom.

Little Mix, the only group ever to have won The X Factor, are currently at number nine, but this is set to change with their second album Salutereleased Monday 11th November and now available to download from the Amazon MP3 Music Store. Operatic four-piece G4 are the only act from the very first series to make the list, taking tenth place. Cher Lloyd, currently enjoying huge popularity in the US, takes twelfth place, and well-loved soul singer Andy Abraham takes the final place in the list as the fifteenth all time X Factor best-seller on Amazon.co.uk.

Recent debut album releases by series 9 talent including winner James Arthur, (self-titled debut released Monday 4th November), and boy band Union J, (self-titled debut released 25th October), are expected to make their mark on the list.

The top 15 best-selling X Factor artists of all time on Amazon.co.uk* are:

RANK      ARTIST                PLACE          SERIES          YEAR          CATEGORY          MENTOR

1             Olly Murs              Runner Up     6                   2009           Over 25s                 Simon Cowell

2              JLS                        Runner Up     5                  2008            Groups                   Louis Walsh

3             One Direction         Third             7                  2010            Groups                  Simon Cowell

4              Leona Lewis          Winner          3                  2006            16 – 24s                 Simon Cowell

5              Rebecca Ferguson Runner Up    7                  2010             Girls                      Cheryl Cole

6              Alexandra Burke    Winner         5                  2008             Girls                      Cheryl Cole

7              Joe McElderry         Winner         6                 2009              Boys                      Cheryl Cole

8              Matt Cardle            Winner         7                 2010              Boys                      Dannii Minogue

9               Little Mix               Winner         8                2011               Groups                 Tulisa Contostavlos

10             G4                         Runner Up   1                2004               Groups                  Louis Walsh

11             Shayne Ward           Winner       2                2005              16-24s                   Louis Walsh

12            Cher Lloyd              Fourth        7                2010               Girls                       Cheryl Cole

13            Rhydian Roberts      Runner Up  4               2007               Boys                       Dannii Minogue

14            Diana Vickers          Fourth        5               2008               Girls                        Cheryl Cole

15            Andy Abraham        Runner Up  2               2005               Over 25s                  Sharon Osbourne

*Compiled based on album sales. Albums available for pre-order but net yet released have not been included.

Chery Cole is the mentor with the most acts making the list, but Simon Cowell is the mentor with the highest ranking acts; the three of his acts that make the list all feature within the top five. Louis Walsh also has three acts in the top 15, peaking with JLS at number two.

“The X Factor has become staple weekend viewing across the UK. The top 15 best-selling acts stretch right back to series one, so it’s great to see that the show’s popularity translates to a lasting fan-base for the contestants,” said Steve Bernstein, Director, EU Digital Music, Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. “Acts from each of the categories, runners-ups and semi-finalists, as well as winners all feature strongly within the chart, showing that The X Factor continues to be a major platform for new and undiscovered talent, whether they take The X Factor title or not.”

Visit Amazon.co.uk www.amazon.co.uk/music to browse releases by the entire back catalogue of X Factor stars.

-Ends-

-Notes to Editors-

For more information please contact Cult.Brand:

Emily Airton: Emily.airton@cultbrand.co.uk / 0207 749 6850 / 07816 905 788

About Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk opened its virtual doors in October 1998 and strives to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.

Amazon.co.uk and other sellers offer millions of new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Baby, Books, Car & Motorbike, Clothing, DIY & Tools, DVD, Electronics & Photo, Grocery, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewellery, MP3, Music, Musical Instruments & DJ, Office, PC, Pet Supplies, Shoes, Software, Sports & Leisure, Toys & Games, Video Games and Watches.

Kindle is the world's bestselling e-reader family and Kindle Paperwhite is our most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7" or 8.9" HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business.

Amazon.co.uk is a trading name for Amazon EU S.à.r.l, Amazon Services Europe S.à.r.l and Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l. All three are wholly owned subsidiaries of global online retailerAmazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), located in Seattle, Washington. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de,www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, 

www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, and www.amazon.com.mx. 

As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment centre optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

 "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Amazon.Co.UK Ltd's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

For more information and images please visit the press centre – http://www.amazon.co.uk