Hallelujah!

What an amazing feat for Alexandra Burke. This week she became the first EVER British female to sell over a million copies of a single in the UK. Her version of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" has also become one of only 10 singles to sell over a million copies in the UK since the turn of the century, and was the biggest-selling single of 2008. All this after winning the X-Factor in December. Paul and I watched as this former waitress from Hackney fought her way to win the coveted prize. Simon Cowell is no fool. In fact, it was Jason Castro's version of Hallelujah on American Idol in March last year that put Jeff Buckley's version of the same song into the #1 spot. It became Buckley's first #1 (posthumously - he initially recorded the song in 1994 and died in 1997). Buckley's version again hit the charts at the #2 spot in December while Burke's hit #1. Amazing. Of course, most of the credit should really go to Leonard Cohen for writing such a great song!