U.K. MIDWEEKS: X FACTOR WINNER & BIEBER IN THE RING

If the past success of X Factor winners’ singles is anything to go by, the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” by this year’s victor Louisa Johnson (revealed last night) will be #1 on the Official Singles Chart this Friday (12/18). While Justin Bieber is currently hanging on to the midweek top spot with “Love Yourself” (Def Jam), and there are no sales stats on “Forever Young” yet after being released last night, its position at the top of the iTunes chart in Blighty is telling. Released by Simon Cowell and Sonny Takhar’s Sony U.K. label SYCO, it’s a strong contender for the Christmas #1, but will have to hold on for a second week to make the cut.

Last year’s X Factor winner Ben Haenow got 214k combined sales with his debut, “Something I Need,” in its first week on sale. By way of comparison, Bieber’s “Love Yourself” clocked 114k. Can Johnson beat Haenow’s tally? We’ll report back on the first 24 hours on sale tomorrow. She was named victor with a strong lead of 53.9% worth of viewer's votes against runner up Reggie 'n' Bollie's 38.9% and Che Chesterman, who left on Saturday, with 7.2%.

Elsewhere in the U.K. midweeks, Bieber’s “Sorry” remains at #2, Grace ft. G-Eazy’s “You Don’t Own Me” (Columbia) improves #5 to #3, Adele’s “Hello” (XL/Columbia) is at #4, and Sigala’s “Sweet Lovin’” (Ministry of Sound) rounds off the Top 5.

On the albums side of the story, Adele’s 25 has sold 158k this week and is on course to match or top the 354k it sold in its third week.

Last week’s #2, Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams (Parlophone), slips a place to #3, as Elvis’ blockbuster If I Can Dream (Sony Music CG), which has passed the half a million mark in the U.K., moves up one place to #2.

Bieber’s Purpose holds at #4, and Jess Glynne’s I Cry When I Laugh (Atlantic) rounds off the Top 5. Look out for the final chart results on Friday.