Band Aid: £1M Within Minutes

Bob Geldof says pre-orders for the latest version of the Band Aid charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” raised £1 million ($1.56 million) within minutes of being debuted on TV show “The X-Factor” Nov. 16.

Photo: Jonathan Short/Invision/AP

Right, with Midge Ure at a music studio to record their segment of the new Band Aid 30 charity single in London,

Two hours after it became available for download, the third re-working of the song originally released in 1984 was heading toward the top of the iTunes chart.

Geldof said sales of the record featuring One Direction, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Bastille, Ellie Goulding, Emeli Sandé, Olly Murs, and Coldplay had “gone manic.”

new version of the record was recorded to raise funds to fight the outbreak of Ebola threatening west Africa.

“We promoted the single on X Factor, Simon Cowell gave us five minutes of the show last night. Within four or five minutes of leaving the show we had a million quid. That’s extraordinary,” Geldof told the Guardian.

An accurate sales figure for “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” isn’t likely to be available until later, but the track is the bookies’ clear favourite to be No. 1 at Christmas.

UK chancellor George Osborne has agreed to waive VAT on the single’s sales, to focus proceeds on the charity effort. iTunes has also said it will waive its fees.