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Christmas Number One revealed

'X Factor' winner Shayne Ward is the UK Christmas Number One with his debut single.

His track, 'That's My Goal', was released on December 21 and easily outsold the competition to reach the top of the charts on December 25.

Backed by huge primetime TV exposure because of his X Factor win, his record label Sony BMG shipped in excess of 700,000 copies of the single, meaning Nizlopi, who were last week's Number One with the 'JCB Song', had little chance of beating him.

On its first day alone, the track sold more than 300,000. Last year's Xmas Number One, Band Aid 20 sold around 70,000 in its first day.

Ward said: "I am so thrilled that my single is the Christmas number one. Thank you to everyone who bought 'That's My Goal' and all the thousands of people who voted for me on the X Factor. You have made my dream come true - I am still in shock and am completely overwhelmed."

Chart experts have called the success of 'That's My Goal' "truly astounding and nothing short of incredible."

"At one point, a few weeks back, this looked a pretty open race, particularly with the absence of a major charity single, but once it was confirmed that there would be an 'X Factor' single released in time for the Christmas chart, you always felt that all bets would be off," suggested HMV singles buyer Stewart Allan.

By the middle of last week some book-makers stopped taking bets on the 'X Factor' single.