Alexandra Burke has become the fourth X Factor winner in a row to top the UK Christmas singles chart.

The London-born singer’s cover Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ stormed to number one, selling nearly 600,000 copies in its first week.

For the first time in chart history, a cover of the same song also came in at number two on the festive chart.

The late Jeff Buckley’s version, originally released in 1994, enjoyed a huge sales surge following a three-week campaign by his fans.

So high was the public’s interest in ‘Hallelujah’ that Cohen’s original version charted at number 36. The 25-year-old song had never previously made the top-40.

Burke’s final record sales of 576,000 copies make her cover of the song the fastest selling single ever by a female artist.

She also knocked former X Factor winner Leona Lewis from the top spot. Lewis fell to number three with her cover of ‘Run’ by Snow Patrol’.

Meanwhile, Take That took the Christmas number one in the album chart with ‘The Circus’.

As previously reported, Burke was crowned the winner of The X Factor on Saturday.

The London-born singer beat boy band JLS to claim the first prize of a lucrative recording contract.

(by Jason Gregory)