Military Wives have the Xmas Factor

They are already set to win the battle for the Christmas number one.

And today the Military Wives choir celebrated their single becoming the fastest-selling song for six years with a live performance in Oxford Street.

Crowds gathered outside HMV as 25 members of the 100-strong choir performed carols including Away in a Manger and O Little Town of Bethlehem.

They are virtually guaranteed to top the charts for Christmas after selling 242,000 of their track, Wherever You Are, in two days.

The sales were the fastest since those of That's My Goal by X Factor winner Shayne Ward in 2005. Girl group Little Mix, who were the choir's only real rivals, could only achieve 210,000 sales of their single Cannonball in the week after they won this year's X Factor.

Today in Oxford Street, Gareth Malone, who put the choir together for a BBC2 series, was embraced by Chris Evans, who has championed the track. The Radio 2 DJ said: "It's one of the best things I've ever been involved in. I'm so pleased for Gareth and for the girls."

Malone said: "It's such amazing news. I am bored of the sound of my own voice saying how amazing, unbelievable, incredible it is - but it is. Gary Barlow sent me a private message saying well done and I also had a public message from Simon Cowell. He is a patriotic man so it is appropriate that he would be behind us and the Armed Forces. I saw Little Mix yesterday and they looked incredibly nervous."

Cowell conceded defeat in a tweet reading: "Congrats to Little Mix and to Military Wives. It is a great cause and a worthy Christmas number one."

The lyrics of Wherever You Are were taken from poems written between the women and their husbands. Malone said: "We have been lucky with the timing of our single, it is 10 years since we have been in Afghanistan and support for the armed services has never been so enthusiastic. It is something about the choirs' words and the looks in their eyes, you can see they mean every word."