Haiti charity song set to be biggest single of the year

The music video for Simon Cowell's Haiti charity single, featuring Leona Lewis and Mika, has been released, and is expected to hit number one this weekend...

Simon Cowell's Haiti charity song, a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts, was made available as a download on Sunday and is expected hit number one, ousting Owl City's Fireflies after five weeks.

In the video, footage of the song's vocalists in the recording studio is intercut with images of the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in mid-January, killing more than 200,000 people.

Singers including Kylie, Leona Lewis, Take That, Mariah Carey, Cheryl Cole and Susan Boyle all feature in the five-and-a-half minute promo, which opens with a statement recalling the events of 12 January.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: ‘Helping Haiti's cover of Everybody Hurts should comfortably make number one and will hopefully go on to dominate the charts over the course of the next few weeks.

‘We could not only be looking at the biggest single of 2010 but possibly one of the most successful releases of the past ten years.'

REM, who recorded the original song in 1992, are waiving royalties to the track, while the Government has said it will not collect VAT on the record. Proceeds will be split between the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and the Sun newspaper's Helping Haiti campaign.

Retailers - including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, Bhs, Argos and BP Extra - stock the single for around £3.99. It is available for 99p as a download only. Industry insiders estimate that well over 100,000 copies of Everybody Hurts have already been bought from stores and online.

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