Band Aid takes festive top spot

The single features stars including Bono and The Darkness

Charity single Band Aid 20 has topped the UK charts for a third week, to clinch the Christmas number one spot.

Do They Know It's Christmas?, featuring artists like Chris Martin, Sir Paul McCartney and Jamelia, has sold more than 600,000 copies in three weeks.

Proceeds from the single go towards sustainable charity projects in African countries, including Ethiopia.

One of its organisers, Bob Geldof, said the song was "an excuse to think about someone else this Christmas".

He told Radio 1 its message would have "real political impact" on 2005, when Britain is due to hold the EU presidency and host the G8 summit.

If a million copies of the CD are eventually sold, about £3m could be raised for charity. Number two

Band Aid 20 outsold its nearest rivals for the top spot, Kylie Minogue and Ronan Keating, by five to one.

Ronan Keating's song with Yusuf Islam, Father and Son, missed the top spot and came in at number two.

What happened in this room today is properly important and memorable and will be remembered Bob Geldof, on the day the single was recorded

Kylie Minogue fell one place to three with I Believe in You, while rapper Ice Cube moved down to four from three with You Can Do It.

Destiny's Child slip to six with Lose My Breath, and Lemar is at seven with If There's Any Justice.

Band Aid 20 was released 20 years after the original single, once again under the leadership of Midge Ure and Bob Geldof.

The 1984 version of the single sold 3.5 million copies in total while the 20th anniversary version is expected to sell up to one million copies.

The new single was recorded in November at the Air Studios in London and was played for the first time in radio on Tuesday 16 November.

On the day the single was recorded, Geldof told the press: "What happened in this room today is properly important and memorable and will be remembered."

The song was an overwhelming favourite for the number one spot and bookmakers paid out on the song taking the top spot earlier in the week.

Geldof told Radio 1 the song was less about the musicians involved in making it than its charitable cause.

"You know, the four people in this room could have done Band Aid and you should go and buy it," he said.

The original Band Aid single led to an intercontinental charity concert, Live Aid.

He said was he was "open to being persuaded" into doing Live Aid again, but that the idea would need a lot of debate to ensure it wasn't just a repeat.