Band Aid single raises £1M in five minutes

A new Band Aid line-up has re-recorded ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, 30 years on…

Band Aid’s new version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ reportedly made over £1M within first five minutes of release

ales of the new version of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? generated £1 million within the first five minutes of its release, according to organiser Bob Geldof. The new version of the track features Ed Sheeran, Bono, Clean Bandit, Bastille, Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith, One Direction, Sinead O’Connor and many other top-flight artists.

Geldof confessed he had originally been “nervous” about re-recording the song, but said the response the track had received had been extraordinary. “From what we’ve seen from iTunes, it’s gone bonkers,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. “Within four or five minutes, we had a million quid.”

“I love living in this country at moments like this,” said Geldof, adding that Britain “led the world” in this form of charity campaigning.

The track was recorded on the 30th anniversary of the original Band Aid single, to raise money to help stop the spread of Ebola. A video of the re-recorded song was shown on ITV’s X Factor on Sunday. Geldof has insisted that 100 per cent of proceeds will go towards Ebola relief.

Do They Know It’s Christmas? was released as a digital download this morning for 99p, with a physical release (featuring remixes of the track) coming on 8 December. The £1M already raised also includes pre-orders for the CD, which costs £4.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.