The Voice: The talent show that failed to conquer the charts

Everyone knows that the first single released by the winner of a TV talent show is guaranteed a place at the top of the charts. Really, any old rubbish will do.

Four girls wearing a month's worth of make-up warbling a Damien Rice track can sell more than 200,000 singles in a week (ta, Little Mix). A toothy 18-year-old belting out a Miley Cyrus song can shift 450,000 (hi, Joe McElderry!). A winner could release "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and the UK public would crash iTunes in anticipation.

So imagine the BBC's embarrassment that the cover of Whitney Houston's "Run To You" by the inaugural winner of The Voice, Leanne Something-or-other, is flailing at 27 in the midweeks, having sold just 6,527 copies. With seven million tuned into the final, things aren't looking good.

Simon Cowell must be rubbing his hands with glee.

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