Military Wives' Wherever You Are breaks pre-order record

Wherever You Are, the single by Gareth Malone’s Military Wives and composed by Paul Mealor, has broken a new online record by becoming the most pre-ordered music item on Amazon.
Fans of the song – and the TV show The Choir in which it first featured – are hoping to get it to this year’s Christmas Number One, while the sheet music has also been a bestseller every day at Musicroom.
The single is not released until December 18th and it could beat X Factor winners Little Mix to the top spot. Indeed, according to Ladbrokes, the choir are the current favourites.
Its new record overtakes the previous record-holder, Take That’s Progress, by almost three times.
Roger Greensmith, music and MP3 manager at Amazon.co.uk, said that this is a “tremendous achievement when you consider that Take That’s album marked Robbie’s return and was one of the most highly-anticipated music releases ever”.
As an added bonus, all proceeds from the single will go to the Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph last week, composer Paul Mealor explained the idea behind the piece, saying that he suggested using letters the wives write to their husbands serving in Afghanistan.
“It was a privilege because normally one wouldn’t see those prayers or letters to a loved one,” he remarked. “I was very moved by the whole thing. I created a poem out of them and wrote this little piece for women’s voices and piano, and then I orchestrated it.”
He added that Malone had approached him with the project after enjoying Mealor’s Ubi caritas, which was performed for the Royal Wedding, and revelled at the thought of writing a piece for women’s voices on their own.
The choir then went on to perform their specially-commissioned piece at the British Legion’s annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in November and have even made an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing.