A Moment like This

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"A Moment like This"
Single by Kelly Clarkson
from the album Thankful
A-side(s)	"Before Your Love"
Released	September, 2002
Format	CD single DVD single
Genre	Pop Ballad
Length	3:49
Label	RCA Records
Writer(s)	Jörgen Elofsson John Reid
Producer(s)	Steve Mac
Certification	Platinum
Chart positions
#1 (USA, Canada)
Kelly Clarkson singles chronology
	"A Moment like This/Before Your Love" (2002)	"Miss Independent" (2003)

"A Moment like This" is the first single, released as a double A-side with "Before Your Love", by Kelly Clarkson, the winner of the first season of American Idol, and later included on her multi-platinum debut album, Thankful. It has been covered by Leona Lewis, the third winner of the British television programme The X Factor.

The single was co-written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid (of dance act Nightcrawlers) and produced by Steve Mac. It was written to be the first single for the winner of the first season of American Idol. As a result, the four remaining finalists, Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Tamyra Gray, and Nikki McKibbin each recorded a version of the song in case they won. The song was first revealed to the public when McKibbin was removed from the competition, and Guarini and Clarkson competed in a final showdown while singing this song, along with another track, "Before Your Love". After the American public had voted, the two once again performed the song (along with "Before Your Love" again) at the final show before the results were revealed. When Clarkson was announced as the winner, she became emotional, and once again sang the song as her final performance.

The song has been known to remind people that true love can be hard to find, but advises them to be patient, as "some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this".

"Before Your Love," was also given to radio and had a video shot, which debuted on MTV's TRL before A Moment Like This did; however, it failed to achieve the level of success of "A Moment like This." The single to date has sold approximately 1,000,200 copies.

The song is also used in television commercials for Sandals Resorts in the UK and USA.

Contents 1 Music video 2 Chart performance 3 Leona Lewis version 3.1 Music video 3.2 Sales 3.3 Track listing 3.4 Chart performance 4 Other versions 5 References

[edit] Music video

The music video for "A Moment like This" is relatively simple, and has Clarkson exploring an abandoned theatre. She can be seen taking the stage to sing, and clips of her singing on American Idol and getting emotional when she won are also shown.

[edit] Chart performance

As the first single ever from American Idol, much pressure was put on "A Moment like This" to perform well. The debut single from Will Young, the winner of Britain's Pop Idol (the forerunner to American Idol), sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest selling British debut single of all time; however, critics argued that the American singles market was different from the British market. Kelly proved her critics wrong and the single became a smash hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. Sales of the commercial single also helped the song (as evidenced by its number-one peak on the Hot 100 Singles Sales) break records. With the release of the single, the song broke the Beatles' record for the biggest leap ever to number one, from 52, in the history of the Hot 100 Chart.

Chart (2002)	Peak Position	Year End Position
Canadian Singles Chart	1	-
World Chart Show	16	-
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1	39
U.S. Top 40 Tracks	8	-
U.S. Top 40 Mainstream	4	-
U.S. Adult Top 40	27	-
U.S. Adult Contemporary	4	22 (2003)
U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks	58	-
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	3	65

[edit] Leona Lewis version

"A Moment like This"
Single by Leona Lewis
B-side(s)	"Summertime" "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
Released	17 December 2006 (Digital download) 20 December 2006 (CD single)
Format	CD single Digital Download
Genre	Soul
Length	4:17
Label	Syco Music, Sony BMG
Chart positions
#1 (Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom, Hungary) #9 (United World Chart)
Leona Lewis singles chronology
	"A Moment like This" (2006)	"It's All for You" (2006)
Audio sample
Play (in browser) (help·info)

In December 2006, this song was recorded by Leona Lewis, the winner of series 3 of The X Factor. The single was rush-released on Wednesday December 20, 2006. This is unusual as most new singles are released on a Monday to gain maximum sales for the UK Singles Chart the following Sunday, although a mid-week rush-release also happened in 2005 with The X Factor series 2 winner Shayne Ward's debut single "That's My Goal". The late release of "A Moment like This" was due to the fact that Lewis was only chosen as the artist on the night of Saturday December 16, when the live final was transmitted. The song was available for download after she was announced winner of The X Factor.

The song was also recorded by the other finalists in The X Factor, Raymond Quinn and Ben Mills, as it was to be released by whichever artist won the competition.^[1][2]

[edit] Music video

The music video, like Clarkson's, is very simple, with Lewis singing the song on a stage. It also features several clips from Lewis's time in The X Factor, from her first audition to the moment she was announced the winner. Simon Cowell, Kate Thornton, Louis Walsh and Raymond Quinn all feature within the clips.

[edit] Sales

One million copies of the winner's single were pre-ordered by stores, making it an almost certain number one before it was released, although at the time, the winner of the show had not been announced and it was unknown who would be releasing the single, a source of controversy for those who suggest it is the show which sold the single, and not Leona.

"A Moment like This" was downloaded 50,000 times within 30 minutes of being available online,^[1] making it the fastest selling download to date, and the biggest selling download in one week. The single sold a total of 571,253 copies in its first week, outselling the rest of the Top 40 combined and making it the fastest selling single in the UK by a female artist, beating "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears.^[3]

The single ended the year as the UK's second best selling single of the year, beaten only by Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".^[4] However, it was the most downloaded song in 2006.

[edit] Track listing

1. "A Moment like This"
2. "Summertime"
3. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"

[edit] Chart performance

The single got the iTunes UK number-one spot on the day of release (Wednesday 20 December 2006), beating Take That who had been at the top spot for two weeks. On 24 December 2006 it debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it the coveted Christmas number one, and stayed at number one for four weeks. It also spent six weeks at the top of the Irish Singles Chart.

Chart (2006)	Peak Position
Hungarian Singles Chart[citation needed]	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
Irish Downloads Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	1
UK Official Download Chart	1
UK Airplay Chart	31
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	18
United World Chart	9

[edit] Other versions

There is a cover version of "A Moment Like This" by Glennis Grace, a Dutch singer, and a Swedish version called "Ett kort Ögonblick" released by Swedish duo Fame. Both acts have performed in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and 2003 respectively. Another version of A Moment Like This, is in an episode of Drawn Together called A Tale of Two Cows, where Toot sings the song completely off key. Kidz Bop Kids covered A Moment like this and it was in their album "Kidz Bop 3"

[edit] References

Preceded by "Dilemma" by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Clarkson version) October 5, 2002 – November 2, 2002	Succeeded by "Lose Yourself" by Eminem
Preceded by "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem	Ireland number-one single (Lewis version) December 21, 2006 – 31 January 2007	Succeeded by "Grace Kelly" by Mika
Preceded by "Patience" by Take That	UK number-one single (Lewis version) December 24, 2006 – January 21, 2007