The contract had a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 was a cash advance and the remainder allocated to recording and marketing costs. The single "The Climb" was released as McElderry's debut single. Along with "The X Factor" finalists, McElderry recorded vocal for featured on a charity single, a cover of Michael Jackson's hit "You Are Not Alone". It was released in aid of London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. The finalists premiered the song live on the edition of 15 November of the programme; the single was available for digital download that day and a physical release followed the day after. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. McElderry performed the following songs during the contest:  McElderry's debut single, "The Climb", was available to download at midnight on 14 December 2009 and was released physically on 16 December 2009. According to industry sources, approximately 100,000 copies of the single were sold on the day of its release but it was not enough to knock Rage Against The Machine off the spot in the UK in its opening week . On 18 December 2009, it was announced that McElderry secured the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart for 11–17 December 2009. "The Climb" was a contender for 2009's UK Christmas number one, competing against, and losing to, Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name". McElderry's single sold 450,000 compared to Rage Against the Machine's 502,000 after a Facebook-based campaign was started in protest of "The X Factor"s dominance of the Christmas number one title. This was the first time since 2004 that the "X Factor" winning single was denied the top spot for Christmas in the UK Singles Charts. Simon Cowell stated that he was "gutted for Joe because a number one single meant a lot to him. But I have to congratulate Jon and Tracy [Morter, who started the Facebook campaign]." McElderry's single stayed at number one on the Irish charts for a second week securing him the Irish Christmas number one (18–25 December 2009), and the song moved up to the top spot in the UK Singles Chart on 27 December. The single had the fifth highest sales of all UK singles released in 2009 staying one week at 1, and was the top-selling Irish single of 2009, where it remained at the top spot for four consecutive weeks. "The Climb" was nominated in the British Single category at the 2010 BRIT Awards but lost out to fellow "X Factor" contestants JLS.