"A Moment Like This" is a song by American singer Kelly Clarkson, released from 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 song was co-written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid (of dance act Nightcrawlers) and produced by Stephen Ferrera and 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, Nikki McKibbin, and Tamyra Gray each recorded a version of the song in case they won. The song was first revealed to the public when 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, Guarini performed the song (and Clarkson performed "Before Your Love") at the final show before the results were revealed. When Clarkson was announced as the winner, she became emotional, and sang the song as her final performance.

"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 United States.

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.

Track listing

1. Before Your Love
2. A Moment Like This

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. The single became a hit in the U.S., 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, a record that would stand for five years, until Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" jumped from 64 to 1 in May 2007.

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	1
World Chart Show	16
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks	8
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	27
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	58
United World Chart	23

Leona Lewis version

In December 2006, the 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. 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.

In January 2007, "A Moment Like This" was shortlisted for the British Single award at the 2007 BRIT Awards. It made it to the second round but was eliminated and did not make it to the final selection. In May it was awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Selling British Single.

Track listing

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

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, Sharon Osbourne,Louis Walsh,Kate Thornton and Raymond Quinn all feature within the clips.

Sales

One million copies of the winner's single were pre-ordered by stores, although at the time, the winner of the show had not been announced and it was unknown who would be releasing the single.

"A Moment like This" was downloaded 50,000 times within 30 minutes of being available online, 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.

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

In January 2007, the single was awarded platinum status by the British Phonographic Industry.

As of November 2007, Lewis's version of the song has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the UK.

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	December 17, 2006	Syco Music	Digital download	–
	December 20, 2006	Syco	CD single	88697050872

Chart performance

The single got the iTunes UK number-one spot on the day of release, beating Take That who had been at the top spot for two weeks. On December 24, 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. It re-entered the UK Top 75 on October 28, 2007 at number 55, when Lewis's second single "Bleeding Love" was released.

Chart (2006)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	18
United World Chart	9

Other versions

There is a cover version of "A Moment Like This" by Dutch singer Glennis Grace, a Swedish version called "Ett kort Ögonblick" released by Swedish duo Fame, and a cover version by Sandra Oxenryd. All three have performed in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 , 2003 and 2006 respectively. Another version of "A Moment like This" is featured in the Drawn Together episode "A Tale of Two Cows", where Toot Braunstein sings a shrill, off-key version while having sex with Xandir. Kidz Bop Kids covered "A Moment like This" on their album Kidz Bop 3. The song was also covered by Idol Sweden 2005 finalist Cindy Lamreus on the Idol compilation, My Own Idol.

Most recently, on October 1, 2008, the top ten finalists of America's Got Talent season three performed the song together live on the season's finale episode.

References