I wonder who he will duet with for his second single now he is on a roll? Sam Bailey maybe?

The Conway Sisters.

FairPlay to him he's number 8 now!

I doubt if we will ever find out, but it would be interesting to know just what the percentage is of people who have brought this single are Kelly fans as it would give us some indication of how popular Ben is or not.

7.347%

Very good. It is a very sensible question to debate as i doubt if many of kelly's fans would have heard of Ben until she teamed up with him. Do they actually like him, or are they buying it just because they are fans of hers. All valid questions.

it might be a sensible question to ask if you didn't have such an obvious agenda in asking it

i havent got an agenda what so ever. I would apply the same questions about any artists that doing combined singles.

Yes itunes and amazon etc should make you do a survey before purchasing so we can find out if you're a Kelly Clarkson fan 'propping' up the sales.

Alternatively, shock horror there may just be people like me who aren't particularly enamoured with either Ben or Kelly but have purchased it anyway because its a very good song. Much like the huge success of Up not particularly being down to 'Olly Murs fans' or 'Demi Lovato fans' but the fact its a damn good catchy song. 'Up' far outperformed the performance of both those artists actual lead singles probably due to a significant chunk of casual buyers buying a great song that was all over radio.
Yes Kelly Clarkson fans will be interested in buying Second Hand Heart simply because she has put her vocals to it regardless but it has also caught casual pop fans by surprise, people who don't even like Haenow professing their surprise at how 'good' it is. It is VERY catchy. If radio get on board in a big way and theres no reason to think they won't, it should grow to do very well indeed.

Thanks Nicola. Some very valid points here, and its nice to have some sensible debate.

Well her last song Heartbeats Song didnt really set the charts alight. I think you are overestimating her popularity in this country. But then your opinion has always been extremely biased.

Heart FM got the first radio play of this yesterday, which is good news as songs stay on their playlist for months after release (OMI's Cheerleader and Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud are still playlisted).

That is interesting as you think that their audience would get tired of hearing the same tunes all of the time, but i guess that is not the case. I listen to Solar radio where there is no regular playlist, and the music changes every day which i much prefer.

I enjoy a bit of sheer seethery oozing, but not every day.

Bit unfair to criticise Kelly's chart entries, when she is a more established and successful artist than Ben. I like Ben, but don't feel it's fair for Kelly's single entries to be sniffed at, when Ben is not even established and has only had a solo single and this duet released. Kelly's album 'pieces' reached number 6 in the UK, Number 1 in USA, Number 5 in Aus, number 4 in Canada and Number 8 in Ireland.

Actually I am a huge Kelly fan and have every CD of hers and she is a huge worldwide success but it is a fact that her last song did not do that well in the charts in the UK. I was addressing the opinion of one member on here that any success that the Ben song will have can be attributed to people buying it because of Kelly.

It's good to be having a debate without having a dig at one another for a change. I have never really been a great lover of collaborations tbh. but this is my favourite. Two fantastic artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b82VmUjh0

I like the song, so hopefully it does well

It looks like they've produced a high quality video for Ben as well. It's a good song and deserves to do well.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XZoaXJezVks

2nd Hand Heart has done amazingly well so far I never thought it would start in the Top 10, i was hoping top 50 but what a smasher, its already at. no #8 on i tunes .

The good thing for Ben is that he appeals to a broad spectrum of music lovers. Being tall dark and handsome helps too but only because of his quality vocals. if i don't like someones voice , looks don't matter.

This is very difficult to say, But if Kelly hadn't had to cancel her Tour in USA and UK i think her imput would have had more impact. Maybe it would even have got to number 1 . As it stands it looks like even 1 Direction is facing fierce competition from yet another collaboration from producer KDA, Tineh Tempa and Katy B .

on the face of it even with Kelly on board, given her lack of recent chart success Ben is doing extremely well. I would say he has got a reasonable fan base from being in a band, winning X factor and what promotion hes done in last few days.

Of course the Song is real important and 2nd hand heart is a tune tune you instantly like rather than a grower. some people will just buy it because of that.

i understand what you are getting at but new artists have to catch the publics attention in some way, take jamie lawson. he's get a fantastic voice but been trying to get noticed for 10 years but now with promotion from Ed sheeran he's noticed, So in the same vein Ben is being promoted by Kelly to a degree. Its not a new concept though is it Take Touring less well known acts support more established acts and build up their fans.

I'm not a fan of him or the song, but I do hope for his sake that it rises. Number 8 on iTunes will not be good enough for Cowell, especially when they will have paid out for a big name like Kelly Clarkson...they will have been expecting the song to do better. He's dropped acts from his label who have done far, far better. I hope for his sake that it rises or that it stays in the top 10 for a while and sells really well.

It's a completely different process these days. If it was the old release strategy where artists promote the song for two months and then it's released, then debuting at #8 wouldn't be great (as that would most likely be its peak) where as the on air on sale release allows it to gain momentum over time,needs the artist and radio to promote it after it's been released so a top 10 debut for a song with no promotion or AirPlay is brilliant.Olly Mur's new song only debuted at #16 this week.

Exactly this. Most people are unaware of the change in strategy. He's solidly in the Top 10 with no video or TV performance of the song, just a couple of days of airplay. Pretty damn good

It is surprising that it is not on the new Radio 2 playlist. It is the kind of track to appeal to their listeners.