Curious to know why the artists who do not win do better than the winners for example.
Winners Joe Mcelderry,James Arthur,Matt Cardle,Sam Bailey and Ben Haenow only Little mix in the last six years has gone on to better things than these non winners ,Olly Murs,JLS, Fleur East and Stacey Solomon Amelia Lilly Ella Henderson Rebecca Ferguson 1 Direction all doing well.Does not say much for the voting public.

um amelia lily has not done that well??

She's done better than Stacy Solomon who is listed alongside her. List is just silly.

It's the whole "Simon Says" issue.

Steve Brookstein had a number one album, with little promo, but was dropped as he wanted to write his second album. Cowell wanted him to do another cheap covers album.
His main rivals, G4, were given much more promo & treated as the "real winners".

James Arthur did well until he was dropped. The show already had Ella Henderson lined up to be the star. Rumour has it that the massive amount of PR spent, buying up tv & radio slots, to into turn her into a star, means the album is unlikely to ever become profitable.
The same thing seems to be happening with Fleur East. Her current single is in several advertising campaigns.

Sam Bailey was dropped when she started wanting more say in the direction of her music.
Ben Haenow will be dropped soon enough. His promo relative to Fleur's is derisory.

Matt Cardle was the biggest selling winner. He was dropped after wanting more say in his second album. His manager mentioned that the media seemed to blacklist him after he split with Syco.
This resonates with Steve Brookstein's "we'll bury you" comments from Max Clifford.

Olly Murs & JLS were pretty much given access to free mass advertising via TXF. Olly is even performing on the show again this weekend.

One Direction had the biggest investment any group has probably ever had to make them a thing. When they first hit America, drama students were paid to be "screaming Directioners" and make it look like they were really popular. These images were beamed across the world by the paid for media to get impressionable people to jump on board the hysteria, like the last minutes of a stock market bubble that no one wants to miss out on.

Little Mix have again been massively hyped. The American media weren't interested in them until the Zayn/Perrie "relationship" happened. They had slots in shows such as Glee for their music.

Despite all this, it's probably well to look at the real statistics. One Direction don't sell as well as people think. Even I was surprised at how low some of their chart positions were.
If Wiki is correct, More than this only reached number 86, Midnight Memories 39, and You & I only 19.

Is it possible that, despite all the hype, many "fans" are really just celeb chasers who don't buy the music?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Direction_discography

Well, there's no denying we now live in an age of celebrity obsession.

That's why Heat magazine is so popular, as well as all those celeb gossip columns that fill the pages of your favourite tabloid newspapers.

Ed Sheehan said himself on BBC Breakfast that to succeed in the music industry, you need drive and ambition. Actual talent is an afterthought which would explain why some pop stars have been so successful despite being so incredibly empty.

I always look forward to your anti-Simon rants. It makes me laugh how much free time you have on your hands. Maybe you should find some hobbies rather than spewing this nonsense daily?

It's really simple in my opinion. The X Factor is a popularity contest first and foremost. People vote for the contestant they like the most and if they also happen to be the best singer, that's just a nice bonus! You cannot win this competition if people don't like your personality.

However, that doesn't mean you'll sell records because you need more than that to make people actually spend their money, rather than a few pennies (or nothing) on votes. The vast majority of people are not voting for whose records they want to buy after the show. I for example, have never and will never buy an X Factor artist album.

It's a popularity contest and the reason so many male singers win is because they all have the same thing in common: a nice, likeable, inoffensive personality, good looks and a half decent voice. This is what will get you the most votes in a female dominated voting audience. Ultimately though, they are bland and don't stand out amongst the crowd in the music industry. Those that do tend to be too left of centre to get the votes required to win.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but weren't Perrie and Zayn together months before Little Mix even released any of their music? So by that logic the American media have been "interested" in them since their first single anyway.

well... answer this..
if you are Simon Cowell
would you risk spending money on someone who you dont believe in?
and its not just a small sum of money...
well that will answer why diffrent acts got diffrent treatment from the labels

James Arthur practically murder his own music career
Ella & Fleur got big promo? well maybe Syco believe in them.. so they spent more money on them

Olly & JLS got free promo?
I thought not just them, most popular XF acts got free promos... even Union J got 1
If i am SImon Cowell i would do that too... Bringing back some successful XF alumni will give an impression on how successful the show are..

1D got biggest investment?
well yeah because they believe in them... and look how much money they made for the label now..
and low chart possition?
you basically skipped all number those no.1 and just skipped to those 3 *shocked* lol

No they weren't. I've actually just taken the time to look at their "relationship" (lol) timeline.
There were rumours but nothing definite. They approached US shows for interviews, got rebuffed, then the relationship became official and they approached the US media again.

Thank you for your feedback.
Your opinions have been noted and forwarded to the relevant bin.
Please enjoy the rest of your day.

The whole premise of the show is about the public deciding who they like. Otherwise there is no point in the show.
The risk is to let the public decide and stick to that decision. (This other manipulation that goes on is a whole separate story).
There is actually a very small risk as the winner will be well backed by the public if they get the correct promotion.

Every year the public has spent millions to decide who they like & would back. If Cowell then throws away that whole basis of the show, firstly the show is a lie, secondly have the public been defrauded into paying for a winner, if the winner is then thrown to one side for someone the show has pre--selected?
In effect the show has then become a 3 month promo campaign for a pre-chosen Cowell act.

Only ex-contestants signed under the Sony or Syco/Sony umbrella get free promo. In fact there have been a number of stories that Max Clifford suppressed promotion from non-Syco acts.

Matt Cardle's manager even said at one point that after Cardle left Syco it felt like he had been blacklisted. No media promo means a slump in sales.

Yes I picked out the lowest positions for One Direction's sales. For a group who we are constantly told are the biggest Boyband in the world, having singles as low as 39 & 86 is shocking. Their sales for their new album are also pretty poor. And, as I say, there's a big difference between a great band making good music and mass brainwashing.

My wife likes Ella Henderson so have bought her new album but she cannot stand Ella's single Ghost which funningly enough I thought was not bad.But I myself would not touch any X Factor contestants music with a barge pole but that is only my choice and it is down to the individual.My personal opinion is there has only been one decent winner which was Leona Lewis.Alexandra Burke was ok but not seen anything of her for a long time.