Retailers including Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and BHS have joined entertainment retailers in stocking the Helping Haiti charity single, which is tipped to be one of the biggest selling songs of the past decade.
Everybody Hurts will be sold across hundreds of stores from Sunday, after the release date was brought forward a day due to demand.
Argos.co.uk and Woolworths.co.uk are also stocking the song, along with traditional music stockists, HMV, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, The Hut, ITunes, Play and Amazon.
Marks & Spencer chairman Sir Stuart Rose said: “The challenges faced by the people of Haiti in the wake of last month’s devastating earthquake are enormous. We are proud to be stocking this record and will be donating all profits generated by its sale to the relief effort. We urge all our customers to buy a copy and in doing so help to rebuild the lives of thousands of people.”
An HMV spokesman said: “We’ve seen a surge in demand for the Helping Haiti single online at hmv.com, where it’s our No.1 music pre-order, and you get a real sense that a ground-swell of interest is building among the record-buying public. Everybody Hurts could well dominate the charts over the next few weeks and looks set to be one of the biggest releases of the past decade. Like everyone else, HMV will be donating profits from its sale.”
Artists including Mariah Carey, Kylie, Rod Stewart, and Take That joined forces on the track.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to waive VAT on the single.
Haiti was devastated by the earthquake on January 12. It is already estimated that more than 250,000 people lost their lives.
More than 2 million people are thought to be homeless.
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