December has been a great month for James Arthur, in fact, the entire year has been pretty good for him, as he's gone from zero to hero with most of the year being occupied with his rise to fame and to his winning The X Factor.

This week saw a quick lull in sales of his single 'Impossible', which hit number one the week directly after the final, but was beaten Christmas week and overtaken by The Justice Collective ' charity single 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother'. However, now as the Official Charts Company says, at midweek it looks like Arthur's going to be back in the top-spot come Sunday's chart. 

To put a slight dampener on that good news, the Daily Mail reports that the young singer, while Christmas shopping, had his card declined three times. He was seen at the till, literally red faced, when he couldn't pay the bill - which came to over £700, for hats, tshirts and sneakers. The cheeky chappy managed to persuade the manager to let him take the goods and to return at a later date to pay for them- he's bound to be amassing something of a fortune in the near future so the man behind the till shouldn't have much to worry about. 

He spent Christmas at home in Saltburn-by-sea but was in Worcester last night at 'Tramps' and is heading to Milton Keynes today.