The Cover That Outgrew Its Own Moment: How James Arthur's "Impossible" Became a Billion-Stream Heartbreak Anthem

Ambo Fam, let's talk about one of the strangest success stories in modern pop. A talent show winner's single, a song that was already somebody else's hit, released in the dead of December 2012, and somehow it refused to die. James Arthur's version of "Impossible" is now more than a decade old, and it is still racking up streams, still getting covered by aspiring singers, and still making people cry in their cars. That is not a normal career arc for an X Factor winner's single. That is a song that broke the mold.

A Cover That Beat the Original at Its Own Game

Here's the thing a lot of younger listeners don't realize: "Impossible" is not a James Arthur song. It was written by Arnthor Birgisson and Ina Wroldsen and first recorded by Barbadian singer Shontelle as the lead single from her 2010 album No Gravity. Her version was a genuine hit, a top ten entry in the UK and the US, and reportedly grew out of a painful breakup she went through herself. It's a song about being the one left behind, about the specific agony of watching someone walk away and knowing you have to keep functioning anyway.

Then Arthur won the ninth series of The X Factor in December 2012 and took the song as his winner's single. What happened next was, by the standards of these things, absurd. The track moved 255,000 downloads in its first 48 hours and nearly half a million by the end of its release week, making it the fastest-selling winner's single the show had ever produced, according to the song facts compiled at Lyrics.com ^[1]. It topped the charts in the UK and Ireland, and went on to hit number one in Greece, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia and New Zealand, plus top ten placements in around twenty other countries. By 2017 it had sold over 1.3 million copies in the UK alone.

Why This Version Stuck

Plenty of winner's singles sell fast and vanish faster. So why did this one endure? I'd argue it comes down to authenticity, or at least the convincing appearance of it. The official video, which you can still watch on Arthur's official channel, is stripped almost bare: no storyline, no celebrity cameos, no gimmicks. Just Arthur, a mic, and a vocal that sounds like it costs him something. The clip has pulled in hundreds of millions of views, and the Internet Music Video Database lists its release date as December 14, 2012 ^[2], right in the eye of that post-finale storm.

There's also the small matter of the song itself. "Impossible" is a genuinely well-built heartbreak ballad. It's written from the perspective of someone who has been abandoned, and the lyrics lean on the quiet, devastating details rather than bombast. Arthur's rasping delivery adds a texture Shontelle's smoother original doesn't have. Where her version is polished pop-R&B, his sounds like a man bleeding into the microphone. That rawness, fair or not, is what made millions of listeners decide this was the definitive take. It has since been covered by artists like Fifth Harmony's Ally Brooke and Jada Facer, but the Arthur version remains the reference point.

A Billion Streams and a Good Deed

Two details about this release deserve way more attention than they get. First, the money. Proceeds from Arthur's single went to Together for Short Lives, a charity supporting children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions ^[3]. That means one of the biggest singles of 2012 in the UK doubled as a fundraiser for terminally ill kids. That's a genuinely lovely footnote to a chart-topping moment.

Second, the longevity. By December 2020, the track had crossed a billion streams, a milestone most winner's singles never come close to. Think about how many talent show champions have faded into trivia answers. Arthur's career has had its ups and downs since, but "Impossible" gave him something most X Factor alumni never get: a song that belongs to the culture, not just to one Christmas chart battle.

The Case Against It, and Why I Don't Buy It

Now, the purists will tell you the cover is theft, that Shontelle was robbed of her moment, that the whole thing is a machine product. I understand the instinct. There is something galling about a song being remembered primarily for its second (or third) life. But I'd push back. Shontelle's version is still her biggest hit, and the Arthur cover arguably sent new listeners back to her original. Good songs are supposed to travel. "Hallelujah" passed through a dozen hands before it found its most famous voices. "Impossible" did the same thing on a smaller, more modern timeline.

And honestly, the song thrives on reinterpretation precisely because its premise is universal. Everyone has been the person left behind at least once. The song's narrator is stuck doing the impossible, trying to act like a wound doesn't exist, and every singer who touches it brings their own scar tissue. Arthur's scar tissue just happened to be televised to millions of people the week he released it.

Still Impossible to Shake

More than a decade on, "Impossible" has settled into that rare category of song that outlived its context entirely. Nobody needs to remember the 2012 finale, the download counts, or even the show itself. The song plays, the chorus lands, and someone somewhere is singing along with their eyes shut. That's the whole job of a heartbreak ballad, and this one does it better than almost anything its era produced.

So Ambo Fam, do me a favor this week. Go back and listen to both versions, Shontelle's original and Arthur's cover, back to back. It's a masterclass in how the same song can mean two completely different things depending on who's hurting. Then come back and tell us which one owns your heart. Ambo's Peeps will be arguing about it in the comments either way.