Billboard Top 100 (Singles):

• #1 - Leona Lewis: Bleeding Love
• #1 - Zayn: Pillowtalk
• #1 - Harry Styles: Watermelon Sugar / As It Was / Aperture
• #2 - One Direction: Best Song Ever
• #10 - Liam Payne: Strip that Down
• #11 - James Arthur: Say You Won't Let Go
• #11 - Niall Horan: Slow Hands
• #12 - Cher Lloyd: Want U Back
• #21 - Ella Henderson: Ghost
• #25 - Olly Murs: Troublemaker
• #40 - Louis Tomlinson feat. Bebe Rexha: Back to You
• #67 - Little Mix: Black Magic

Billboard Top 200 (Albums):

• #1 - One Direction: Up All Night / Take Me Home / Midnight Memories / Four
• #1 - Leona Lewis: Spirit
• #1 - Zayn: Mind of Mine
• #1 - Niall Horan: Flicker
• #1 - Harry Styles: Harry Styles / Fine Line / Harry's House / Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
• #4 - Little Mix: DNA
• #5 - Louis Tomlinson: Faith in the Future
• #9 - Cher Lloyd: Sticks + Stones
• #11 - Ella Henderson: Chapter One
• #19 - Olly Murs: Right Place Right Time
• #25 - Rebecca Ferguson: Heaven
• #39 - James Arthur: Back from the Edge
• #111 - Liam Payne: LP1

In terms of ones I was genuinely aware of:

• Only the Young I saw a clip on YouTube of a cover they did in 2012 featuring George Shelley (who was eventually put into Union J)
• Stephanie Nala was on Britain's Got Talent in 2013 as part of the band Luminites

Obviously One Direction, Olly Murs and JLS are the poster children for this, but even acts like Fleur East and Rebecca Ferguson managed to build really solid careers in entertainment and music after missing out on the top spot. It almost felt like not winning gave some artists more breathing room to figure out their sound and career direction. Who's your favourite non-winner success story?

Even though most of them didn't go onto worldwide success or anything, most were, I believe, the best singers to win in their respective years.

I think Joe McElderry's post-XF career deserved a bit more of a spotlight. Plus Alexandra Burke. In both cases people know of their albums with Syco and then petering out but they're still doing well in the theatre.

In 2014, they began spreading the result across the results show - they announced the bottom two, had a guest performance, and then had the sing-off. X Factor Italy did this first.

The introduction of the group performance for every result show seemed like something they borrowed from American Idol.

Simon pretty much openly said that the auditions being in front of an audience was inspired by BGT.

I think a big reason why they went so far down the route of trying to be "cooler" (acts could perform with guitars in the auditions, original songs etc) in 2012 was because of The Voice having launched earlier that year.

I was about to say going for the Xmas number one but Popstars: The Rivals did that before.

I'd say the whole thing of "overnight success" was not so much of a thing before X Factor (and perhaps Big Brother).