In case you are interested, the definitive ranking of 2014's UK X Factor finalists — three of whom made such little impression that we had to Google Image search them when we were copying this list off Wikipedia — is:
=1. Fleur East
=1. Only The Young
3. Stephanie Nala
4. Stereo Kicks
5. Lauren Platt
6. Overload Generation
7. Blonde Electra
8. Andrea Fauxnaive-Pugjumper
9. Jack Walters
10. Stevi Ritchie
11. Lola Saunders
12. Jay James
13. Paul Akister
14. Ben Haenow
15. 'Jake Quickenden'
16. Chloe Jasmine
That list's in order of actually wanting to sit through an entire album by an artist.
We've already written about the potentially mighty Only The Young but Fleur East's been the best solo act since Judges' Houses and her weekend performance of 'Uptown Funk' was the most exciting moment of the entire series.
More exciting than David Guetta waving his arms around near four CDJs. More exciting than 'Reece Bibby' trying to get Only The Young voted off the show. Even more exciting than Fifth Harmony performing a b‑side. And what you have to remember here is that Fleur didn't even perform the best bit of the song. Perhaps this was for health and safety reasons. If she had done the 'Oops Upside Your Head' bit, there may now just be a crater where Fountain Studios once stood.
Considering 'Uptown Funk' isn't out in the UK (and pretty much just the UK) until next year, Fleur's was a performance that threw up a lot of questions. Why did Simon Cowell only hear the song five days ago when the song's amazingness has been established for well over a month? If Mark Ronson's version of 'Uptown Funk' had suddenly appeared on iTunes on Sunday morning, would it be sailing up the charts now, or is it best to keep building anticipation for a big 2015 release? Did everyone know the performance would be really amazing, or was there a genuine sense of jeopardy? Is it annoying if the performance was some sort of Sony inside job aimed at promoting a forthcoming release, or — considering the fact that it's nice to think someone, somewhere in the music industry occasionally comes up with some good ideas when it comes to getting great new songs some attention — would it actually be more annoying if one of Q4's greatest marketing masterstrokes had actually been a complete accident?
Either way, Fleur's version of 'Uptown Funk' is the first of this year's X Factor contestant performances to hit Number One on iTunes.
Whichever act wins The X Factor this coming weekend, Fleur's now established herself as the one who deserves and will undoubtedly get The Full Ella (FKA The Full Leona) when it comes to career rollout. All she needs now is a debut single as good as 'Uptown Funk'.