Mint Royale track boosted by TV show.

When midweek sales revealed Mint Royale's version of Singin' In The Rain was the week's biggest-selling single after Britain's Got Talent's contestant George Sampson used it in his winning routine, no one was more surprised than the man behind the remix.

Neil Haxton, one half of Mint Royale and head of the associated independent label Faith & Hope, has run the label as a true bedroom operation since 1999, and as demand grew through the week, he was rushed to beat the clock and capitalise on the exposure. "I hadn't seen the show at all, so nobody had any idea," he says. "It's been a real case of catching up on ourselves, and it's only been today (Thursday) that we feel up to speed and on top of it. So today I'm feeling quite chuffed!"

Originally commissioned to soundtrack the television campaign for a new Volkswagen Golf in 2005, the track was issued commercially first time around after it was licensed from Faith & Hope by Sony BMG A&R man Noel Labrosse. Labrosse signed the track to his Sony Direction imprint, but clearance issues meant the commercial release fell sometime after the advertising campaign had aired on television, resulting in a lower-than- hoped chart position. Ultimately it peaked at 20 in the UK.

"It was only through misfortune that it wasn't as big a hit then as it is this time," affirms Haxton, in reference to aforementioned issues. "All credit to Noel as he really stuck his neck out for this record at the time. A lot of people weren't sure whether it was a hit or not."

With the Direction imprint no longer operational within Sony BMG, it fell to Syco to promote and market the track following last week's Britain's Got Talent appearance, and by the end of the week its marketing and promotional team was presenting the song to radio and television in the UK.

"It's a collision of two ...