The Voice UK: INCREDIBLE news for last year's winner Ruti after returning for final

The young sensation returned to the ITV talent contest last night to perform her new single Racing Cars, taken from the EP of the same name. In the hours since she took to the stage, she has raced up the iTunes charts. Could she be the show’s first winner to score success long after taking first place?

Racing Cars is, at time of writing, No3 on iTunes in the UK.

The EP of the same name is performing even better: it’s No1 on the iTunes album chart.

Ruti will need to maintain the momentum throughout the week if she’s going to impact the official UK charts on Friday, but she’s certainly off to a roaring start.

Reacting to the news this morning, she tweeted simply: “What the what?!??!??!!??! What?!”

She added: “Thanks so much for all of this LOVE!!!!”

Ruti last year scored a Top 20 hit with her winner’s single; a cover of The Cranberries’ Dreams.

That track entered and peaked at No14 in the week after her victory, leading her to sign a major record deal to make her own music.

It made her the first winner of the show since Stevie McCrorie in 2015 to impact the Top 20.

McCrorie remains the only winner of the long-running talent show to hit the Top 10, although finalist Becky Hill hit No1 with Oliver Heldens’ Gecko (Overdrive) in 2014.

Meanwhile, this year’s champion – Molly Hocking – is currently one spot ahead of Ruti on the iTunes singles list.

Her version of I’ll Never Love Again is at No2, behind Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved at No1.

The iTunes charts take into account the last 24 hours’ worth of sales. The overall Official UK Charts factor in both sales and streams across a seven-day window.