The new Band Aid 30 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which features dozens of musical icons, has raised over a million dollars towards Ebola relief within just a few minutes of its release, said organizer Bob Geldof. .
"From what we've seen from iTunes it's gone bonkers," Geldof told Radio 4's Today program on Monday. "Within four or five minutes we had a million."
A video for the song was re-recorded to raise money for the Ebola crisis in West Africa and includes a plethora of musicians including Coldplay's Chris Martin, Ellie Goulding, U2 frontman Bono, One Direction, and Ed Sheeran.
Thus far, the demand for the single has been "vast," said Geldof.
"We really can stop this... foul little plague," he continued, adding that 100% of the proceeds would go towards the relief effort in West Africa.
"I love living in this country at moments like this," he went on, noting that the UK "led the world" in charity relief campaigning.
The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" was recorded in 1984 by Geldof and co-writer Midge Ure, and raised $8m for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The current outbreak of the deadly virus has rapidly spread through the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia. According to the World Health Organization, as of last week, there have been over 14,000 cases of Ebola, and over 5500 deaths as a result.
Bono, who participated in both recordings of the song, said uniting with other world-class singers for a second time was bittersweet.
"We've been trying to make this event a thing of the past. We want to make Band Aid history," the singer told told BBC news.
"If every country had the values of Great Britain and kept the promises they'd made at these big G8 meetings, we wouldn't have to be standing here.
"I just wish we didn't have to do this. There will come a time when we won't."
The track is now available to download at a cost of 99 cents.. A CD version, costing $4, will be released in three weeks.
