The X Factor celebrated George Michael over the weekend with some contestants interpreting the brief to cover the late singer with a pretty open-ended concept of what constitutes a song by the late Wham! frontman.

For The Cutkelvins, their idea of a George Michael song was Adamski's Killer and The Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone (he did cover them live), while Grace Davies also opted for a cover of a cover, Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me.

The weekend's theme meant neither Davies or Rak-Su were able to impress with their original compositions, though the boy band did reimagine Faith with a bonus rap that referenced Netflix. In the event, both acts were safe though the ultimate victor was Lloyd Macey (A Different Corner) with the runner-up position going to Kevin Davy White, whose cover of Fastlove, Pt1 made the iTunes Top 10 following the show.

Alisah Bonaobra was eliminated on Sunday (November 12), while Jack and Joel were voted off on Saturday (November 11).

The weekend’s edition of The X Factor also featured Paloma Faith, whose forthcoming RCA album The Architect should get a boost from her performance of Guilty. Former X Factor contestant Harry Styles performed on Saturday.

It was a massive weekend for music on TV, including the MTV EMAs featuring a comeback performance by Eminem.

At the same time, for a slightly older demographic, ITV aired Elton John: The Nation’s Favourite Song - a countdown that tied in neatly with Universal Music Catalogue’s new greatest hits Diamonds. As an artist who’s been known to support new talent, perhaps it was no surprise his TV special got such a good turnout of stars contributing: Rag’N’Bone Man, Ed Sheeran (both managed by Sir Elton’s Rocket Management) Sting, Annie Lennox, Sir Rod Stewart, Lionel Richie, Chris Martin, Billy Joel, Kiki Dee, James Corden, Lulu, Stephen Fry, Boy George, Dionne Warwick, Sharon Osbourne and Rob Lowe.

Over on BBC One, Seal got to promote his Standards album (released November 10) on Strictly Come Dancing. As for new music show Sounds Like Friday Night, it seems to be jinxed with Loyle Carner dropping out due to illness following Liam Gallagher’s no-show the previous week due to problems with his voice.

Nevertheless, SLFN is finding its feet with a decent mix of performances on the third show from Demi Lovato, Plan B and Stefflon Don, and even some pretty funny sketches. A.Dot also followed up Music Week’s report on Stereophonics losing out to Ball & Boe by 35 copies in the battle for No.1 with some teasing of Kelly Jones after the band’s performance of Taken A Tumble.

It was also a high-profile TV weekend for music during the commercials, with Q4 releases getting a big showing. Elbow’s cover of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers has made the iTunes Top 10 thanks to the placement - coordinated by Music Week Sync Award winners Universal Globe - of the song on the new John Lewis advert.

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