COMEDIAN Peter Kay's Red Nose single - a new version of cult 1970s song (Is This The Way To) Amarillo - is on its way to the top of the charts.

The single, a collaboration between Kay and singer Tony Christie, was released yesterday and is already outselling the rest of the top 20 combined.

The single is one of the official Comic Relief 2005 singles and a video, shown on Red Nose Day on Friday, which also went on sale yesterday.

Copies of the single sold out across the North-East within hours of going on sale.

The HMV store in Darlington's Cornmill Centre said it had sold out in a matter of hours and was expecting more copies to arrive in the next couple of days.

Stores in the MetroCentre, at Gateshead, also reported doing a roaring trade with the song and its comedy video.

The video's first showing on BBC1 triggered a surge of ticket sales for a forthcoming Tony Christie show in the North-East.

The singer will perform at the Civic Theatre, in Darlington, on April 2.

A spokeswoman for the theatre said: "On Saturday morning, our ticket sales significantly rose for Tony Christie.

"We don't have many seats left at all and we expect it to be a sell-out by the end of the week."

Kay helped take the song to a younger audience after it was used in his Channel Four show Phoenix Nights.

The video, which sees Kay miming along to the song, also features stars including Ronnie Corbett and Michael Parkinson.

All proceeds from the single will be given to Comic Relief.