A charity single for Haiti earthquake victims is poised to challenge sales records after stores that do not usually sell music agreed to stock it.

The version of REM’s Everybody Hurts, a single in 1993, went on sale yesterday at outlets including Marks & Spencer, BHS and BP garages.

The Helping Haiti record has been masterminded by Simon Cowell, the pop impresario, and features artists including Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue.

It is almost certain to top the singles chart and could be the biggest-seller of the century so far.

Gennaro Castaldo of HMV, the music retailer, said: “We’ve seen a surge in demand online, where it is our number-one music pre-order. You get a real sense that interest is building among the public.

“Everybody Hurts could well dominate the charts over the next few weeks and looks set to be one of the biggest releases of the past decade. Like everyone else, HMV will be donating profits from its sale.”

According to the Official Charts Company, the best-selling single of the past decade was Will Young’s 2002 debut, Evergreen, which sold 1.8 million copies, closely followed by his fellow Pop Idol star Gareth Gates, who sold 1.3 million copies of Unchained Melody.

Music retailers do not usually get CD singles into the shops until halfway through the week but the £3.99 single was rushed on to the shelves. The Government has agreed to waive VAT on sales and members of REM are donating their royalties.

The magnitude 7 earthquake on January 12 is estimated to have caused the deaths of some 250,000 people, leaving a similar number in need of urgent aid and some two million without homes.

Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, said: “The challenges faced by the people of Haiti in the wake of last month’s devastating earthquake are enormous.

“We are proud to be stocking this record and will be donating all profits generated by its sale to the relief effort. We urge all our customers to buy a copy and in doing so help to rebuild the lives of thousands of people.”

Proceeds from the record will be split between the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal and the Sun’s Helping Haiti project. The DEC fundraising attempt has already brought in £70 million. Other singers on the record include Jon Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Alexandra Burke and members of Take That.

The American music industry will also be doing its bit for Haiti, with a cover version of We Are The World, originally written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie as a famine relief single for Africa in 1985.

Artists such as Barbra Streisand, Wyclef Jean and Celine Dion sing on the record, which will have its official premiere at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver on February 12.

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