Music stars raise £35m in Hope for Haiti telethon

Friday night's star-studded Hope for Haiti telethon has shattered previous records for such events. The international broadcast, which featured performances by Madonna, Sting, Rihanna and Shakira, has already raised more than £35m for Oxfam, Unicef, Partners in Health and other earthquake relief groups. By Saturday night, viewers of Hope for Haiti had "set a new standard of giving", according to Lisa Paulsen, CEO of the non-profit that co-ordinated the programme. While a 2001 telethon for those affected by the 9/11 attacks raised more than $100m (£62m), this was over three weeks. US telethons for victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the victims of Hurricane Katrina raised only $18.3m (£11.4m) and $40m (£24.8m) respectively, according to People magazine. Even before corporate donations, Hope for Haiti has reportedly broken the record for a disaster-relief telethon. In addition to public donations, the telethon's NGO stakeholders will also receive profits from sales of performances on iTunes and other digital music services. Users can download tracks like Bono's collaboration with Rihanna, Jay-Z and the Edge, or Justin Timberlake's cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. These tracks resulted in the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history, topping the charts in 18 different countries, MTV reports. More than 100 stars participated in the telethon, which was broadcast on MTV UK, all major US networks, and on YouTube. Hope for Haiti will continue to accept donations for the next six months.