user: input: Article: The singer was dropped by Simon Cowell's label in 2014, after a series of controversies, including the use of a homophobic slur in a freestyle rap.
He has since revealed he was crippled by anxiety and self-medicating with alcohol and drugs.
After being dropped, he had panic attacks and suicidal thoughts, but slowly turned things around.
He gave up drugs, which he said were exacerbating his anxiety, and managed to kick a gambling habit for good measure. At the start of this year, he began to write songs again, and signed a deal with the German arm of Sony music.
The first single, an impassioned ballad called Say You Won't Let Go, quickly rose to the top of the charts - at which point Cowell's Syco label got back in touch, and re-signed him for the UK.
"They said: 'Please let us back in. We want to be part of this amazing story'," Arthur recently told London's Evening Standard.
"It made sense to me. I'm a sucker for that story. Syco are notorious for dropping people, so what a compliment it is for them to re-sign me. So I thought, 'Let's do the full circle'."
Arthur's album, appropriately called Back From The Edge, was released last Friday. It sold 41,000 copies, beating artists like Elvis Presley and Michael Buble to reach number one.
"To have a body of work go to number oneâ€¦ it's the ultimate sense of achievement," said Arthur. "Thank you so much to everyone who has bought it."
The singer is only the second X Factor winner to top the chart with their second album, after Leona Lewis's Echo in 2009.
Other new entries in this week's album chart include Mapping The Rendezvous, the fifth album by Manchester indie band Courteeners, which debuts at four.
Madness chart at number five with Can't Touch Us Now, their first album in four years, which features a tribute to Amy Winehouse called Blackbird.
Singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti is new at number six with his third album Sleep No More, while Pointless host Alexander Armstrong enters at eight with his second album Upon A Different Shore.
Armstrong, a formal choral scholar, performs music by Vaughan Williams, Stephen Sondheim and Pink Floyd on the album, as well as playing oboe on two tracks.
Robbie Williams' greatest hits also returns to the top 10 for the first time in a decade, after being discounted on iTunes. The singer's new album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, is released on Friday and expected to be a high-placing new entry next week.
In the singles chart, Little Mix continue their reign at number one with the over-you anthem Shout Out To My Ex. With three weeks in pole position, it now ties with the band's 2015 hit Black Magic as their longest-ever chart topper.
However, sales of the song are down to 79,000, from a high of 111,000 last week, meaning next week's number one slot is up for grabs.
Challengers could include Clean Bandit's Rockabye, which climbs four places to number three; and Bruno Mars's 24K Magic, which makes its top 10 debut this week.
The highest new entry comes from last year's X Factor winner, Louisa Johnson, whose new single So Good lands at number 20.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Summarize.
output: Former X Factor winner James Arthur has cemented his comeback by scoring a number one album.

input: Article: Mr Biden, who is in Turkey for talks, said they discussed how to pursue a "political transition" in Syria.
The US wants a bigger Turkish role in the fight against IS, but Turkey wants this linked with plans to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Biden also praised Turkey's role in supporting Syrian refugees.
Speaking at the joint press conference after the meeting. Mr Biden said that they had discussed the crises in Iraq and Syria in "considerable detail".
"We spoke about our work as part of an international coalition to degrade and eventually defeat Daesh," he said, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.
He added that they had discussed a range of issues in Syria, including the need to deny Islamic State "a safe haven" and "strengthen the Syrian opposition and pursue a political transition away from the Assad regime".
Mr Erdogan said:  "We want to continue our co-operation with the United States by strengthening it."
Mr Biden, who is in Turkey for a three-day tour, said that Turkey was "carrying a heavy humanitarian burden", with over 1.6m Syrian refugees in Turkey.
He also announced an additional $135m (Â£86m) in humanitarian aid for civilians affected by Syria's civil war.
The meeting came amid reports of strains between the two countries over Syria, and Turkey's role in the fight against IS.
Turkey has pressed for a no-fly zone in Syria but has not won US backing.
Mr Biden and Mr Erdogan have also had a public row over foreign jihadis crossing Turkey's border with Syria.
Last month, the US vice-president said that Mr Erdogan had privately admitted Turkey had allowed foreign jihadists to enter Syria.
This was angrily denied by the Turkish president, who called his relationship with Mr Biden "history".
Mr Biden's office said he had apologised, but the vice-president then said it was not an apology, merely a clarification.
On Friday, Mr Biden held talks with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who praised the "deep-rooted" relationship between the countries.
Mr Biden said: "We've been friends for a long time and one of the great advantages of being back in Turkey with a friend and Nato ally is we're always direct with one another."
IS militants have seized large areas of Iraq and Syria this year, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
On Saturday, Iraq's army launched an operation to retake parts of Ramadi, a city in Anbar largely controlled by IS.
The jihadists control almost all of Anbar, despite operations by the Iraqi army backed by air strikes from the US and its allies.
Turkey's main contribution to the military campaign against IS has been to allow some Kurdish fighters from Iraq to travel through Turkey to assist in defending the Syrian town of Kobane near Turkey's border.

Summarize.
output:

assistant: US Vice-President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed ways to defeat Islamic State and strengthen the Syrian opposition.