Gates expected to hit Number One spot
Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates was today set to charge to number one in the UK charts - replacing his singing rival Will Young at the top spot.
Huge sales of his single Unchained Melody have all but guaranteed the 17-year-old Bradford schoolboy the number one spot where he will replace Young, who tipped him to first prize in the Pop Idol contest.
Gates will become Britain’s youngest male to bag a number one and the fastest selling teenager in the 50 years of the pop charts with his cover version of the Righteous Brothers classic.
It is thought Gates has sold in the region of one million records, nearly as much as Young who shifted 1.1 million copies of his single in his first week.
A celebration party was expected to be held tonight when the charts are officially announced while Gates travels the country as part of the Pop Idol tour.
While his success is set to earn him in the region of £250,000 (€406,000), former Beatle Paul McCartney is likely to earn more than four times that amount as he owns the publishing rights to the song.
