Jump to content

Pop Idol discography

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dabomb87 (talk | contribs) at 02:28, 22 April 2010 (c-e). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A man with a brown cap wearing a pink t-shirt and holding a microphone. He is looking to the left and smiling.
Will Young was the winner of the first series of Pop Idol. He has subsequently recorded twelve top-40 singles and four top-10 albums.

Pop Idol is a British television talent show that ran for two series, in 2001 and 2003. The show was produced for ITV in a reality television format and aimed to unearth a previously undiscovered singer who could become an international success. Will Young was the winner of the first series and was awarded with a £1 million music recording contract.[1][2] Young became the most successful contestant with a series of top-five hits, including his debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2002 and broke chart sales figure records.[3] During the next seven years he recorded two further number-one singles ("Light My Fire" and "Leave Right Now"), while two of his four albums were number-one in the UK Albums Chart. In the second series, Michelle McManus emerged victorious.[4] Her debut single "All This Time" charted at number one in January 2003.[5] Her second single, "The Meaning of Love", charted at a peak of number 16 and an album of the same name reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.

A number of artists who did not win either series of Pop Idol have also had success in the British charts. Gareth Gates, who finished as the runner-up behind Young in the first series, scored a number-one hit with a cover of "Unchained Melody" in March 2002, replacing Young's debut single at the top of the charts.[6] Gates' subsequent releases "Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)" and the double A-side "The Long and Winding Road" / "Suspicious Minds" both reached the top of the charts in 2002. After "What My Heart Wants to Say" ended this run of number-one singles, Gates was joined by The Kumars to record the Comic Relief single for 2003, "Spirit in the Sky".[7] He achieved several more top-20 hits in 2003. After three years away from the music industry, Gates briefly returned in 2007 with a new album – Pictures of the Other Side, which charted at number 23 – and two top-40 singles.[8]

Darius Danesh, who finished in third place in the first series, had a string of successful singles and a top-10 album, including his debut single "Colourblind", which reached number one in August 2002.[9] Other contestants from the first series to have chart success were Sarah Whatmore (who failed to make the selection for the live shows), Rosie Ribbons, Rik Waller, Jessica Garlick and Zoe Birkett. Garlick was additionally chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002, where she finished third in the competition.[10] Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes were the only contestants from the second series, other than McManus, to release a charting single. Rhodes finished as runner-up in the competition while Nixon finished third. Within months they formed a duo under the name Sam & Mark. They released a cover of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" as a double-A side with "Measure of a Man".[11] This earned them a debut number-one single in January 2002, while they also reached the top-20 with a follow-up, "The Sun Has Come Your Way" before being dropped by their record label, 19.[11][12]

As of April 2010, Pop Idol contestants have had 11 charting albums, with McManus the only participant from the second series to peak inside the top-100. Forty singles released by Pop Idol contestants have charted in the United Kingdom. Young has had 14 singles peak within the top-100, followed by Gates with nine entries. Darius Danesh has also had six charting songs.

Releases

Singles

A lady with blonde hair, holding a microphone while staring to her right-hand side. She is wearing a black top and holding her hand out in front.
Michelle McManus won the second series of Pop Idol in 2004. Her debut single "All This Time" reached number-one in the UK. Her debut album, The Meaning of Love, peaked at number three.
A man holding his hands over a guitar, staring straight ahead, with his mouth in front of a microphone.
Darius Danesh, who finished third in the first series of the show, debuted at number-one with "Colourblind" in August 2002.

Only songs charted in the Top-100 in the UK Singles Chart are included in this list.

Artist(s) Series Song title(s) Release date UK peak
chart position		 Ref
Will Young 1 "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" 25 February 2002 1 [13]
Gareth Gates 1 "Unchained Melody" 18 March 2002 1 [14]
Rik Waller 1 "I Will Always Love You" 4 March 2002 6 [15]
Jessica Garlick 1 "Come Back"[A] 13 May 2002 13 [16]
Will Young 1 "Light My Fire" 25 May 2002 1 [13]
Rik Waller 1 "Something Inside (So Strong)" 24 June 2002 25 [15]
Gareth Gates 1 "Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)" 8 July 2002 1 [14]
Darius Danesh 1 "Colourblind" 29 July 2002 1 [17]
Sarah Whatmore 1 "When I Lost You" 9 September 2002 6 [18]
Will Young/
Gareth Gates		 1 "The Long and Winding Road" /
"Suspicious Minds"[B]		 23 September 2002 1 [13][14]
Rosie Ribbons 1 "Blink" 21 October 2002 12 [19]
Will Young 1 "Don't Let Me Down" / "You and I" 18 November 2002 2 [13]
Gareth Gates 1 "What My Heart Wants to Say" 9 December 2002 5 [14]
Darius Danesh 1 "Rushes" 25 November 2002 5 [17]
Rosie Ribbons 1 "A Little Bit" 13 January 2003 19 [19]
Zoe Birkett 1 "Treat Me Like a Lady" 13 January 2003 12 [20]
Sarah Whatmore 1 "Automatic" 10 February 2003 11 [18]
Darius Danesh 1 "Incredible (What I Meant to Say)" 3 March 2003 9 [17]
Gareth Gates 1 "Spirit in the Sky"[C] 10 March 2003 1 [14]
Darius Danesh 1 "Girl in the Moon" 9 June 2003 21 [17]
Gareth Gates 1 "Sunshine" 13 September 2003 3 [14]
Will Young 1 "Leave Right Now" 24 November 2003 1 [13]
Michelle McManus 2 "All This Time" 25 November 2003 1 [21]
Gareth Gates 1 "Say It Isn't So" 8 December 2003 4 [14]
Michelle McManus 2 "The Meaning of Love" 26 January 2004 16 [21]
Sam Nixon and
Mark Rhodes[D]		 2 "With a Little Help from My Friends" /
"Measure of a Man"		 9 February 2004 1 [22]
Will Young 1 "Your Game" 15 March 2004 3 [13]
Sam Nixon and
Mark Rhodes[D]		 2 "The Sun Has Come Your Way" 24 May 2004 19 [23]
Will Young 1 "Friday's Child" 5 July 2004 4 [13]
Darius Danesh 1 "Kinda Love" 18 October 2004 8 [17]
Darius Danesh 1 "Live Twice" 10 January 2005 7 [17]
Will Young 1 "Switch It On" 14 November 2005 5 [13]
Will Young 1 "All Time Love" 16 January 2006 3 [13]
Will Young 1 "Who Am I" 24 April 2006 11 [13]
Gareth Gates 1 "Changes" 9 April 2007 14 [14]
Gareth Gates 1 "Angel on My Shoulder" 18 June 2007 22 [14]
Will Young 1 "Changes" 15 September 2008 10 [13]
Will Young 1 "Grace" 22 December 2008 33 [13]
Will Young 1 "Let It Go" 2 March 2009 58 [13]
Will Young 1 "Hopes & Fears" 8 November 2009 65 [13]

Albums

Solo albums

Only albums that charted in the Top-100 of the UK Albums Chart are included in this list.

Artist Series Album title Release date UK peak
chart position		 Ref
Will Young 1 From Now On 7 October 2002 1 [13]
Gareth Gates 1 What My Heart Wants to Say 26 October 2002 2 [14]
Darius Danesh 1 Dive In 2 December 2002 6 [17]
Gareth Gates 1 Go Your Own Way 22 September 2003 11 [14]
Will Young 1 Friday's Child 1 December 2003 1 [13]
Michelle McManus 2 The Meaning of Love 16 February 2004 3 [21]
Darius Danesh 1 Live Twice 25 October 2004 36 [17]
Will Young 1 Keep On 21 November 2005 2 [13]
Gareth Gates 1 Pictures of the Other Side 25 June 2007 23 [14]
Will Young 1 Let It Go 29 September 2008 2 [13]
Will Young 1 The Hits 16 November 2009 9 [13]

Pop Idol albums

In addition to the solo material released by the contestants, Sony BMG released two CDs featuring songs performed by the finalists, one for each series of the show.

Album title Series Release date UK peak
chart position		 Ref
Pop Idol: The Big Band Album 1 April 2002 — [24]
Pop Idol: The Idols - Xmas Factor 2 December 2003 — [25]

Other releases

Several contestants also released songs which failed to reach the main singles or albums charts. Rosie Ribbons recorded an album entitled Misbehaving but was dropped by her record label, Telstar Records, when they ran into financial difficulties and the album was only released in a promotional version.[26] Jessica Garlick released "Hard Not to Fall" as a download single on 11 May 2009 to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.[27]

Will Young additionally appeared as a featured artist on the Band Aid 20 UK number-one charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 2004.[28]

By artist

Artist Top-100 singles entries Top-100 albums entries Number-one singles Number-one albums
Will Young 14 5 4[E] 2
Gareth Gates 9 3 4[E] —
Darius Danesh 6 2 1 —
Michelle McManus 2 1 1 —
Sam & Mark 2 — 1 —
Sarah Whatmore 2 — — —
Rik Waller 2 — — —
Rosie Ribbons 2 — — —
Zoe Birkett 1 — — —
Jessica Garlick 1 — — —

Chart records

"Unchained Melody" and "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" became two of the most successful singles of the 2000s, selling more than 1 million copies, two of only 10 songs that achieved that feat during the decade.[29] "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" sold 385,000 copies during its first day of sale in a single chain of record stores, Virgin Megastores, beating the total of 160,000 copies of Hear’Say's "Pure and Simple" in 2001.[3][30] Hear'Say sold 550,000 during a whole week, while Young had advance orders of 1.2 million copies at HMV record stores.[31] It beat Band Aid's record of 750,000 sales in the first week of release, eventually reaching 1.2 million sales.[32] Young's song was named as the biggest-selling single of the decade at the end of 2009, with Gates' debut finishing in second place.[33]


Notes

  • B "The Long and Winding Road" / "Suspicious Minds" was released as a double A-side single. Gareth Gates and Will Young were featured on the former but the latter was sung only by Gates.[36]
  • D Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes recorded under the name Sam & Mark.
  • E The figure includes the joint number-one "The Long and Winding Road" / "Suspicious Minds".

See also

References

General
  • "(Will Young > Discography)". allmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  • "(Gareth Gate > Discography)". allmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |GATES&sql= ignored (help)
  • "(Darius > Discography)". allmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  • "(Michelle McManus > Discography)". allmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  • "(Sam & Mark > Discography)". allmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2010. {{cite web}}: Text "AND" ignored (help)
Specific
  1. ^ "Will wins Pop Idol". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 10 February 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  2. ^ "Will Young wins Pop Idol contest". Telegraph Online. Telegraph Publishing Group. 9 February 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Young scores record number one". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 3 March 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
  4. ^ "Michelle captures Pop Idol crown". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 21 December 2003. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  5. ^ "Pop Idol's Michelle tops charts". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 January 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  6. ^ "Pop Idol's Gareth is number one". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 24 March 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Comic Relief tops record total". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 March 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  8. ^ Pool, Hannah (19 April 2007). "Hannah Pool talks to Gareth Gates". Guardian Online. The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Darius scores first number one". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 4 August 2002. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  10. ^ a b "'Latin' Latvia win Eurovision". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 26 May 2002. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Sam And Mark Top The Chart". MTV. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  12. ^ Wilkes, Neil (2 August 2004). "Sam and Mark 'axed'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Will Young – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Gareth Gates – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  15. ^ a b "Rik Waller – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  16. ^ "Jessica Garlick – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h "Darius – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  18. ^ a b "Sarah Whatmore – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  19. ^ a b "Rosie Ribbons – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  20. ^ "Zoe Birkett – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  21. ^ a b c "Michelle McManus – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  22. ^ "With a Little Help from My Friends / Measure of a Man". Chart Stats. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  23. ^ "The Sun Has Come Your Way". Chart Stats. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  24. ^ "Pop Idol album hits the shops". Newsround. British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 April 2002. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  25. ^ "Pop Idol stars hope for Xmas hit". Newsround. British Broadcasting Corporation. 24 October 2003. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  26. ^ "Pop Idols: Where are they now?". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 21 May 2003. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  27. ^ "Singer who knows Eurovision story". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  28. ^ "Pop stars sample Band Aid reality". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 November 2004. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  29. ^ "Alexandra Burke's 'Hallelujah' joins 'million-selling singles list". New Music Express. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  30. ^ "Hear'Say poised for pole chart position". Mail Online. Daily Mail. Retrieved 19 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  31. ^ "Pop Idol single 'flying off shelves'". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  32. ^ "Band Aid 20 singles storms to No. 1". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 5 December 2004. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  33. ^ "Will Young and James Blunt win biggest selling single and album of the noughties". New Music Express. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  34. ^ "Idol singer picked for Eurovision". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 3 March 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  35. ^ "Pop Idol's Jessica third in Eurovision". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 26 May 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  36. ^ "Will turned down Disney cover with Gareth". Mail Online. Daily Mail. Retrieved 13 January 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  37. ^ "Comic Relief charity singles over the years". uk.music.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pop_Idol_discography&oldid=357539085"