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 thirteen top-40 singles and seven top-10 albums.

Pop Idol was 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 December 2015, Pop Idol contestants have had 14 charting albums, with McManus the only participant from the second series to peak inside the top-100. Forty-three singles released by Pop Idol contestants have charted in the United Kingdom. Young has had 17 singles peak within the top-100, followed by Gates with nine entries. Darius Danesh has also had six charting songs.

Singles

singer Darius Campbell.
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 Position in Show Song title(s) Release date UK peak
chart position		 Ref
Will Young 1 Winner "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" 25 February 2002 1 [13]
"Light My Fire" 25 May 2002 1 [13]
"The Long and Winding Road" 23 September 2002 1 [13]
"Don't Let Me Down" / "You and I" 18 November 2002 2 [13]
"Leave Right Now" 24 November 2003 1 [13]
"Your Game" 15 March 2004 3 [13]
"Friday's Child" 5 July 2004 4 [13]
"Switch It On" 14 November 2005 5 [13]
"All Time Love" 16 January 2006 3 [13]
"Who Am I" 24 April 2006 11 [13]
"Changes" 15 September 2008 10 [13]
"Grace" 22 December 2008 33 [13]
"Let It Go" 2 March 2009 58 [13]
"Hopes & Fears" 8 November 2009 65 [13]
"Jealousy" 19 November 2011 5 [13]
"Come On" 21 November 2011 83 [13]
"Losing Myself" 18 March 2012 72 [13]
Gareth Gates Runner Up "Unchained Melody" 18 March 2002 1 [14]
"Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)" 8 July 2002 1 [14]
"The Long and Winding Road" /
"Suspicious Minds"[B]		 23 September 2002 1 [14]
"What My Heart Wants to Say" 9 December 2002 5 [14]
"Spirit in the Sky"[C] 10 March 2003 1 [14]
"Sunshine" 13 September 2003 3 [14]
"Say It Isn't So" 8 December 2003 4 [14]
"Changes" 9 April 2007 14 [14]
"Angel on My Shoulder" 18 June 2007 22 [14]
Darius Danesh Third "Colourblind" 29 July 2002 1 [15]
"Rushes" 25 November 2002 5 [15]
"Incredible (What I Meant to Say)" 3 March 2003 9 [15]
"Girl in the Moon" 9 June 2003 21 [15]
"Kinda Love" 18 October 2004 8 [15]
Live Twice 10 January 2005 7 [15]
Rosie Ribbons 4th "Blink" 21 October 2002 12 [16]
"A Little Bit" 13 January 2003 19 [16]
Zoe Birkett 6th "Treat Me Like a Lady" 13 January 2003 12 [17]
Jessica Garlick 9th "Come Back"[A] 13 May 2002 13 [18]
Rik Waller 10th "I Will Always Love You" 4 March 2002 6 [19]
Something Inside (So Strong)" 24 June 2002 25 [19]
Sarah Whatmore Heat 5 "When I Lost You" 9 September 2002 6 [20]
"Automatic" 10 February 2003 11 [20]
Michelle McManus 2 Winner "All This Time" 25 November 2003 1 [21]
"The Meaning of Love" 26 January 2004 16 [21]
Sam Nixon and
Mark Rhodes[D]		 Runner's Up "With a Little Help from My Friends" /
"Measure of a Man"		 9 February 2004 1 [22]
"The Sun Has Come Your Way" 24 May 2004 19 [23]
Jodie Connor Final 50 "Good Times" (with Roll Deep) 26 April 2010 1
"Now or Never" (featuring Wiley) 13 January 2011 14
"Bring It" (with Tinchy Stryder) 20 February 2011 37

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]
Friday's Child 1 December 2003 1 [13]
Keep On 21 November 2005 2 [13]
Let It Go 29 September 2008 2 [13]
The Hits 16 November 2009 9 [13]
Echoes 19 August 2011 1 [13]
The Essential 14 October 2013 15 [13]
85% Proof 25 May 2015 1 [13]
Lexicon 21 June 2019 2 [13]
Gareth Gates What My Heart Wants to Say 26 October 2002 2 [14]
Go Your Own Way 22 September 2003 11 [14]
Pictures of the Other Side 25 June 2007 23 [14]
Darius Danesh Dive In 2 December 2002 6 [15]
Live Twice 25 October 2004 36 [15]
Michelle McManus 2 The Meaning of Love 16 February 2004 3 [21]

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 17 8 4[E] 4
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] Hear'Say sold 550,000 during a whole week, while Young had advance orders of 1.2 million copies at HMV record stores.[30] It beat Band Aid's record of 750,000 sales in the first week of release, eventually reaching 1.2 million sales.[31] 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.[32]

Notes

See also

References

General
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". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 February 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  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". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  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 t u v w x y z "Will Young – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. 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. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h "Darius – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  16. ^ a b "Rosie Ribbons – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  17. ^ "Zoe Birkett – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  18. ^ "Jessica Garlick – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  19. ^ a b "Rik Waller – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  20. ^ a b "Sarah Whatmore – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  21. ^ a b c "Michelle McManus – Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  22. ^ "With a Little Help from My Friends / Measure of a Man". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  23. ^ "The Sun Has Come Your Way". 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. ^ Youngs, Ian (15 November 2004). "Pop stars sample Band Aid reality". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  29. ^ "Alexandra Burke's 'Hallelujah' joins 'million-selling singles list". NME. 9 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  30. ^ "Pop Idol single 'flying off shelves'". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  31. ^ "Band Aid 20 singles storms to No. 1". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 5 December 2004. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  32. ^ "Will Young and James Blunt win biggest selling single and album of the noughties". NME. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  33. ^ "Idol singer picked for Eurovision". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 3 March 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  34. ^ "Pop Idol's Jessica third in Eurovision". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 26 May 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  35. ^ "Comic Relief charity singles over the years". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 22 June 2009.

External links

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