QUEEN MISHA B *.* (and really love that description of her too!)

 

Genuinely one of the most talented people to come from The X Factor. She got a load of stick but glad her music has spoken for itself now. WOOO.

 

Also loving a bit of Shane (for different reasons) and Matt. JLS though!? :puke:

16. REBECCA FERGUSON (31 points)

('The X Factor' UK series 7, runner up, SyCo Music/Epic/RCA/Columbia, 2010 - present)

 

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UK top 40 hits: 2

UK top 40 albums: 1

Biggest single: 'Nothing's Real But Love', UK #10, November 2011

Best known for: being the Liverpool miss with soul

 

A qualified legal secretary and a single mum of two, but having wanted to sing from a young age, Bootle's Rebecca Ferguson had tried out for X Factor once before and then for rap legend P Diddy's MTV show Starmaker over in the US before she decided to give The X Factor one last roll of the dice in 2010. She was more successful this time, getting through to the live shows in Cheryl's girls category. Having cited her influences as diverse as Aretha Franklin and Kings of Leon, her gravelly soulful performances saw her all the way to the final, where she finished second behind Matt Cardle.

 

After signing a joint deal with Epic and SyCo in 2011, she immediately began work on her debut set of material with everyone from Steve Booker to Eg White, the people behind hits for Duffy and Adele (the former's song 'Distant Dreamer' was going to be her winner's single had she won). Showcasing a bluesy, easy listening sound, 'Heaven' surprised everyone when it was certified double platinum within four months, and the first single from it 'Nothing's Real But Love' was a big hit with UK radio and hit the top 10 (it's so far her only single to do so).

 

After signing with Columbia in the US early last year she went over to the States, where the album reached the top 40 of the Billboard chart. However, things took a bit of a sour turn when, owing to a bad leg injury she sustained, she publicly fell out with her management team and fired them on Twitter, resulting in a High Court writ that as of September last year is still ongoing. However, her music has still continued to do well with a deluxe re-release of the 'Heaven' album and another UK top 20 hit with 'Backtrack'. She will soon return to the studio to record her second album which is due for release later this year.

Edited April 10, 201312 yr by ThePensmith

Matt <3

1. Lemar

 

the rest are terrible, sorry.

'No U Hang Up' & 'If That's OK With You' are brilliant! Shayne deserves to be slightly higher, imo. But other than that the top 20 are filled with the overrated contestants, so I'm happy with them finishing where they are.

Glad Misha is in the top 20 one of the best to come out of X Factor imo can't wait for her album. Glad Rebecca is in the top 20 as well I was expecting Jls and Shanye to be a bit higher though.

Top 15 time now...and I can tell you that a few shock misses will be appearing before the top 10. First though, for Fame Academy's highest placed graduate according to Buzzjackers, it's...

 

15. LEMAR (35 points)

('Fame Academy' series 1, runner up, Epic/Angelic Media, 2002 - present)

 

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UK top 40 hits: 11

UK top 40 albums: 4

Biggest single: 'If There's Any Justice', UK #3, November 2004

Biggest album: 'Time to Grow', UK #8, November 2004

Best known for: being reality pop's first soul man

 

Pharmacy or pop? That's the dilemma that faced the then 17 year old Lemar Obika back in early 2000. Thankfully he turned down the chance to study pharmacy at Cardiff university and chose the latter, and found himself supporting the likes of Destiny's Child and Usher on their UK club tours. But when his BMG deal was scrapped following the failure of his debut single 'Got Me Saying Oooh' to chart in 2001, he sunk back slightly defeated to a job as an accounts manager with his local bank.

 

With encouragement from his family and friends, he soon found himself on the first series of 'Fame Academy' and continually won plaudits for his performances with the likes of Lionel Richie and his cover of Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together'. It was after the show finished, and when he came third, that he was then personally invited by Beverley Knight as the support act on her sold out London Hammersmith Apollo show - and it was this gig, witnessed by industry bosses, that secured him his five album deal with Epic Records in 2003.

 

And whilst David Sneddon and Sinead Quinn both petered out, Lemar became an instant hit with his first two singles hitting the top 5 and his debut album 'Dedicated' going platinum. A year later, he released his second and by far the biggest album of his career, the double platinum 'Time to Grow' which also produced the biggest single of his career - the Marvin meets Stevie soul pop of 'If There's Any Justice' which despite peaking at #3 spent a whopping four months inside the UK top 40.

 

More albums and success followed with 'The Truth About Love' and 'The Reason' in 2006 and 2008, as well as double BRIT and MOBO award wins in 2004 and 2006, before the release of his best of album 'The Hits' in 2010 which saw him re-record his first album track 'What About Love?' with his 2009 tour support and fellow reality pop graduates JLS. After a two year break, he returned to the charts last year with his fifth studio album 'Invincible', showcasing a move in sound to epic, adult contemporary stylings.

14. CHER LLOYD (50 points)

('The X Factor' UK series 7, runner up, SyCo Music/Epic, 2010 - present)

 

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UK top 40 hits: 3

UK top 40 albums: 1

Biggest single: 'Swagger Jagger', UK #1, August 2011

Biggest album: 'Sticks & Stones', UK #4, November 2011

Best known for: being reality pop's Marmite brat

 

'You are right up my street!' Who could forget those immortal first words uttered by Cheryl upon seeing the then 16 year old Cher Lloyd's first audition on the seventh series of X Factor? However, as seemed to be the case with Danyl Johnson the year before, the huge hype and buzz around that first audition with her cover of Keri Hilson's 'Turn My Swag On' meant anything else after that would be hard to live up to.

 

But not even the Malvern teen could have anticipated the kind of backlash she recieved whilst on the show, particularly when she got through even though she was suffering from a sore throat at judge's houses. Together with Cheryl's other infamous girl in her category that year - Katie Waissel - she quickly found herself the show's equivalent of Marmite as the show's impact on social networking boomed. In spite of all this, she still finished 4th in the final.

 

It was this negative experience from the UK public's feedback on social media and by the press during her time in the competition that was ultimately channeled into her debut single, 'Swagger Jagger'. Though widely ridiculed by many upon its release, the feisty kiss off to her critics and 'haterz' shot straight in at #1 and paved the way for her second top 10 hit, 'With Ur Love' and her debut album 'Sticks & Stones' which has now sold over 200,000 copies here since its release.

 

By the end of 2011, our friends across the Atlantic were calling as she'd caught the attention of US X Factor judge L.A. Reid, who offered her an American deal with Epic Records. She's spent the last year focussing on her Stateside success, with a Billboard top 20 hit and 'Sticks & Stones' also reaching the top 10 of the album chart there. She's currently working on her second album which is due for release either end of this year or just early into 2014.

Edited June 30, 201312 yr by ThePensmith

13. LIBERTY X (60 points)

('Popstars' series 1, runners up, V2/Virgin, 2001 - 2007, 2012 - present)

 

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/350454/Liberty%20X.jpg

 

UK top 40 hits: 10

UK top 40 albums: 3

Biggest single: 'Just a Little', UK #1, May 2002

Biggest album: 'Thinking it Over', UK #3, May 2002

Best known for: being the original runners up done good

 

Runners up doing better than the winner is something that is now pretty commonplace in reality pop as we've already seen. Back in 2001 with the first series of 'Popstars' though, it was an alien concept. But it was these five bright young things - Kelli Young, Kevin Simm, Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon and Jessica Taylor - who would turn all that around. After failing to make it into Hear'Say, the press and the public were quick to brand them the 'Flopstars' as their supposedly far luckier finalists went onto their initial huge success.

 

And indeed, despite signing to Richard Branson's label (under their original name Liberty) and enjoying good initial success with top 5 debut 'Thinking it Over', when follow up single 'Doin' It' scraped in at #14 and they faced a High Court legal battle over their name, they seemed to be living up to their 'Flopstars' label. Thankfully, they had an ace up their sleeve - and that ace was the sultry, sophisticated summer anthem of 2002, 'Just a Little' - their only UK #1, but one that quickly put them back on the map with it's PVC clad video and irresistable chorus.

 

And as Hear'Say dwindled towards their eventual split, Liberty X continued to grow in success - two more top 5 hits and a double platinum album came their way by the end of 2002, and the following year their success was consolidated with a BRIT Award win for Best British Single. But it was after two more top 10 hits - first with their much feted Richard X collaboration 'Being Nobody' and then with the Lucie Silvas penned 'Jumpin' that things began to dip. Their ballad heavy second album was not well recieved by their fans who'd loved 'Just a Little' and its second single sent them outside the top 10 again.

 

It was almost two years later before they troubled the top 10 again with their Rev Run collaboration 'Song 4 Lovers' and a cover of Shalamar's 'A Night to Remember' for BBC Children in Need, but its parent album 'X' was a resounding flop. By the time they split in 2007, virtually no one seemed to care. Of course though, this isn't where the story ends, as they've just recently returned to our screens as one of the six acts alongside 5ive, Atomic Kitten and B*Witched amongst others on ITV2's hit series 'The Big Reunion', which they'll appear on the nationwide tour of from next month.

12. ONE DIRECTION (66 points)

('The X Factor' UK series 7, runners up, SyCo Music/Columbia, 2010 - present)

 

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/73724156/One%20Direction%20tumblr_lxuupk6NVZ1qjdvgeo1_500.jpg

 

UK top 40 hits: 7

UK top 40 albums: 2

Biggest single: 'What Makes You Beautiful', UK #1, September 2011

Biggest album: 'Take Me Home', UK #1, November 2012

Best known for: taking over the world (or rather its teenage fangirls)

 

After the phenomenal success garnered by JLS after they'd left the show, and with the then drugless, meltdown free antics of Justin Bieber winning teenage fangirls' hearts the world over, it was only a matter of time before Simon wanted a piece of the teenage dream again that he'd experienced with 5ive and Westlife in the late 90's. And his chance came in the boot camp stages of the seventh series of 'The X Factor', in 2010.

 

With a distinct lack of convincing groups remaining, and the solo girls and boys' categories witnessing something of a mass culling before the judges' houses stage of the show, it was there and then that Simon, Louis and Nicole Scherzinger (standing dually in for Dannii on maternity leave and Cheryl recovering from her bout of malaria) decided to call back four of the axed solo girls, and five of the axed solo boys - Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles. And it was there that both that set of boys and that set of girls were asked if they wanted to be put through to judges houses as groups.

 

Both said yes, but whilst Belle Amie were to be out of the show by week 4 of the lives, One Direction were on the way. No one, however, was expecting what came next. From the minute they made their first live show performance with their cover of Kelly Clarkson's 'My Life Would Suck Without You', their following grew hugely - and not just in the UK. Their live show performances went viral across the internet and soon fans from as far as out as the US, Europe and Australia were watching with interest and excitement. So even when they finished 3rd in the final, Simon knew he was on to a good thing and instantly signed them in February 2011.

 

It was a long six month wait though before they finally reappeared at the end of summer that year with their debut single, the 'Summer Nights' meets early Busted teen pop anthem 'What Makes You Beautiful' - which not only thundered straight in at #1 but also became (until they broke their own record a year later), the most pre-ordered single ever in Sony Music's history. Since then, One Direction mania has exploded and they continue to grow ever more as not only every teen girl's dream but a marketing man's one too. With millions of albums sold worldwide in the last year, and the US conquered, they've achieved the kind of stratospheric success not seen since the height of Spicemania in the 90s. And with 2013 packed with a world tour, a big screen 3D jaunt and TWO new albums before the end of the year in their schedule, it'll be a while before they're not featuring on Christmas lists across the globe.

Edited April 10, 201312 yr by ThePensmith

Cher Lloyd is good. I can't wait for her second album..

Just missing out on a spot in the top 10, its our first American Idol graduate on the list...

 

11. JENNIFER HUDSON (67 points)

('American Idol' series 3, runner up, Arista/RCA, 2004 - present)

 

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/73081766/Jennifer%20Hudson%20PNG.png

 

UK top 40 hits: 3

UK top 40 albums: 2

Biggest single: 'Spotlight', UK #11, September 2008

Biggest album: 'Jennifer Hudson', UK #21, September 2008

Best known for: award winning stage and screen success

 

Hailing from Chicago, Jennifer Hudson had had her starting break singing in gospel choirs at her local church and acting in community theatre productions from a young age. After being on a development deal with an independent label, it was in 2004 that she left it to go after the third series of 'American Idol'. After her much lauded performance of Elton John's 'Circle of Life' in the second week of the show, it was a shock for all concerned when she was eliminated from the competition just two weeks later.

 

She spent much of 2005 - 2007 working on material for her debut self titled album, in the meantime also carving out a highly successful acting career with her starring role alongside Beyonce and Jamie Foxx as Effie White in 'Dreamgirls', which won her Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, and then as Louise, the shy but charming assistant of Carrie Bradshaw in the big movie version of 'Sex and the City' in 2008.

 

And it was after that time when, four years on from her shock elimination, she finally released her self titled Grammy nominated debut album. A success both in the US and here in the UK, its lead single 'Spotlight' was a huge hit, and helped the album to sell over 1.5 million copies worldwide. Featuring collaborations with Ne-Yo amongst others, her second album 'I Remember Me' was released in 2011, and she has also continued her acting ventures with a role in 'The Three Stooges' last year. She was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year.

Slightly ridiculous that One Direction aren't even top ten.

 

Was Lemar ever the favourite to win Fame Academy? It seems odd that he was the only contestant to have success past the first half of the last decade...

Belle Amie getting a mention! :cheer: It was week 4 they got kicked out BTW. :kink: Not surprising, they were awful on the show but their single was all kinds of amazing. :wub:

 

Too low for 1D though. :(

So we get inside the top 10 tomorrow, with numbers 10 - 6 and then the top 5 on Friday. Some stats about the top 10 and who might give you a clue as to who features...

 

Between them, the top 10 acts have had 22 UK number 1 singles and 10 UK number 1 albums.

Of who is still to appear, we have six female solo artists, two male solo artists and two groups.

At least seven of the top 10 have recieved over 100 points in votes from you guys.

 

All will be revealed soon ;)

I think I know who all of the top ten are! :o There's one VERY random Idol contestant to appear though! :lol: :wacko:

Liberty X deserve to be higher :(.

 

Ridiculous that Diana is Top 10, I do like her, but really?! I guess the loons on here helped with that.

-

Edited April 24, 20169 yr by Electric Top 10

Liberty X is the worst UK pop group ever. :puke2:

 

What a strange statement. They are hardly great but worst ever?

Edited April 10, 201312 yr by AnthonyT

So we get inside the top 10 tomorrow, with numbers 10 - 6 and then the top 5 on Friday. Some stats about the top 10 and who might give you a clue as to who features...

 

Between them, the top 10 acts have had 22 UK number 1 singles and 10 UK number 1 albums.

Of who is still to appear, we have six female solo artists, two male solo artists and two groups.

At least seven of the top 10 have recieved over 100 points in votes from you guys.

 

All will be revealed soon ;)

 

 

:(