daisy-chain

Hmm if we go along with the reported story (on George's website and The Sun) that George Sampson wasn't appearing high in the midweeks due to a 'technical fault' and wasn't added until Tuesday night - why isn't he appearing now? Unless of course it's because nobody's downloading it, because it's not any good.

Diana was awful. Two bad performances in a row, one no-show - she should be out. She really is one of the weakest performers they've ever had on x factor. She doesn't move much, is barely in tune, awful tone - gives the same perfromace every week. It was actually quite funny to watch. If she was a cute 17 year old male there would be complaints that she is only there for her looks and the teenage vote. And Simon Cowell says he's going to sign her anyway, so why bother voting.

How do these sales compare with previous years, they seem low to me? Only the top 9 over 400k. I know we've got big sales weeks coming up in the next few weeks - but still seems low. Amazing that some artists that have been all over the radio haven't really sold that much - Sam Sparro, even The Script not yet platinum and I would have thought others would have been much higher. Ne-Yo just over 200k! Anyone know where Taio Cruz is surely he's sold more than 100k? So many are 2007 albums as well.

It's awful - the 'rapping' is embarrassing, and even his dancing doesn't look as good when he's surrounded by professional dancers.

Umm well you did indirectly - you said his sales were poor and didn't increase sufficiently but Leona's did - as the British public are able to discern brilliance from rubbish. Anyway I'll leave you at the mercy of the Will fans if they get to read this thread!

Love this, and the video is brilliantly cheesy (in a good way)- hope it's a success for them.

Wow are you calling Will Young's single rubbish - you're brave! Surely the other main factor after an x factor performance is whether a track is already available on an album and if 150k+ have already bought an album, they are not going to purchase a track again. The main effect will be to increase album sales which it did do. I do find Leona fans a bit sweeping and dare I say arrogant in their judgement sometimes. You did call Leona's management incompetent a few days ago - do you still stand by that?

I hope it does well for Leon - it will be diffcult for him though. Two major promotional appearances - CIN (peak slot) and X factor, and album sales what 65k? It all depends on whether Simon Cowell wants to carry on making an effort with his promotion, and he made his priorities clear on x factor 2007 on an HTV Wales programme last night. Simon Cowell: "I wanted Rhydian to win - make no mistake, I was as disappointed as he was". Louis Walsh: "The wrong person won the show......" Incredibly disloyal from both of them, it might be true, but they should have been more tactful.

And only a few days ago Leona fans were moaning about her incompetent management.......

How can you describe Leona's management as incompetent? They've done a brilliant job of masterminding her career both here and abroad - most artists would kill for similar management I would imagine. Surely the decision on when to add a download is down to the record company/label SonyBMG and Syco, and really one day isn't going to make a lot of difference in terms of the overall success of the song is it? Her management/record label have over the last few months secured some of the best promotional opportunities an artist can have, including The Olympics, Nelson Mandela concert, x factor appearances, Brits etc, plus US appearances. She's had brilliant airplay for all her tracks, - Leona fans really are very demanding lol. She should try coping with the second rate promotion and management most Syco acts have to put up with.

I'm amazed that Diana's umm 'unique interpretation' actually encouraged anyone to download that song.

I'm sure the main marketing push for Leona will be behind 'Run' and not 'Forgive Me'. It shoud do very well on downloads - a possible number 1? I'm not keen on the studio version though - way too overproduced, and I loathe the gospel chor. Leona tends to oversing it as well - sometimes simplicity is best. As for Boyzone - they (or Louis Walsh should I say) have no originality at all. Not only have they copied the Tom Baxter version exactly, they've nicked the idea of his video. They have no shame!

I'm sure you're right which is why I said 4th or 5th biggest of the decade - so bigger/faster selling hits - so far we have Will Young, Gareth Gates, Shayne Ward and Leona Lewis.

Yes Gennaro Castaldo frequently seems to act as a mouthpiece for Simon Cowell, 'That's My Goal' sold 742,000 in it's first week, Will Young over 1 million - so it's all total rubbish and hype. Of course 4th or 5th biggest/ fastest selling hit of the decade doesn't sound as good as 'Biggest Hit Of The Decade' does it?

Yes 'That's My Goal' sold more in the first week and more overall than 'A Moment Like This', and has already been mentioned Will Young sold more than either of them.

They really need to hurry up with the single. It seems as though all the promotional budget went on developing the website...

Well, to be fair, the reviews I've read of the Snow Patrol album haven't been great, and their current single is just good rather than great. But there have been a fair few mediocre reviews for the Pink album as well, but she had a better lead single - it seems as neither of them have produced a really great album

Diana is style over substance - her voice just isn't that great. Her diction is bad, each week she becomes just that little bit more irritating, contrived and mannered. She's OK in very small doses. Loved Laura first week but she has disappointed me ever since. Thought last night she really wasn't that good - again impossible to understand most of the words and strange slurred delivery. The best for me Alexandra (although she's just missing something, not sure what) and Rachel (but not particularly likeable). Ruth I quite like as well Eoghan, Daniel were bad. Austin is Ok - but again just something missing, not especially good looking or likeable just a good voice. JLS were OK

They are all miming!

Hmm not getting the Diana love at all - she's very pretty and has charisma, but her singing has an Orville the duck quality, and all the songs sound the same.

What were the judges doing giving standing ovations to Laura and Eoghan? Laura slurred her way through the song and I didn't understand a word! Eoghan was weak and flat.

I don't think it will sell a million - hopefully much less than that. Simon Cowell has no shame. If you feel strongly enough about the charity put a few extra pounds in the poppy collection. Who would want an overwrought version of this song sang by a bunch of x factor finalists (some of them not very good singers anyway)? I'm an x factor fan and have bought some of the music that various contestants have released over the last few years but I wouldn't touch this with a bargepole.

Yes I've always assumed that Simon Cowell is told the voting figures for the bottom two by a member of the x factor producers/tv crew, so he knows who has polled the lowest vote, and therefore he makes his decision to suit his purpose.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Syco have a history of fumbled promotion, cancelled and delayed singles for a number of artists. They have a lot of artists over the next couple of months releasing material.

I'm really not sure how well they will do. The single release is less than 5 weeks away, and I haven't heard it in full yet. What I have heard sounds a bit dated. They will need to have some major promotion over the next few weeks to stand a chance of doing reasonably well.