daisy-chain

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

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.

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...

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.

Caledonia is a cover as well. I think Stargazing should be the next single, only trouble is it's another ballad. As for his live singing, I think he will find it hard to live down that truly awful appearance on the x-factor - what was going on there? Trouble is regardless of his vocals being good or bad he doesn't have much charisma, other than being a cute nice Scottish boy, and I'm not sure how far that can get him.

There are seven covers on the album I think, so more covers than originals. I've listened to the preview and think it's quite a pleasant album. His recorded vocals sound OK, and I like the production. Stargazing is a lovely song and I like a couple of the other original songs, but not keen on the covers. I do think that the style of the album is much too old for him, very easy listening in parts -much the same as the image they've given him, he's 19 not 45! It will be interesting to see how well it does, they need to make a good second single choice.

His performance last night was dire. I felt a bit sorry for him - I'm not sure how well he's coping with the pressure. He seems a nice enough lad but not a natural star by any measure. I imagine it will still get to number one though, but a performance as bad as that is bound to have an effect on his future. Simon Cowell won't be too happy I'm sure.

Shayne didn't perform "No Promises" on x-factor - that was released in April 2006 - so no performance on the programme. He did perform "Breathless" on x- factor last year - but the single wasn't available for download until one week later, which must have hurt the sales. Shayne had also virtually no radio airplay for any of his songs, I've definitely heard Leon's on the radio a lot more.

I honestly don't think that's the case - anyone who wins x-factor has to have a wider fanbase than that. I've read that the highest percentage of votes cast on the x-factor is by women in the 30+ age group. Leon will appeal to teenage girls of course, but he will also be popular with older women. As to how many he will sell - well less than Leona surely, his song isn't as good and airplay not as widespread. The x-factor performance (unless his performance is awful) will push the sales up over 100k I think. Simon Cowell knows how to manipulate the public and I'm sure there will be emphasis on Leon's 'improvement', and how much 'care' has been taken with the album - this will allow the audience to buy in to the whole thing. Perhaps the odd tear or two from Leon to tug at the heartstrings and voila bumper sales. So I'm saying 130k (but could be a lot more).

Of course Leon will go Top 20 - he's appearing on x-factor and the single is available for download within hours. You've only got to look at the performance of the Faith Hill track to know that Leon is going to do well with this single. The Snow Patrol song is good but not great but I'm sure enough people will download it to make it a hit. I'd say Leon number 1, Snow Patrol top 3.

Number 1 probably. An appearance on the x factor will almost guarantee it the top position. Plus Leona always receives lots of radio airplay as well - so difficult to fail with a half decent song. X factor must be the most powerful TV promotional tool for any artist. Leon will also benefit this year and no doubt he'll get to the top as well if the timing and radio support is right. Shayne sang 'Breathless' last year but for some reason the download wasn't available until one week later, and he got virtually no radio play so 'only' made no. 6.

Yes you're right Steve Brookstein obviously wasn't playlisted. None of Shayne's singles have ever been playlisted even though they have gone top 10. It remains to be seen whether Leon will be listed.