NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts) -
Robbie Williams and actress
Nicole Kidman have beaten a little-known club singer in the race to top Britain's Christmas pop music charts, the chart compilers revealed on Sunday.
Williams and Kidman were number one with a remake of the Sinatra classic "Somethin' Stupid," the Official UK Charts Company said in a statement. "I am chuffed to bits," Williams said in a statement released by record label Chrysalis. "It's a fantastic result - Happy Christmas to everybody."
Williams becomes the first artist to top both the UK single and album charts at Christmas since the Spice Girls in 1996.
Second-placed Haskell busked outside a London record shop on Saturday in a last-ditch bid to win the top spot. The pair beat underdog Gordon Haskell, a 55-year-old who entered the chart at number two with "How Wonderful You Are," his first single in more than 30 years. 55-year-old Haskell nonetheless entered the chart at number two with his romantic ballad - said to have been composed on a supermarket shopping trip with his mother.
Haskell, who once played with rock group King Crimson, saw a BBC Radio 2 play of his song lead to nearly quarter of a million advance orders copies for the record.
The singer, from Dorset, southern England, told Reuters in a recent interview that he was more interested in making music than in the widely publicized chart battle. "Gordon is ecstatic, it is unbelievable," Haskell's manager Ian Brown told Reuters. "In a way it's good not to be Christmas number one because people would see the record as a novelty."
Third place on the Christmas chart went to another newcomer, UK dance artist Daniel Bedingfield, who recorded his single "Gotta Get Thru This" in his bedroom. The 21-year-old, born in New Zealand and living in London, recorded the dance track with a basic computer and microphone costing a reported 1,000 pounds ($1,441).
UK dance diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor was fourth with "Murder on the Dancefloor," while fifth spot went to Welsh rockers Stereophonics with "Handbags and Gladrags."
One of the early favorites, actress Kate Winslet, had to make do with number 11 after sales of her single "What If" failed to match bookmakers' expectations.
The Tweenies, the BBC TV children's cartoon characters, claimed ninth place with their toddler-friendly "I Believe in Christmas."
The annual contest to top the UK singles charts traditionally attracts a flurry of bets and widespread coverage in the UK media.
The Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart
