LONDON, UK (Radio 1) - Manufactured "Pop Idol"
Will Young stormed to No. 1 on the British charts Sunday as his single, the double A-side "Evergreen/Anything is Possible," became the fastest-selling debut in U.K. history. Pop star
Will Young has made quite a debut. Young, who rose from obscurity to fame after a reality television-based talent search, has sold more than a million copies of his first record in a week - the fastest-selling British debut single ever.
The 23-year-old singer's single "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen," started at No. 1 with 1,108,269 copies sold since it was released last week - around 385,000 copies on the first day and his debut single was declared a dead certainty for No. 1 even before it was released last Monday.
When the figures came in Sunday, Young read the total out on a radio broadcast.
Before Young, Britain's fastest-selling debut single of all time was "Pure and Simple" by Hear'Say, a group created in last year's TV series "Popstars." The single sold 550,000 copies in its first week.
"It's an amazing feeling to have a No. 1 hit," said Young. "Everything that I've experienced over the past couple of months is just beginning to sink in now. To have broken records with my debut single is incredible."
Sir Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, a reworking of "Candle In The Wind," was the biggest-selling single in the world, with sales of more than 35 million. By comparison, Elton John's tribute to the late Princess Diana, an updated version of "Candle in the Wind," sold 658,000 copies during its first week in 1997.
Young's managers are wasting no time in cashing in on his sudden celebrity. He will join rock legends Elton John, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney at a Buckingham Palace concert in June to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee.
On Feb. 10, Young won "Pop Idol," a reality-television quest for a new singing star. Almost 9 million people voted by telephone poll in the final. Young sang The Doors' "Light My Fire."
