Everyone knows "American Idol" -- powered in no small part by the blunt honesty of Simon Cowell -- is a massive TV hit. With three of the best-selling albums of 2005 and an ever-increasing list of artists who've scored again and again on the pop charts (Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Fantasia, Bo Bice and on and on), everyone has to admit the stars the show creates are often proving remarkably durable.
Well, the latest pop charts in the UK prove Cowell has the golden touch there as well. His own reality show -- "The X Factor" -- is a huge hit there on Saturday nights. (In that show, experts -- one of whom is Cowell -- groom their own act to win it all, putting their expertise where their mouth is.)
Atop the singles charts? Shayne Ward with massive hit single "That's My Goal." It became the Christmas single (an annual, highly touted race to see who can have the Number One song in the UK at Christmas) and remains on top. Ward was launched by The X Factor, naturally. On the album chart, you'll find The Strokes debuting at Number One with "First Impressions of Earth," a feat they'd love to duplicate in America, where their press clippings threaten to outnumber their album sales. (That's more of a comment on the amount of their press clippings than the number of CDs they've sold, mind you.)You'll also find four albums in the Top 40 linked to Cowell.
Back on the singles chart, you can also find Madonna at Number Three with her worldwide hit "Hung Up," Clarkson (again) at Number Eleven, and Diana Ross on boy band Westlife's "When You Tell Me That You Love Me." (That group's singer Mark Feehily didn't have to bother coming out recently if he was going to duet with Miss Ross, did he? But good on him.) I think that could potentially be Ross's first Top Ten hit since 1999.
Oh, and who is the mastermind behind Westlife? You guessed it. Simon Cowell.
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