Kylie sees tour tickets fly

Kylie went on a sold-out UK tour earlier this year

Tickets for Kylie Minogue's forthcoming UK arena tour sold out within an hour of going on sale at four of the seven venues - beating the demand for Robbie Williams tickets in some places.

The Australian singer will find out on Sunday whether she has kept the number one spot in the UK singles chart for a fifth week, with stiff competition coming from Afroman.

Minogue has added five dates to her tour after the demand for tickets - which is largely thanks to the success of the single Can't Get You Out Of My Head.

Afroman: Could knock Kylie off the top spot

She was "really pleased" that tickets for four of the original seven dates had been snapped up within 60 minutes of going on sale at 0900BST on Saturday, her spokesman said.

Her tickets at some venues were snapped up faster than when Robbie Williams's when he toured, according to the spokesman.

The tour would be a "brand new show, completely different from previous tours", he said.

Her latest album, Fever, has been top of the album charts, while Can't Get You Out Of My Head has sold more than 1.5m copies worldwide, making it the second biggest seller of Minogue's 13-year career.

'Risqué'

But it is expected to move down to number two when the latest charts are announced, with Afroman's Because I Got High favourite to take the number one spot.

Afroman was forced to edit the "risqué content" of his single to make it suitable for radio play.

It has benefited from a considerable amount of airplay and has been championed by a number of Radio 1 DJs.

'Messed up'

The Mississippi singer tells a cautionary tale about the constant apathy that results from cannabis use.

Afroman has defended the lyrics, saying the final verse shows the damage drugs can do.

The song includes lyrics like: "I was gonna pay my child support but then I got high, they took my whole paycheck and I know why, because I got high."

It signs off: "I messed up my entire life because I got high, I lost my kids and wife because I got high, now I'm sleeping on the sidewalk and I know why, because I got high."

Minogue's single, the first taken from Fever, has already seen off competition from Victoria Beckham and most recently Michael Jackson.

She is due to release another single in January, with the tour kicking off in Cardiff in April, 2002.