Gates on course to outlast Young

Gates (l) has equalled Young's run at the top

Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates is on course to stay at number one for a fourth week, longer than the hit show's winner, Will Young, early sales figures for the week indicate.

Gates has spent three weeks at the top of the singles charts with his version of Unchained Melody, equalling Young's run with Anything is Possible/Evergreen.

I have to beat Will. I have to. I have to. I have to get my own back.

Gareth Gates

However, the sales figures tell a different story.

Gates's sales in three weeks at number one only just equalled Young's first-week figure of 1.1 million.

On Sunday, when it emerged that Gates had equalled Young's run at the top, he showed how much outselling his old rival meant to him.

He told the presenter of commercial radio's Pepsi Chart Show, Neil Fox: "I have to make it to four weeks at number one."

Gates has been given a sultry make-over

"I have to beat Will. I have to. I have to. I've got to get my own back," he told Fox, who was one of the judges on the ITV Pop Idol programme.

Meanwhile, the early sales figures suggest that Robbie Williams will score one of the worst chart positions of his solo career after lending his vocal expertise to 1 Giant Leap.

Their single, My Culture, will chart at number eight, according to midweek sales predictions for the music industry.

Williams's last two singles, Eternity and Something Stupid, went straight to number one.

He has failed only once in the last four years to break into the top four with his releases.

Let Love Be Your Energy went in at number 10 a year ago.