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Friday, December 11, 1998 Published at 19:43 GMT

Entertainment

Boy power rules Planet Pop

Boyzone: Romped home with six awards

Boy Power has come out on top in one of Britain's top pop polls - as all-male groups Boyzone and 5ive shared the spoils in this year's Smash Hits readers poll.

Boyzone topped six categories including Best Band on Planet Pop while 5ive - created by Bob and Chris Herbert, the men who were originally behind the Spice Girls - were Best British Band.

But All Saints and the Spice Girls got barely a mention between them.

But 16-year-old sensation Billie won three awards, and Irish female foursome B*Witched were voted best Newcomers.

The results have been released ahead of the star-studded Smash Hits Poll Winners Party in London on Sunday - to be broadcast live on BBC One at 1500 GMT.

[ image: Billie: Won three prizes]
Billie: Won three prizes
The poll is seen as one of the most reliable indications of pop groups' fortunes - and the party gives 14,000 fans a chance to scream at the heart-throbs of the moment.

Boyzone won six awards in 1992 - but their change of fortune is partly down to Lord Lloyd-Webber. They won Best Single for No Matter What, taken from his musical Whistle Down The Wind.

Frontman Ronan Keating won Best-Dressed Male, Prince of Pop and Most Fanciable Male on the Planet.

"It's a proud feeling the fans still want us after what we've been through - the three of us being married, two of us with kids and one with a kid on the way.

"It shows the music is definitely part of what's going on, not just the image."

Ronan and his model wife Yvonne are expecting their first baby next year.

Lord Lloyd-Webber is also proud of Boyzone's success - but still fuming at the way record company Polydor deleted No Matter What from the charts by reducing its price.

"I am so pleased Smash Hits readers have voted for No Matter What. It is such a pity that because Polydor have eliminated it from the charts it has not been given a chance of becoming the biggest selling record of the year."

The only Spice Girls prize was Best Haircut for Posh Spice Victoria Adams.

The results in full:

Best Band On Planet Pop: Boyzone (2, 5ive; 3, Backstreet Boys)

Prince of Pop: Ronan Keating from Boyzone (2, Nick from Backstreet Boys; 3, Robbie Williams)

Princess of Pop: Billie

Best Male Solo Star: Robbie Williams

Best Female Solo Star: Billie

Best British Band: 5ive

Best Non-British Act: Backstreet Boys

Best New Act: B*Witched

Best Single: No Matter What, Boyzone

Best Album: 5ive by 5ive

[ image: Victoria Adams: Posh the only Spice winner]
Victoria Adams: Posh the only Spice winner
Most Fanciable Male On The Planet: Ronan Keating, Boyzone