In the end, it was just as the press had predicted: Kylie Minogue trounced Victoria Beckham in the battle of the pop babes. The Antipodean singer sold a mammoth 307,000 copies and reached the Number One spot ahead of her Posh rival. Victoria could only manage sixth position, with 35,000 sales, 271,000 less than her rival.
“It’s been a really interesting week with all the media frenzy about chart battles,” said Kylie. “It can only be good for the record industry. I want to say a special thanks to everyone who came up to me on the street and told me they loved the single and the video. It means such a lot to me.”
Victoria was gracious in defeat when she learnt of the result. “Well done Kylie,” she said late on Sunday night. The Top Ten will have come as some surprise to our readers, who voted 3,178 to 1,809 that the former Spice Girl would pip the ex-Neighbours actress to the top spot.
But Mrs Beckham’s friends were amazed that her record label Virgin released Not Such An Innocent Girl as the first single. “Victoria has some good songs on her album and it is surprising that Virgin chose to put that one out first. It definitely isn’t the strongest on there,” said a record industry insider.
At the weekend she appeared with her husband David on the BBC1 chat show Parkinson, and serenaded the England football captain with I.O.U., another song from her forthcoming album, to show her critics that she can cut it live.
But the Posh v Kylie show isn’t over yet: both women release their new albums, entitled Victoria Beckham and Fever on October 1. It will be interesting to see which babe takes pole position the following week.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
