Gareth Gates, 17, has held on to the No.1 slot in the UK singles chart for a third uninterrupted week with his cover of ‘Unchained Melody’, after having held off a chart battle from the likes of Britney Spears who had to settle for a No.2 position with her number ‘I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman’.

Now, Gareth has immediately set his sights on defeating rival Will Young’s three-week stay at the top of the charts.

Speaking to Pop Idol judge Dr Fox, who is now known as DJ Foxy, Gareth said “I have to make it to four weeks at number one”.

He even added “I have to beat Will. I have to! I have to! I’ve got to get my own back”.

What exactly does he mean by that? Well, it has been reported that presumably Gareth is still unhappy with Will actually emerging the victor of the first-ever ITV1 talent show ‘Pop Idol’ and not himself.

There was only one other new entry in the top 10, with X-ecutioners unveiling at No.7 with ‘It’s Goin’ Down’.

Gareth Gates remains on top of the UK Top 40 Singles charts again this week with his cover of ‘Unchained Melody’. The Pop Idol finalist outsold Shaggy & Ali G for a second time leaving them in the runner-up spot.

Other Highlight’s from this week’s chart include:

Missy Elliott – ‘4 My People’ – a new entry at number 5 (check out the great Basement Jaxx remix!)

Shy F/X & T-Power feat. Di – ‘Shake Ur Body’ – new entry at number 7.

Travis – ‘Flowers In The Window’ – new entry at number 18.

Time goes by so slowly/and time can do so much/are you still mine?/I need your love/I need your love/God speed your love to me.

You just read a couple of lines from the Righteous Brother’s classic ‘Unchained Melody’. Now, sitting on the top of this week’s UK singles chart is the Gareth Gates’ version of the very same track, finally relieving Will Young, the champ from the mega hit reality TV series ‘Pop Idol’, of the No.1 spot to second place.

It was reported earlier that Gareth Gates, 17, might not make it to the No.1 slot because of slow sales of his debut single. Looks like sales of his single must have picked up over the weekend across the UK.

Gareth, who was touted as the eventual winner of ‘Pop Idol’ but of course lost to Will, even beat George Michael who released his very racy comeback single ‘Freeek’ in 3 years. ‘Freeek’, a new entry, came in at No.7. Another new entry came from Blue with their ‘Fly By II’ number that went in at No.6.

Other brand-new tracks to make it to the singles chart include:

Way Out West – ‘Mindcircus’ at No.39

Cassius Henry – ‘Broke’ at No.31

Starsailor – ‘Poor Misguided Fool’ at No. 23

Alicia Keys – ‘A Woman’s Worth’ at No.18

Pet Shop Boys – ‘Home and Boys’ at No. 14

Darren Hayes – ‘Insatiable’ at No. 8

According to nationwide sales figures, Gareth Gates’s debut single, ‘Unchained Melody’ looks rather unlikely to equal the record-breaking sales of ‘Pop Idol’ victor, Will Young’s No.1 single, ‘Evergreen/Anything Is Possible’.

HMV stores across the UK have established the fact that Gareth’s single is nowhere near his ‘Pop Idol’ rival, although it has done relatively well. Also, HMV chart expert, Gennaro Castaldo, said that there’s a clear-cut regional bias to Gareth’s sales, with ‘Unchained Melody’ selling strongly in cities like Leeds, Newcastle and Gareth’s hometown of Bradford.

In Birmingham, where Gareth’s virgin solo single has performed less well, Paul O’ Brian from HMV commented “I’d say it’s definitely the second best seller this year. It’s doing very well but it’s down by roughly half on Will’s first day sales. We’ve mostly had adults coming in and buying the single, but maybe the kids’ purchases will have an impact come the weekend”.In Manchester, Ian Depasois, a spokesperson for HMV, said: “Sales have been nowhere near as good here this time around and sales of Gareth’s single are down in comparison to Will’s. I’ve had no calls so far asking about ‘Unchained Melody’. It’s been disappointing”.

In other news, Gareth has now signed a profitable advertising deal to promote Wella Shock Waves hair gel, buzzed around to be worth GBP1 million. Plans at the moment include a billboard, a magazine campaign and the possibility of television ads.

Gareth’s earnings now look set to top those of Will Young. So far, Gareth has signed contracts and earned royalties worth an estimated GBP2.7 million while Will has earned GBP650000 from the 1.1 million sales of his No. 1 chart-topper ‘Evergreen/Anything Is Possible’. Last week Gareth signed an advertising deal with Pepsi.

Anyway, surf your way onto Gareth’s official website: www.ggates.co.uk.

Following the footsteps of Britney Spears, Robbie Williams and Atomic Kitten, Gareth Gates is to become the brand new face of Pepsi.

Signing an undisclosed six-figure deal at London’s glamorous Savoy Hotel, his image is set to appear on special Pepsi cans.

A spokesperson for Pepsi said “Although Will won ‘Pop Idol’, Gareth is just as big a star and is ideal for our campaign.”Mentioned earlier on Pop-music.com, Gareth will release his debut number, ‘Unchained Melody’, which happens to be a cover of The Righteous Brothers’ classic. Out on 18th March, he’s going to do some proper chart battle with George Michael who releases his racy new single, Freeek, on the very same day.