The Beatles, Oasis, U2 and Westlife - four of the Britain's biggest bands - are going head-to-head in an album-chart battle.

Greatest hits albums from Oasis and U2, Stop The Clocks and 18 Singles respectively, were placed on new releases shelves alongside Westlife's The Love Album and Love, a rejuvenated Beatles offering, yesterday.

Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV, said such a play-off was a rare occassion. He explained: "Christmas starts here as far as music retailers are concerned, as it's not every day that some of the world's biggest ever super groups have albums out."

He predicted U2 would come out on top in the end, but tipped Oasis for the initial number one spot this weekend.

"It's going to be close to see who comes out on top, but we reckon Oasis's Stop The Clocks will go to number one by the end of the week, though U2 may look to sell more copies of 18 Singles over the next month or so."

Big-hitters Take That are also releasing their comeback album, Beautiful World, next Monday.