Good news for Ne-Yo, bad news for Mariah

Poor old Coldplay. They've finally made No.1 after eight years of trying, but now they're about to be knocked off. The guy doing the dirty on them? R&B singer Ne-Yo, who's poised to nab his second chart-topper on Sunday with 'Closer'.

We reckon this is a good thing. Ne-Yo may try a bit too hard to remind us he's a Michael Jackson fan in the 'Closer' video, but the song itself is a first-rate piece of urban disco - easily Ne-Yo's most interesting single to date.

While champagne corks are popping at the Ne-Yo residence, vases will be flying at Mariah Carey Towers. The second single from her E=MC2 album, 'Bye Bye', is shaping up to be an almighty flop, with its final chart position likely to fall somewhere been 25 and 30. Only one of Mariah's post-Glitter singles has charted this low: 'Say Somethin', which at least had the excuse of being the fifth single from its album.

What's gone wrong? Well, the general consensus is that 'Bye Bye' is a little bit Mariah-by-numbers. It's a safe, schmaltzy R&B ballad that's precision-tooled for US radio, but ironically enough US radio doesn't seem too keen on it, causing 'Bye Bye' to perform poorly across the pond too.

Nevertheless, Mariah fans can console themselves with this thought: the 'Bye Bye' blunder should persuade her to choose more adventurous singles in the future. She's plumped for 'I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time', a safe-but-classy midtempo number, as E=MC2's third single, but maybe we could have 'Migrate', the album's Danja-produced club tune, after that?

Do you want Ne-Yo to reach No.1? Are you disappointed that Mariah is flopping? Use the space below to have your say.