Take That album tipped for Christmas top slot

Take That’s album – Progress – is their first since reuniting with Robbie Williams. It’s gone on sale today after becoming the biggest pre-order release of the year.

The album has become the most in-demand Take That record of all time and bookies say the boys are heading for the top after their live performance on the X Factor results show at the weekend.

Ladbrokes have labelled the band “unstoppable”, slashing the odds for the album reaching Christmas Number One to 2/5.

It is going to be a massive seller throughout the Christmas period. Julian Monaghan of Amazon.co.uk

Odds for Take That’s latest single, The Flood, climbing to the Christmas top spot were also slashed to 14/1. The single entered the charts at number two last night, losing out to American singer Rihanna.

X Factor appearance

Their X Factor performance of The Flood was the first to feature Robbie Williams since he left the group in 1995.

But it brought mixed reviews. The Daily Mail said a nervous Williams looked “on edge at times”, while the Daily Star said the performance “bought the house down”.

Online sales of the group’s album have already surpassed expectations with Progress receiving twice as many orders as any other album released this year.

Exclusive: Former Take That manager speaks
There’s one person who hasn’t been invited to this reunion party. And that’s the manager who first put them together: Nigel Martin-Smith, writes Culture Editor Matthew Cain.

Originally aiming to come up with Britain’s answer to New Kids on the Block, Manchester-based Martin-Smith auditioned for a new boy band in 1990 and discovered Gary, Robbie, Mark, Howard and Jason.

But despite going on to propel the band to major success, the manager wasn’t popular with his protégés. In the documentary aired this weekend, Robbie said of the band’s early years: "We didn’t need such a tight rein - we were all desperate."

Jason added: "We were picked and we were a product but we had to lose our selves in the process." And that’s nothing compared to some of the insults that have been traded from both sides of the argument since the band first split up in 1995.

So what does Martin-Smith make of the reunion? Today I'm in Manchester for an exclusive interview to be broadcast on tonight’s Channel 4 News. And I can’t wait to hear his take on things.

Read more

Record sales

It was also pre-ordered more times than any other Take That album, including the 2008 release The Circus, which was the seventh biggest-selling album on Amazon.co.uk.

Julian Monaghan, head of music buying at Amazon.co.uk, said: “Take That and Robbie Williams have enjoyed significant chart success over recent years but the demand for this first album with Robbie back in the fold is higher than anything that either of them have achieved before.”

“It is going to be a massive seller throughout the Christmas period and with the sell-out tour still to follow, it could be at the top end of the music charts for a long time to come.”

Progress, the band’s sixth studio album, is the first to feature the full line up of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams since 1995’s Somebody Else.

HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo said: “Progress has all the makings of one of the biggest and fastest selling albums of recent years, and it should comfortably shift well over a million copies in just a few weeks as we approach Christmas – when it will undoubtedly top the festive charts.

“Robbie’s return to the band is the fairy tale chapter that was waiting to be written.”