Fair enough about Steve but JOE MCELDERRY??
Give him a chance, people he hasn't even released an album yet!
Top 10:
1) Steve Brookstein Well duh.
2) Leon Jackson Yep.
3) Hear'Say
4) Rik Waller
5) Andy Abraham
6) Gareth Gates
7) Michelle McManus
8) Same Difference
9) Joe McElderry.
10) One True Voice.

Of those who said Joe was a flop, 76% said it was because he didn't gain the number one at Christmas when all the others did.

Well, was there a massive chart battle in any other years???
I'd have much preferred for Jon and Tracy to arrange this whole thing in Leon's year.

I love Joe McElderry.
Telephone was great.

It was cringeworthy, understandable people think he'll flop.

Lol so what if he didn't get to No.1 for xmas? It still went to No.1 so he shouldn't really be on that list....yet anyway.

Joe being their is stupid he's only had one single, that did in the end did make number 1 and go Platinum now that's not exactly a flop is it.

Surely Michelle should be in front of Gareth he did have a successful career to start with and made his millions. Did Michelle even do that?

I don't know who Rik or One True Voice are, but OTV does ring a bell.

Yeah Michelle should be ahead. she only had one No.1 and her album didn't even go No.1. Gareth had quite a few no.1's and top 5's. Not a very good list lol.

I completely agree that I wish the campaign had been done in leon's year. I love joe too .It's really stupid Joe is on the list just because he didn't get Christmas number one when there was a massive campaign against the x factor. He did get a number 1 the week after anyway.

Also i think Gareth Gates shouldn't be s far up the list. He did have quite a few sucessful singles. Even now he has been given some great roles in musicals which many people would love to have.

The rest of the list is understandable though I guess.

I'm not a Joe fan, but ridiculous labelling him as a flop so soon.

As much as I dislike Joe McElderry (irrational dislike..it happens ) he shouldn't be on that list. At least, not yet - maybe this time next year after an album (I assume he's getting one this year) people can judge whether he's a flop or not, although even then that might be too soon to judge in my opinion.

Gareth Gates shouldn't be on that list. Out of all the reality singers, I really don't think he's one of the biggest flops. He had quite a bit of success with his first two albums and it's hardly like he's faded into complete oblivion now! I don't even think Steve Brookstein should be number one, to be honest - he has had more than one album for a start, which is more than most of that list. The second might have flopped, but in my opinion the fact that it actually exists means he's not as much of a flop as some others. Where's Leon Jackson on there anyway? He was dropped by his label after two singles and an album so surely he should be on there if Gareth Gates is?

Where is the list from anyway?

Er, he's number 2!

Agree about Gareth though - he had 4 #1 hits and his debut was the second best-selling single of the decade; hardly a flop! Michelle and One True Voice did far worse. I'd actually suggest that Hear'Say shouldn't be so high up on the list either... granted they fizzled out very fast, but they did shift a LOT of records initially, something that Michelle never did!

Here it is

Oh FFS, this isnt a factual list, it is the OPINION of about 1200 people. So what? What difference does it make?

Yes, it's just the opinion of people, but it's interesting to see what the people (those polled at least) think, and compare that against reality. People have strange ideas of what it takes to be successful or otherwise, and are heavily influenced by what the press says, so although Gareth Gates had four UK number ones and sold millions more records than anyone else on the list, and most of those considered successes, the papers wrote endless articles about how he had flopped because he had a single that only got to number three instead of number one. Gareth had a lot of success in Europe and Asia and even Australia, which most reality tv singers haven't managed, but the UK press had decided Gareth was a flop, and I've even seen him described as a one hit wonder etc.

Joe's only released one single, which sold quite well, and did make number one eventually. What a shame that people think that not being number one in the first week means that he should be written off.

To a certain extent, being on the list shows that you are remembered. The real flops are the ones who are long forgotten. Not that I think he's a flop either, but from the same year, Darius had less success, but isn't on the list. He had his fair share of negative press, but there was less of it. Shayne who was on one of the early X Factors had his third single fail to reach the top 10, which was a massive under-performance, but somehow it wasn't reported widely. I don't know if people thought he did better than he did, or if he's just been forgotten about.

Hearsay sold a lot of records too, and made it to a second album, even if they did split quite quickly after that, thanks to some terrible press.

The irony is, most of the people who should be on that list flopped so badly nobody remembers them. Sarah Whatmore, Zoe Birkett, Rosie Ribbons, Sam and Mark, Sinead Quinn, David Sneddon... I could go on and on.

Plus, I find it very presumtive to include Joe on this list, and actually very unfair. Sure, he didnt get the Xmas number 1, but still sold a bucketload of singles, and would have been the number 1 any other week of last year. Im not a fan of his, but he hasnt even released anything yet - give him a chance at least.

It beats me how HearSay are higher in this poll of flops than Rik Waller and One True Voice for example.

Those acts had no more than 1 or 2 singles whereas HearSay had 2 albums. Even more significantly, several ex-HearSay members have been quite versatile and found work in acting or presenting.

sarah whatmore. *sigh* lol. i saw her on tv about 6 months ago with a new single, don't think it did much chart damage.

the biggest flop could arguably be javine, she was so close to being pop royalty as a member of girls aloud, and her solo career just never cut it.

alex parks didn't set the world on fire, eoghan quigg from x-factor released a horribly bad covers album. alistair griffin from fa2 didn't really do anything.

jessica garlick managed to get to number 13 with the eurovision song, but that isnt' exactly doing well.

biggest flop though has to go to leon jackson, given just how huge the platform of x-factor champion is. from hero to zero in no time at all.

Zoe Birkett is in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Mark Rhodes and Sam Nixon are regularly on children's television.

And, of course, Gareth is currently touring in the role of Marius in Les Miserables - no mean feat!

Interesting that Alex Parks isnt on the list. She had one (quite good) album and then......................................................

Speaking of One True Voice, I saw the black fella in the Camden KFC a few weeks back. He looks exactly the same.

If you think Gareth Gates made millions from his singing career, you're either out of your mind or have no idea how music royalties work.

I seem to recall he got a few advertising deals though - Pepsi or something? I'm sure I read he'd made more money than Will Young at one point.

Good point on the likes of David Sneddon and Alex Parks - I think most people have forgotten all about them, as they surely did worse than Gareth Gates or even Hear'Say? I also think its a bit harsh to say someone like Jessica Garlick flopped as she didn't get that far on Pop Idol, so there was less expectation on her.

One True Voice were the boyband from Popstars The Rivals in 2002. Rik Waller was on Pop Idol around the same time as well.

I don't know about how much money he earned but he sold roughly 2600000 copies of his singles.

Zoe Birkett was fab, she should have been huge. I totally loved her

Agreed (hate that I had to include her in my list of flops.

I dont really know what went wrong with Zoe's pop career. She was super talented, and everyone seemed to like her on Pop Idol. It just didnt work out.

Actually, his UK singles sales are over the 3 million mark, with his first album going double platinum in the UK. He had big sales around Europe and in Asia too for both singles and albums. I don't know what portion of his money came from music, but he's sold millions of CDs and done arena tours here and abroad. Some money came from sponsorship, and according to the people who make lists, he's one of the richest reality tv stars in the country having earned over six millions pounds. I take that with a big pinch of salt, but he's still done better than most. He's now got a very successful career in musicals, and will be heavily featured on the new Les Miserables CD due out soon.

So whichever way you look at it he's done better than the majority of popstars would dare to dream when they start out. Anyone who thinks he's a flop either has a strange idea of chart success, or needs to stop taking the tabloids at face value.

I thought it was a shame Zoe didn't do better too, but perhaps they left it too late. I love her voice. but when it came to promoting her outside the show, they struggled. I think by the time she had material together the press and industry were in full on anti-reality tv singers mode and she didn't get the media support she deserved.