Westlife manager Louis Walsh has thrown down the gauntlet to his chart rivals, including Oasis and U2.
Having beaten U2 and Green Day's 'The Saints Are Coming' to the No.1 slot in the UK singles charts this week with 'The Rose', the X-Factor judge is now tipping his charges to snaffle the top position in the UK album charts with The Love Album in less than two weeks time – when U2's latest hits album U218 also hits the shops.
In what is set to be a battle royal for chart dominance, Oasis also have a greatest hits record, entitled Stop The Clocks, released on the same day, November 20.
"I think we'll do better that U2 and Oasis," Walsh told Hot Press. "There's still a huge market for the pop thing. It has to be well done, but then that's what we've always achieved with Westlife. And Face To Face is a great album."
The band have defied the conventional expectations for boy bands by continuing to ratchet up the hits, with 'The Rose' pushing them closer to Walsh's target of 20 No.1s.
"I'd love to do that," Walsh added. "To have 20 No.1s would be an extraordinary achievement. But we've sold over 32 million albums at this stage and we're continuing to break new markets. There's a huge amount of interest in them in Australia now, so it just keeps growing."
Walsh is also confident that his most recent signing, the 2005 X-Factor winner Shayne Ward, has what it takes to become an enduring, major star.
"What he's done to date has been amazing," Walsh said. "We're currently at No.1 in South Africa and we're doing really well in Taiwan. And then you look at Ireland – the last time out, Will Young sold 500 tickets in Ireland and we've sold out seven arenas, with four shows at The Point, two in Millstreet and one in Belfast."
Ward was born in Manchester, but considers himself Irish. Both of his parents were born here.
"He's such a nice guy," Walsh reflected. "Everybody really likes him and of course that helps. But he’s a great singer and I really believe that he's got what it takes to be a huge star. He'll cross over in the same way that Justin Timberlake did. Don’t forget it took Justin 11 years after N-Sync. I think we'll do it a lot quicker than that. He is such a brilliant talent."