Popstars' success on the cards as staggered release dates set.

A head-to-head Popstars clash between the UK's Hear'Say and Australia's Bardot has been avoided after release date sheduling separated the two group's UK single releases. Hear'Say's debut single Pure And Simple appears on March 12, though Bardot will appear with their first single, Poison, in the UK on April 2, not on the same day as their UK equivalents as some media suggested.

Bardot's launch here follows what has already been a phenomenal run for them back home in Australia where, after winning the Aussie version of Popstars, debuted at number one with Poison and reached double platinum status in the process.

Bardot have been the most successful group to appear from the Popstars series to date, also achieving a number one single and album in New Zealand, as well as strong sales in South East Asia.

The German Popstars group, No Angels, are also enjoying huge domestic success with their debut single Daylight In Your Eyes, which entered at number one with platinum sales following its release on February 5. It has since gone on to hold the top spot, selling 600,000 units after only two weeks of release. The German version of the programme is set to run until March 6 on national broadcaster RTL 2, with peak viewing figures of 2.7m.

The Popstars concept is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon, with versions currently underway in both Canada and the US. With UK ...