Daughtry

As a finalist on colossal televisual event that is American Idol in 2006, Chris Daughtry was always not your typical run-of-the-mill contestant. Opting to perform tunes by the likes of Aerosmith and Red Hot Chili Peppers, this chap was light years away from the UK's equivalents of Chico, Steve Brookstein et al. With an average of over 30 million viewers per show, even if a smidgeon of that lot were behind you, you're well on your way.

And so it is with Daughtry. His debut album is already the biggest selling album in the US this year, heading towards 3 million at last count. He's also outsold the final three singers of that year by 4 to 1, and is the fourth biggest selling act to emerge from the programme - behind uberpop madam Kelly Clarkson, the country stylings of Carrie Underwood and the genuinely creepy Clay Aiken - and now sets his sights on doing similar over here. It also helps that Chris and his chums aren't entirely ugly either.

Whilst the notion of a credible Idol is a tenuous idea and perhaps not to everyone's taste, the hard rocking Daughtry and his self-titled band refrain from eating babies, and is pitched somewhere more around the melodic Nickelback, and having performed with the band live, um, Live radio-friendly metal area. Tracks like "Home", "It's Not Over" and "Over You" could easily nestle themselves onto the UK's playlists. Fans of meatier fare are catered for by the rather amazing "What I Want", featuring hot licks from the legendary Slash.

Daughtry is a solid enough album, and surprisingly better than you at first might've imagined. They're perhaps unlikely to repeat their huge U.S. success over here, but it certainly deserves to do decent enough business regardless.