We believe they are. We’ve had the huge world-dominating boyband Take-That. After they split up no-one knew who was going to be the next big thing. Then out of nowhere the Spice Girls came on to the scene breaking records here, there and everywhere. Now that they have all gone their separate ways people are crying out for the next big act. Steps have the potential with a totally different format of a mixed band, yet a few silly mistakes have stopped them from dominating the charts, particularly within the UK.

Their biggest chance is with the new album Steptacular. Unfortunately the first two singles failed to hit the top of the charts because of a few little things that could have been avoided. The only reason the Spice Girls got to number one every time was because they consistently released two CD sets of singles for the minimal price of £1.99 each. The more number one songs a group gets, the bigger and more popular they become and then more albums are sold because of this. Shockingly the single right before the release of Steps’ new album, After The Love Has Gone, was released on one CD at full price. This left it with a relatively low chart position compared to the group’s succession of top three hits. But this needn’t be too much of a problem. Steptacular is now guaranteed that number one position in the album charts on Sunday. And this is only right as it is a superb album.

Sadly though it is not album sales that make a group popular. What Steps now need are a number of singles to hit the top and stay there. If they manage to get the Christmas number one they will be sent into orbit and will become the biggest group in the UK, which then tends to lead on to becoming big everywhere else. And with them currently breaking into the US market, they are almost there. They already have a huge fan base, everyone has danced to one of their songs. What needs to be done now is to convince those fans to buy their records!

With Westlife releasing a double A-side too with their amazing cover of the ABBA song I Have A Dream from ABBAMANIA and Seasons In The Sun, they are now the biggest contenders for the Christmas number one. At the booking office they are taking bets for Westlife at 5-1 since they announced the inclusion of the ABBA song, when previously they were 14-1. Steps are following at a very close second of 7-1 with their double-A featuring Better The Devil You Know, the excellent Kylie Minogue song, which I’m sure will be a song of Tragedy proportions. And the song from the album Say You’ll Be Mine, which is easily one of the best songs by the group. There is one song being left out though and that is their cover of Lay All Your Love On Me from ABBAMANIA. This went down well immediately with the huge crowd and was definitely the best song the group has performed for a long time. As there is no room left in the charts for a release before Christmas now, it is unlikely that this will get a single release which is a shame, unless one of the previously announced A-sides is dropped or is there such a thing as a triple A-Side?

Other acts up for the top of the Christmas charts are Boyzone at 8-1 (Ronan must be annoyed his group are below the one he manages!), SClub 7 at 10-1, and bizarrely Sir Cliff Richard at 12-1 with Millennium Prayer. Robbie Williams is favourite for the first number one single of the millennium at 5-1.