Gareth Gates was today celebrating his fourth week at the top of the charts - eclipsing the success of his Pop Idol rival Will Young.

Gareth's version of the classic ballad Unchained Melody has now been in the top spot a week longer than Will's debut hit, Evergreen/Anything is Possible.

And today his mum Wendy said Gareth was "absolutely delighted" at beating Will's record.

"I can't really put into words what it means to us. It is just amazing," she said. "It is absolutely unbelievable really what he has achieved.

"I was quietly confident that he would do it and I desperately wanted it for him, but there's always a bit of doubt, I suppose."

Wendy said Gareth, who is in London working on material for his new album, had been hoping to beat Will's record of three weeks in the number one position.

"He certainly had hoped to beat Will. All that he has wanted all along was to get to week four, so he is absolutely delighted."

East Bowling teenager Gareth was also celebrating the success of the Pop Idol album featuring the final ten contestants performing with the Big Blue band. It entered the album charts at number one.

The phenomenal success of Unchained Melody was underlined as its closest challengers faded into the background.

Britney Spears saw her single I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman - last week's highest new entry - slip to number five.

And Ali G's hotly-tipped collaboration with Shaggy, Me Julie, took a further tumble down the chart to number eight.

However, the latest highest new entry may at least remind Gareth that his reign as king of the charts could almost be over.

X-Press 2's Lazy, featuring vocals from Talking Heads legend David Byrne, took a surprise jump to number two.

A spokesman for the Official UK Charts Company said Gareth has now sold more than 1.2 million copies of Unchained Melody, after 44,000 were snapped-up in the past seven days.