The highlights of the opening night were street dancer Tobias Mead, ten-year-old songstress Chloe Hickinbottom and the dancing dog Chandi. Ladbrokes has made the trio the early frontrunners to take home this year’s crown.

Not so talented it seems were the female dance group Ruby Girls (150/1 with the bookies), comedian Kevin Cruise (150/1) and Jimmy Ford, the questionable Irish tribute act, who are rank outsiders at 200/1.

Rescue dog Chandi, a crowd favourite as she showed a clean pair of heels in both quickstep and ballet moves with owner Tina Humphrey, could be seen as having an unfair advantage having already won a previous award on BBC’s When Will I Be Famous in 2007. However, unlike the Olympics, there is no ban on professional performers partaking in BGT, although the Crufts award winner is already known to many after appearing with Richard and Judy and on Blue Peter.

The success of last year’s surprise sensation Susan Boyle has led to unprecedented interest in the show, with Simon Cowell promising another Boylesque candidate is on the horizon. The TV ratings were up from last year, averaging 10.63 million viewers (44 per cent) and peaking at a massive 12.17 million at 20:55 – a market share of 49 per cent, meaning a huge win for ITV.

Cowell promised to gather a string of high profile names of the music business to record a track originally written by popular rock band REM.

It was revealed that Cowell had picked the classic track “Everybody Hurts” by the American group.

Now, information about the details of the recording have starte to leak out.

Contributors to the recording have been confirmed. The recording is reported to have included involvement from Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, Girls Aloud performer and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, American R&B star Mariah Carey, pop singer Miley Cyrus and rock legend Rod Stewart.

It been said that they all went in the studio under the leadership of Cowell and have each recorded a part for the cover song. Proceeds form the sales of the track will all go to charity organizations giving help to Haiti. REM agreed to waive the royalty fees for the song.

Other names have also been mentioned for the track: Kylie Minogue, Westlife, Michael Buble, Mika, James Blunt, Alexandra Burke and as well as others are said to offer their voices for the cause.

The song is now apparently nearly completed and shoulod be ready for relase within a week.

Meanwhile Cheryl Cole has revealed plans for her first solo tour.

The Girls Aloud performer will set out on a UK tour as a back up act for the hugely successful American pop ensemble the Black Eyed Peas.

Black Eyed Peas are set to play:

May 5 – London, O2 arena

May 5 – London, indigo2 at The O2 (aftershow party)

May 6 – London, O2 arena

May 6 – London, indigo2 at The O2 (aftershow party)

May 8 – Birmingham, LG Arena

May 8 – Birmingham, O2 Academy (aftershow party)

May 23 – Manchester, M.E.N Arena

May 23 – Manchester, PURE (aftershow party)

Allen, who is yet to take home one of the very coveted trophies, will be competing with Pixie Lott, Florence And The Machine as well as Lady GaGa, for a spot as a big winner since all four acts have each received three nominations.

The pop star said of the occasion that it was for her a  huge honour to have her music recognised in by the Brits Awards.

JLS star Jonathan “JB” Gill, who was speaking at a ceremony held at the O2 in London on Monday night, said it’s would be amazing to win a Brit.

His band has also received three nominations.

He added that JLS would be performing at this year’s Brits, the 30th anniversary edition.

Included in the best British female category are Allen, Lott and Florence Welch.

Allen and Welch will compete for best British album.

Welch is up against Lott for best breakthrough artist.

Allen has also been nominated for best British single with her track The Fear.

This year’s Brit Awards ceremony will broadcasted next month by ITV1 and will be hosted by actor Peter Kay.

American art-rock star Lady GaGa, is nominated for best international breakthrough act, best international female as well as best international album for The Fame.

Meanwhile, the bosses at the Brit Awards have decided to ignore top selling artist Susan Boyle.

According to HMV representative Gennaro Castaldo, Susan Boyle may gained some success towards the end of the year, but he added that the year had belonged to Lady Gaga.

Nevertheless, it is quite clear that the Brits have snubbed what will probably prove to be the biggest story in British music.

It’s been revealed that speculations are referring to the fact that the troubled superstar is being ignored as a nominee for the annual British music industry prizes.

In less than 8 months, Boyle managed to not only wow an entire worldwide following but to completely smitten Simon Cowell, not to mention her recording breaking views of her Britain’s Got Talent audition plus her record breaking album, I Dream A Dream, which became the top selling album of last year, in only a few weeks.

Boyle easily won the hearts of her American fans when she flew to Los Angeles and performed a truly breathtaking rendition of the Rolling Stones 60s’ classic Wild Horses.

Insiders of the Brit Awards are allegedly claiming that the omission of Boyle is an indirect attack on her impresario, Simon Cowell, who guided the Scottish performer from her last moments on the popular talent show to her current global success.

Apparently, Boyle is being completely ignored even for what is considered to be the Award’s weakest category, Best Female.

The move is a demonstration of how Cowell is perceived in the British music industry. Others have hinted the Brits Awards are just too cool for Boyle.

Warner Music is also apparently angry as some of their top selling acts, namely Muse and Michael Buble, will also ignored for the short-list.

The nominees, picked by a group of 1,000 British music business and media professionals, will be revealed later tonight at the O2 Arena in London.

Winners will be revealed during a ceremony held on February 16 at the Earl’s Court Arena with Lady GaGa, Kasabian, Cheryl Cole, JLS and Robbie Williams all scheduled to perform for the event.

Meanwhile, Boyle is apparently again showing signs of stress. She was said to have had a tantrum in a VIP lounge a Heathrow Airport recently when she started to dance and sing.

The Official Charts Company said the debut single of New York native Lada Gaga, “Just Dance,” came in at the 2009 official singles chart at number three, behind “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas.

Susan Boyle, the forty-eight-year-old singer Scotland, gained the number one spot in the 2009 album ranking thanks to her acclaimed “I Dreamed a Dream” which sold more than 1.5 million copies in only six weeks.

The former Britain’s Got Talent runner-up was unknown only a year ago and became an overnight internet sensation after she shocked the world with her stunning audition on the talent programme last April.

In reaching the number one spot in Britain, Boyle edged out Lady Gaga’s “The Fame”, which was relinquished into second place as well as “Crazy Love” by Michael Buble for 2009’s top-selling albums.

As for the weekly singles race in the UK, “Bad Romance” from Lady Gaga has pushed “The Climb” by X Factor winner Joe McElderry off the top spot of the chart.

McElderry, who had failed in his bid to reach the Christmas number win thanks to the controversial anti-XFactor Facebook campaign which supported Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name”, only managed to stay at the number one sport for one week over new year.

Rage’s track slipped from number two down to the 40th spot on the singles chart in the UK.

The increasingly popular singer landed yesterday at Tokyo’s Narita airport and was greeted by thousands of cheering and adoring fans.

The former Britain’s Got Talent runner-up smiled happily as she received flowers and applauses upon her arrival at Narita. She warmly greeted photographers who asked the performer to do an impromptu song. Boyle politely denied the request saying they would have to wait until the show on Thursday evening.

Boyle is scheduled for an appearance on the country’s biggest music TV programme, which is set to be broadcasted live on by the NHK station on New Year’s Eve.

Japanese media have reported that the forty-eight-year-old is commanding a £35,000 fee for the guest appearance combined with an expenses account for the trip said to be the same.

Boyle is believed to be planning to sing her trademark Les Miserables song I Dreamed A Dream. She‘s also said to preparing a Japanese folk number and the song Wings To Fly, from the Japan edition of her album I Dream A Dream.

The NHK show features the year’s most popular performers and the majority of its guests are Japanese artists.

Boyle’s album I Dreamed A Dream experienced during the Christmas holidays the highest sales for a seven-day period ever seen in the UK during.

It also became the top-selling CD in December for the online retailer Amazon.

Opera legend Andrea Bocelli is said to be scheduling a duet with Boyle for a new ITV1 show called Pop Star To Opera Star.

The performer came close to having a panic attack when she surprised two men looking into her Scotland home through windows on Christmas evening as the star was relaxing in front of the TV.

Upon spotting them, she immediately confronted the men.

This latest incident may very convince the former Britain’s Got Talent contestant that her little West Lothian council home won’t offer sufficient security to live in peace.

Her fifty-five-year-old brother Gerry said the star had called him to talk about the incident. He admitted being worried for his younger sister as strangers could easily take advantage of her situation.

He revealed that Boyle had not alerted the authorities, adding that the small house was no longer presented a proper dwelling for the super star.

The runner-up at this year’s Britain’s Got Talent show, Boyle had celebrated most of Christmas at her sister’s Motherwell home.

When intruders peered into her home, she was watching TV with her cat Pebbles.

Only a few weeks ago, it emerged that following a lengthy writing campaign, an American fan obsessed with the star simply showed up on her doorstep.

The performer’s brother said Boyle has nothing of value in the house. He added that although she a super star, she still lives modestly, using a ?200 weekly allowance to pay bills and food.

He admitted that she will soon have the money to purchase a new home and that whether she likes it or not, she will have to accept her newly found status. This means no more simple dwellings which offer easy access to intruders.

Her first record, I Dreamed A Dream, did sell four million copies—and will sell much more—but the star still hasn’t received any royalties.

According to data compiled by the Official Charts Company, the Scot’s debut CD has sold in excess of 1.4 million copies in just four weeks.

By last Saturday evening, the top three albums in contention for the best-selling album of 2009 had all experienced sales exceeding the million mark. Competing for the total with Boyle are Kings of Leon and Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga’s album The Fame had been in the top echelons of the charts for the last 49 weeks, while Kings Of Leon’s Only By The Night has had 65 weeks of success.

Just a year ago, the then church worker Susan Boyle was a complete unknown but her audition on the ITV1 talent show Britain’s Got talent became an immediate internet sensation and was the initial step into the world of fame.

According to Billboard magazine, the launch of her studio record Dreamed a Dream represents the very best opening week for a dubut album from a female singer since the 1991 start of the SoundScan sales tracking.

Boyle now counts Hollywood actress Demi Moore as well as her heroine, performer Elaine Page, among some of her devoted supporters.

Her video of her first televised performance is now YouTube’s most popular clip of the year, being watched over 120 million times by fans around the world.

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said that in only four little weeks, Boyle had become UK’s top album artist by quite an extraordinary margin.

A native of Blackburn, West Lothian, in Scotland, Boyle still calls ‘home’ her simple four-bedroom council house, where her cat Pebbles keeps her company.

First, she stunned the world with her coming-out-of-no-where talent. People immediately asked how such a gem of a voice could have been kept hidden in a small Scottish town for so long.

Then, she proved that she could handle the gargantuan pressure by giving a strong performance at the Britain’s Got Talent grand final.

More recently, her first album, I Dreamed A Dream, was named the best selling UK debut album of all time.

And now, top file sharing website YouTube.com has announced that Boyle has the most viewed video of 2009. Her audition performance of the now more than famous I Dreamed A Dream on the Britain’s Got Talent show has been viewed a mind boggling 120 million times.

Furthermore, her video surpasses in viewings the total of the next three most watched clips.

The second spot video features a seven-year-old boy recovering from a dental procedure, with 37 million total views.

The boy’s father posted the clip called David After Dentist following his son’s 2008 dental surgery to remove a tooth. During the course of the year, this video attracted a huge following. T-shirt and stickers were printed featuring the recovering boy.
 Youtube’s most popular videos around the world:

1. Susan Boyle, with more than 120m views
2. David After Dentist, with more than 37m views
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance, with more than 33m views
4. New Moon movie trailer, with more than 31m views
5. Evian Roller Babies, with more than 27m views

This the first time YouTube announces a list of the most viewed videos.

A year ago, she was a complete unknown; just a simple middle aged woman with a dream. Today, Susan Boyle has been confirmed as a grand performer with an album which has reached the all time UK No 1 spot for the first week of a debut record.

I Dreamed A Dream soared and sold more than 410,000 copies in seven days, representing the best sales ever for a first week for a debut album since the invention of the album.

Boyle held back next-in-liners JLS, Black Eyed Peas and Queen, whose respective efforts settled for second, third and fourth rankings.

On the singles charts, Wild Horses, Boyle’s version of the Rolling Stones’ 60s classic entered the competition in ninth place.

Pop music guru and the X Factor’s ultimate judge Simon Cowell, who supervised her rise to mega fame, said he was extremely proud of the budding performer as well as being thrilled for her.

He added that this incredible success found a lovely person, one who did things her own way.

Charts Company representative Martin Talbot dubbed Susan Boyle’s achievement as phenomenal.

He said that the world expected great things from following her emergence on Britain’s Got Talent, but these results proved to be truly exceptional.

Other ex-talent show stars continue to perform extremely well at the Official UK Charts Company. Number one last week, Echo by Leona Lewis finished in 5th position this week.

Crazy Love from Michael Buble’s ranked sixth as Lady Gaga’s The Fame secured seventh spot.

Snow Patrol, Robbie Williams and Will Young also were listed in the top 10.

As for the singles charts, Need Medley by Peter Kay Animated All Stars, an Official BBC Children production, beat another charity project, the X Factor finalists’ joint effort You Are Not Alone.

Further down the singles chart, third place went to Jason Derulo’s Whatcha Say, fourth spot saw the Black Eyed Peas’ Meet Me Halfway, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga reached fifth as Russian Roulette, the new project by Rihanna surprised with a relatively low six score.

Boyle’s mixture of incredible talent and down to hearth demeanor and looks shocked the music establishment less then a year ago when she made an audition to Britain’s Got Talent.