Critics' Choice

Fay Maschler

quote With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun quote

Babbo Film

Andrew O'Hagan

quote This is a film with beautiful performances and a visual style that urges you towards reflection quote

Bright Star Theatre

Henry Hitchings

quote Although the first half of Kwei-Armah’s production is pacy, funny and intelligent, the energy level then drops off quote

Seize The Day

Reader reviews

Film

Squiz, Islington

quote I loved this film from start to finish. Take the girlfriend, tell your mum - I'd see it again tomorrow and will buy the dvd. quote

An Education Theatre

Joe, London

quote I saw this last night and can't remember the last time I was so moved in the theatre. quote

This Much Is True Restaurants

Hiroshi Sugiyama

quote I have been to many of London's so-called best Japanese restaurants and none have been as good as the food that I've had at Aqua Kyoto quote

Aqua Kyoto

Flop in the USA: Kylie's bid to crack States fails as album bombs

Last updated at 23:14pm on 12.04.08

Add your view

Despite an operation which would have put the military top brass to shame - Kylie's bid to crack the US has been a resounding flop.

The Aussie singer's tenth studio album limped into the Billboard charts at No.139 yesterday, selling just 5,500 copies.

The star landed in the US at the beginning of April with a great hurrah, hoping to conquer the States with the same loveable pop princess image which has cemented her popularity in Britain.

Scroll down for more...

Disappointing: Kylie's bid to crack the US has resulted in disappointing sales, and she failed to crack the Billboard 100 after her album debuted at No.139

She dressed up in a bondage-style outfit and dragged over sister Dannii Minogue to sing with her on one of the most popular shows in the U.S., Dancing With The Stars, and opened her heart about her cancer misdiagnosis on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

But sales of X have been disastrous, especially when compared with Leona Lewis's astonishing performance. The X Factor winner became the first British woman to top the American charts for 20 years.

A source said of Kylie: "She'll be very disappointed not even to make it into the top 100."

The pop singler had dazzled audiences with live performances of new single All I See and shocked viewers of chat show Ellen with the revelation that doctors initially missed her breast cancer.

Scroll down for more...

Publicity: Kylie's publicity blitz was carefully orchestrated with appearances on all the major US chat shows

So where did it all go wrong? Critics have blamed the flop on Kylie's choice of single.

All I See was yet to be tested in Britain – a country in which she has had seven No.1 singles.

But one person unlikely to be surprised by the prolonged failure Stateside is the singer herself.

She said: "'It's a notoriously difficult market. To know where I fit is very difficult."

Scroll down for more...

Kylie performed new single 'All I See' on Dancing With The Stars in a racy bondage style outfit - but failed to win over the American music-buying public

The 39-year-old last made it into the top three in the US 21 years ago with The Locomotion – and now she'll be hoping she doesn't have to wait another 21.

Meanwhile, in stark contrast to Kylie, singer Leona Lewis is expected to sell more than 200,000 copies of her album and she looks set to be the first British female to go straight to No1 with a debut.