Young won the first Pop Idol series, which was almost two years ago

His single, Leave Right Now, stayed at the top of the singles pile for a second week, holding off a challenge from the Black Eyed Peas at number two.

And the new single by Young's Pop Idol rival Gareth Gates went in at number four, behind Shane Richie at three.

Simply Red, Dido, D-Side and Katie Melua also had entries in the top 10.

UK TOP FIVE SINGLES 1. Will Young - Leave Right Now 2. Black Eyed Peas - Shut Up 3. Shane Richie - I'm Your Man 4. Gareth Gates - Say It Isn't So 5. Westlife - Mandy Source: Official UK Charts Company

Young won the UK's first series of Pop Idol in February 2002 and his sales success seems to prove that TV talent show winners can have staying power.

Leave Right Now is his fourth number one single, while his debut album, From Now On, sold more than 600,000 copies in the UK after topping the chart in October 2002.

In this week's album chart, he came ahead of Dido's Life For Rent, which moved back up one place to number two.

Michael Jackson and Busted followed, with last week's top album, Westlife's Turn Around, sliding to number five.