Gennaro Castaldo watch: New album sells more copies than album of old songs

The not-entirely-surprising news that Leona Lewis' album of new music is outselling the Spice Girls' Greatest Hits has woken up Gennaro Castaldo, HMV's voice of fact:

"Leona's success is all the more remarkable as this is a huge week for Christmas releases, with heavyweight albums from the likes of the Spice Girls, Led Zeppelin and Celine Dion.

"There has been a growing feeling over the past few weeks that this album would be huge, particularly following the success of Bleeding Love and the impact of Leona's appearance on X Factor. But, if anything, Spirit may even go on to exceed these high expectations.

"Who could have predicted Leona would have come back from her year away in such dramatic style - that's' some superstar makeover she's been through!"

It's not so much that Lewis is outselling the Spice Girls - are there any fans who don't have the tracks on the Speeces record? - but that she's possibly going to unseat The Arctic Monkeys for fastest selling debut album. That Lewis - a nice-enough singer - is set to wrest the record after a few months from a so-so indie band is fascinating, and possibly encouraging for the music industry: if you can manufacture enough of a buzz, you can still sell large piles of records. Just sell 'em quicker than the filesharers and bluetoothers can share 'em.