Gordon in the morning: Harry Styles is the John Lennon of our age

Yesterday, Gordon Smart tried to get us excited in the idea of some sort of battle for America between One Direction and The Wanted.

It looks like he's realised that they're barely on the same level, and so has cast around for a different trumped-up challenge.

So who does Gordo have lined up for the 'battle' today?

One Direction to beat Beatles

ONE DIRECTION could be on course to achieve something even The Beatles failed to do — land a US Billboard No1 with their debut album.

Apart from being a fatuous comparison because of the very different music markets the bands launch into, Smart's claim suggests a surprising lack of knowledge about The Beatles' early American history. Does Gordon really not know that The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, didn't get released in America until February 1987?

I'm not entirely sure if even forcing One Direction to delay the release of Up All Night until 2036 would give us an accurate comparison.

But maybe Gordon meant specifically debut American album release. But if he did, it would still suggest he doesn't really know anything about his supposedly specialised field. Sure, Introducing... The Beatles didn't make Billboard's number one, but it was released on a label, Vee-Jay, struggling under massive levels of debt and a battle royal with Capitol; a restraining order was thrown at the title less than a week after it went on sale and, ten days after the launch of Introducing, Capitol brought out the substantially identical Meet The Beatles, which did go to number one. And was unseated by, erm, The Beatles Second Album.

I guess, strictly speaking, this could mean that One Direction's debut will go to number one in the US while The Beatles didn't, but I think only someone with no understanding of history would think that somehow OD are "beating" The Beatles.