Will set to earn £5m in first year

Pop Idol star Will Young is set to earn £5 million is his first year in the business.

The 23-year-old singer, who won TV's search for a solo pop singer, will make the sum in his cut of profits from singles, albums, tours, merchandising and endorsing products. It is his slice from more than £100 million he is set to earn record labels BMG and S Records.

Critics scoffed at figures for the projected wealth of Hear'Say - the manufactured band spewed out by the Popstars TV show. But, sure enough, all the original five members made their first million only eight months after their debut single was released last March.

Will is set to earn more even faster, since he won't have to share his cash with other band members.

Industry sources have predicted Will's first-year earnings from the release of his first single on Monday.

The double-A-side Anything Is Possible/Evergreen is set to trounce Hear'Say's record for the fastest-selling debut single ever. Advanced orders for the single, to be released on 25 February, already top 1.2 million copies, compared with Hear'Say's debut Pure And Simple - which sold 550,000 copies in its first week.

If Will releases three singles in his first year, and each make number one (which is not inconceivable, since boyband Westlife have had three number ones every year since they formed), he will sell more than two million singles in the first 12 months - making him £500,000. Artists generally make 25p for every single sold.

Will will also make £1 for every album sold - and if his debut album does as well as Hear'Say's debut, he can expect to earn £900,000 from it. Will is also bound to embark on a sellout UK tour in his first year, which is likely to gross in the region of £8 million - earning him a further £750,000.

Much of his fortune is to be made from merchandising. Documents leaked to the Standard last October revealed that Hear'Say had signed lucrative deals with some 30 companies, endorsing everything from pasta to clocks. A range of more than 100 products were made, all bearing the band's logo - in deals that earned each of the five band members £70,000 a month.

The range included children's nightwear, mobile phone ringtones, toiletries, bedding and confectionery. A new range of singing dolls was even developed after the original set sold out within a few weeks.

Will's merchandising prospects - bigmoney deals thrashed out by his bosses at 19 Management - are set to be rosier still. Earnings from everything from Will dolls to mugs and stationery sets will earn him a projected £1.5 million in his first year, while endorsements from car, scooter or clothing companies will bag a further £1.4 million.