Pop making a comeback?! Ummm maybe not...

Hoooold on a sec, two minutes ago the industry was buzzing about the return of pop, but as the first chart of 2009 is published, the nation's three resident girlbands are all facing imminent flops with their new singles. Oops.

Firstly, newcomers The Saturdays release third single "Issues" today - it's currently sitting at No27 as an album download, with their previous hit "Up" two places behind it, on a rebound back up the charts to No29. "Issues", a pleasant enough radio-friendly ballad, lacks the punch and immediacy of "Up" and with the latter still doing the business three months after its release, "Issues" looks unlikely to recieve enough of a surge in the next seven days to help it top its predecessor's No5 peak. Whether or not it'll even crack the Top 10 on Sunday remains to be seen.

The Sugababes on the other hand don't have to worry about an old hit overshadowing a new one. Their last single "Girls" is now safely on its way out of the Top 75, but that hasn't stopped new single "No Can Do" stalling at a disappointing No23. The track is fully available as a download and also got its CD single release last week, so with its promotion cycle now just about over, it seems unlikely that "No Can Do" has the potential to climb any higher. It could well end up being their lowest charting single since "Follow Me Home" froze outside the Top 30 back in 2006.

Finally, and most surprisingly, Girls Aloud's 20th single "The Loving Kind" is in serious danger of being their first ever single to miss the Top 10. The fact is that their October No1 "The Promise" is still yo-yoing up and down the Top 20, and its ongoing success is in danger of completely overshadowing the potential of "The Loving Kind". The same thing happened to the likes of Sam Sparro and Gabriella Cilmi last year - they released singles that were so ongoingly successful that follow-ups drifted by unnoticed. In truth, "The Loving Kind" is one of the girls' strongest singles to date, and it will be a real shame if it stops the group achieving their milestone 20th Top 10 hit. It's released properly on January 12th, so has a couple of weeks to gain momentum and improve on its current placing at No39 as an album download.